Power bill YIKES!

[Darcy03231]

We live in central NH and can normally go 5-6 weeks between oil deliveries in the winter. We had the tank filled on 12/28 for $492 and three weeks later needed another delivery at $384. It's just been bitter cold here for extended periods of time. I feel bad for those who are on fixed incomes.

 

[mjkacmom]

Something is defintely wrong you paying that much. That’s about double what you should be paying. Where are you from?

New Jersey, it’s always been this much. I pay my dad’s bills, his house is bigger, his bill is higher. My bill is actually lower than it was a few years ago.

 

[Hikergirl]

Except for out heat, which is oil. Everything else in our house is electric. There's no gas in our house. Our oil delivery is around $550 3 x's a year and our electric bill is $550-600 a month!! I hate this house!

That much just for electric? What do you pay per kWh and how much do you use? That is a crazy high amount just for electricity if you aren't running your heat with it.

 

[msjprincess]

We're on a budget for electric $157 a month, last month our gas bill was $177.

 

[nordkin]

Same here in Western MD. I budget pay $105 all year. Most of the time I have a big credit. I just got a bill saying that we used $272 in electricity last month??--there is no way we used that much, that's almost 3 months worth normally. I went onto their webiste to look at bill,and it was 'estimated'. I went out , read meter, (the meter was less than half of what their estimated reading shows). I called them , gave her the meter reading, and asked how the heck they estimate such a high amount. She said it will even out when they actually read it next month. I said it had better , or you will be getting a not so nice phone call again, lol. She said I've been getting them all day. I don't know why they don't just read the meters every month. We have a wood stove, and that's how we heat the house all winter. I think I am going to start calling my meter reading in every month, or doing it online, and see how that works out.

If it is unsafe for you to drive it is unsafe for a meter reader to drive and walk from house to house. This may have been the reason for your estimated bill among many other reasons. I was a meter reading supervisor for 20 years and always expected calls like this after a snow or cold snap. Believe me, the utility wants you to have an accurate bill. It cost them far too much when you receive an inaccurate bill. It does cost them money to answer the phone calls, check readings, and rebill you. Also make sure the meter reader can easily get to your meter, including containing your dog if you have one.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I do budget billing. It's reviewed every 6 months. Right now, I pay $178 a month.

It's a co-op. We get Capital Credit refunds in some years (when revenue exceeds total expenses) and it's based on how much you are billed for each year. Last year, it took $40 off one bill! They just upgraded to remote meter reading in our area, so they don't even have to come to the house, just drive by.

 

[mom2rb]

My electric bill is high this month. I have gas for heat but because it has been below freezing off and on for a few weeks, I have had to run my pool constantly so that the the pipes don’t freeze and burst. The newer pools will just click on when the temperature drops, but my system is older.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Our bill always increases in Jan/feb, by about $100. This year's jumped a bit more than expected, it was a little shocking.

 

[LilyWDW]

I can handle it, it just was a bit of a shock when I saw the email. Luckily we are going back into normal and above normal temps which means I can turn the heat down and it won't be running as much. I also won't have to worry about pipes freezing. So that should help.

Any suggestions on what I can do to help myself out more? I rent so I can't make huge changes to the place such as better insulation.

 

[cedricandsophie]

They climb it...

A glass screen or our glass doors on it. We have a glass cover over our gas fireplace which is vented outside. One of our dogs loves to sit by the fire and gets her nose as close to the glass as she can without touching. The glass gets very hot so I used t9 worry about her but figured she knows exactly how close she can get.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Our latest WeEnergies bill is $429.
We live in WI, which has gone through a below zero cold snap since xmas time. Although yesterday and today are finally nice!
(And we have a large home, so the bill reflects that.)

 

[kimmar067]

Anyone else open their power bills and freak out a bit? I thought I was going to be ill. Last months bill was "normal" at $86 though I always budget for $120. This month? $226! We have been below freezing most of the month and have had multiple days/nights in the negatives....

....try a $600 bill on for size....

 

[marcyleecorgan]

if you have any inclination as to reduce your electric bill in meaningful ways, there is a step-by-step document hosted by Ron Kube on Google Drive, if you just Google his name...

I am not sure if I can provide a link to the actual document...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If it is unsafe for you to drive it is unsafe for a meter reader to drive and walk from house to house. This may have been the reason for your estimated bill among many other reasons. I was a meter reading supervisor for 20 years and always expected calls like this after a snow or cold snap. Believe me, the utility wants you to have an accurate bill. It cost them far too much when you receive an inaccurate bill. It does cost them money to answer the phone calls, check readings, and rebill you. Also make sure the meter reader can easily get to your meter, including containing your dog if you have one.

Our electric company is in the process of replacing people's meters with electronic reading ones. They did ours over a month ago. It transmits our usage every 15 minutes to them and now we get a weekly e-mails with our usage readings. This also means they no longer come to the house to read the meter and a plus is they have a better detection of power outages since it transmits the information to them (we would still want to report it to them though).

 

[mjkacmom]

Our electric company is in the process of replacing people's meters with electronic reading ones. They did ours over a month ago. It transmits our usage every 15 minutes to them and now we get a weekly e-mails with our usage readings. This also means they no longer come to the house to read the meter and a plus is they have a better detection of power outages since it transmits the information to them (we would still want to report it to them though).

Our gas meter is now read from the outside, I hated letting the guy into my basement, as did my dog...

 

[DawnM]

My monthly average is $200/mo. Fall and Spring it goes down, summer and winter, it goes up. No water or gas bill though, so the $200/mo covers everything.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In our house to heat it we use natural gas for the furnace and hot water heater. We also have a natural gas fireplace that we use as well when we don't want to kick on the whole house heat. In the summer it's using the electricity.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our gas meter is now read from the outside, I hated letting the guy into my basement, as did my dog...

That's interesting for it to be in the basement. Ours is on the outside of the house and you hardly ever see them come read since they do it during the day. Our gas meter is still read manually by the gas company but our electricity is now transmitted automatically to the electric company.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We live in central NH and can normally go 5-6 weeks between oil deliveries in the winter. We had the tank filled on 12/28 for $492 and three weeks later needed another delivery at $384. It's just been bitter cold here for extended periods of time. I feel bad for those who are on fixed incomes.

Our electric and our gas bills are on level pay right now so they take the rolling average of the last 12 months. Still isn't the best for those on fixed incomes but at least the bill is more steady each month rather than swings.

 

[tvguy]

I have solar panels and an all electric house.
I do not own the solar panels, they were put on my roof for free. Because of that I am obligated to buy all the power they produce whether I use it or not, and sell the surplus to my electric provider at a rate lower than I pay, but the rate for power from by solar panels is less than the electric company charges. My combined electric bills year round are about $180 a month. Prior to solar, my winter electric bills could hit $300 in a cold winter. But it rarely gets below 30 degrees here. Where I get creamed is in the summer because it can get to 110 here. Prior to solar I could get a $400 in the summer. So I am money ahead with solar.