Ok DH and I were talking this morning before he went to work, we got a light bill that could pay a mortage payment we sat and talked about everything we did and what we were doing that was making it high. The only thing we came up with is that it's hotter then you know what in Texas, I told that darn man of my mine this morning, it cooled down we got down to 105 yesterday what does he want. Man oh Man... and the humdity drop to 94 percent. Any way we got the darn bill out, man it was longer then most letters I write, we found out they increase our killowatts using. Ok that explains it. We were paying 13 cent a killowatts we are now up to 17. 8 cent a killowatts. WOW!!!! They say everything is big in Texas they are right so is there Killowatt use. Man I don't remember paying that much in Wisconsin. But, any way we were wondering if some of you would be willing to tell us what you pay a killowatt. We would like to see why Texas is so high.. thanks alot for helping us.
We pay 11.80 cents per KWH, and from 6/7-7/9 we used 1670 KWH. Our current budget payment is 315.43, but the actual charge is 329.43. I went ahead and paid the actual amount, since it was so close. Can you change electricity providers, Kris? I think here there are like two or three to choose from, but we stay with the same one.
:shock: Do you have all electric homes??? Our budget is $120 for electric and $130 for gas. We have a big 2 story building and I thought ours were high. We are waiting for our current electric bill to see if not running the a/c has made any difference.
I know it helps if you unplug things you aren't using like the toaster and all the other stuff even if you turn them off (I would not want to unpllug the computer or tv even though its recamended) also have your electric company see if you have a program where you pay the same all year or if they have a program for off peak hours (like washing clothes and dshes in the evening)--- we found out that if we wouldn't save because I am home during the day and mostlly our program works for people that work all day (don't turn on any lights during the day)
We get our electric bills electronically so I'm not sure what the KW cost is without logging in but we have a 2 story 3000 sq ft house and ours runs about $225-275 in the summer. We have a gas hot water heater and furnace....so that runs about $30 in the summer. They reverse somewhat in the winter. Electricitiy goes down to about $80-100 and gas skyrockets to $250.....boy do I love those in between months when we barely need either except at night. We keep the A/C on 77 or 78. I'd personally set it warmer because I'm always cold BUT we have allergy meds in the house that can't be above 77. I do know that all our utilities have gone up....water, sewer, gas, electric.....everything.
Our utility co is raising natural gas and elec rates in July and burning everyone down with a 58% increase. Has anyone noticed that with higher prices from food to heating that you have less money to spend vs. last year?
Austin has a city co-op for electricity and water; we can't get it anywhere else. It is REALLY low cost! The water and electricity come on the same bill, and the highest ours has ever been for a month was $186, in June. We keep our a/c on 74. Since we've had this extra family with us, dh put a window unit in the kitchen. We run it from about noon until 6 or 7pm when it cools down, so that the main a/c isn't running constantly all day long and not getting the job done. A big thing for us on saving electricity has been making sure the door between the kitchen and the garage stays CLOSED. We keep the front door closed as well, and usually have the lights turned off and just open up the curtains to let the light in instead. Our house is set up so that is effective; except I really need the light on in the kitchen to fix a meal. (And we turn it on over the table if we're working on school, which we haven't been lately but will start in a little over a week.) Before we moved to Austin, our highest summer electricity bills were sometimes over the $400 mark -- and we just had a 1000sq ft place. That place REALLY needed a new unit - it was over 20 years old and just not as effective as it should have been! (We were on a co-op there, too, and didn't have a choice on providers.) There is a website... powertochoose.org maybe? - that lets you enter your zip code and tells you what all providers service your area, and might even tell you what they charge per KWH for your area as well.
We do equal pay so that we know exactly how much to expect every month. Then at the end of the year the company just adjusts the bill to incorporate any overage/shortage. It is really nice not to be surprised every month. BTW we spend $116/month and we have everything electric and two window A/C for the summer.
We did the budget billing for electricity when we first moved into our house but I've turned it off because its not available for gas, so we were paying $157 per month all year round BUT in winter, we had the $275 gas.....it's better for our budget to pay what we used because we couldn't equal bill the natural gas....boy, that would be nice.
Here, we can't do averaged billing until we've been with the company in the same house for a year. Come September, we'll be eligible! YAY! We plan on doing it as well.
We have a tiered pricing. Everyone gets a baseline of kwh that is very inexpensive and it goes up with usage. Our electric bills average about $90 per month year round, gas is $25 in the summer and around $50 in the winter. We have gas for the hot water, heater and dryer. We have a 2500 sq ft 2 story. For our baseline we pay .03 per kWh; tier 1 is .03; tier 2 is .07; tier 3 is .16; and tier 4 is .21. Those are the generation charges....we also get charged for delivery which is an additional .07 per kWh. Geesh. For the last billing period we used 842 kWh.
We are in southern California, up in the mountains or hills depending who you ask, and we have tiered pricing too. But our tier goes up to tier 5. I do not have a bill on me to see what we pay per Kwh but our bill averages in the hundreds in the hot season. I know there are difference rating systems that are tiered but I have no idea which we have. I need to check the next bill. My house is between 890 sft-970 sft. depending on who measures it! LOL For some reason, nobody can come up with the exact size. :|But anyways, it is small. We get 115 temps in the summer. I do not know what part of southern California you live in. My friend who lives near me NEVER uses her air. I have no idea how she manages but she never has. She just lives on fans and has great insulation.:lol: So her bill is low. In winter, our electric bills drops drastically and our gas goes up since we have freezing periods around here.
I just looked at my bill again and we have 5 tiers too. I don't know the pricing though because we didn't use any power in that tier. Patty, we live in the mountains south of Bakersfield. Our summers are mild, we rarely get over 100 degrees. In the winter it gets cold (temps in the teens) and we even get snow, but we heat with a pellet stove and rarely use the gas heat. Our first winter here we had outrageous gas bills and we were still cold! We very rarely use the AC, coming from the Antelope Valley and summer temps of 115+, it just doesn't feel hot here.:lol: We also signed up for the Edison summer savings program, which saves us a good amount of money on our summer bills. I feel for you, with temps that high there is no getting around using the AC, it's just not healthy. I remember the summer my youngest was born, my electric bill was $300 because I ran the AC nonstop, worried about her getting heat sick if I didn't. We did install a whole house fan, which works wonderful if you have cool evenings. Before moving here, we spent two summers in a rental down in the desert that didn't have a working AC. The landlord failed to mention this when we rented. Those were the most miserable summers of my life. When it's 115 or more outside with no breeze, it's miserable when you have no place to get cool.
Have you called the utlitiy company and ask them to reread your meter? Last year, our bill was almost $150.00 more than it had been the month before, and nothing had changed with our usage. They did this several times actually and finally put in a digital meter which is much easier to read. Good luck!
My sister used to live in the Antelope Valley. It sure does get hot there! We are not far from the Antelope Valley. It isn't next door but it is about 35 minutes from here, through the back road. I am in the Mojave Desert; in the upper desert. We also get snow but not as much as we used to get and if I am correct, Bakersfield receives a lot more. Last year Handsome and I discussed getting a wood burning stove because we are tired of the gas bill during winter. We still haven't put one in.:| Hopefully we do it before winter.
Our bill is leveled out but I did drop it by about 4 KWH last month by hanging everything out on the line. It only dropped the bill about 4 dollars a month but hey thats something considering it should be that way every month, I think. It runs about 225 a month, winter and summer (since its leveled out). If it was not leveled it would run about 150 in the summer and close to 300 in the winter because we have an all electric home.
Ours has been averaging around almost $300 too plus we pay my dads next door too he's is about $90 I am with you Kris can't wait for the heat to go someplace else Sam
WOW...I thought my light bill was high. Mine averages about $120 a month. It's actually lower in the summer time....I don't like air conditioners. In winter, I believe the price per kilowatt goes up due to the county Christmas lights. (tourist town) If I'm doing the math right.... Kilowatt Hour Usage: 1054 Charges: $91.48 ---------------------- $ per unit: .086 (Is that right?) Guess some things are cheaper in TN...LOL.
I live near Houston in a 1200 sq ft mobile home. My house payment is $289. My light bill last month was $570.
