Ouch Electric bill

Just got my first summer electric bill. 380 bucks. Glad ill be out of this old house with no insulation in a month. What do you average in the summer months?

Wowzers. About a third of that. Sometimes even less. I have pretty good insulation though I guess and I keep the house hot. Especially when I am not home. I have no problem with keeping it at 75+ when I am not home and 73-74 when I am . Plus my house is in a lot of shade. $300+...wow. That would suck.

I rarely see a heating/cooling bill over $100, usuallly $70-$80. Live in a townhome so I'm insulated on 3 walls with south facing windows which is really nice in the winter time.

Yeah about a third of that....

www.powertochoose.org man...

This winter was the first time I hit over $500 for a month of natgas and electric. I think both Jan/Feb nailed me. The spring is a nice lull where its $120ish. I think I'll be back in the $300 area given that my wife and kids are home all day and need the A/C on.

Guess it all depends on where you live.

The heater/air conditioner has been turned off for the past month and a half in my house but then it's spring in Wisconsin. : )

(no idea what the bill is as the SWMBO takes care of that sort of thing in our house)

$350 here and that is with the house at 77 most of the time

Oh yeah, and I bet having a kegger and ingredients fridge in the garage AND a fermentation fridge in the basement isn't quite helping me out in the electric bill dept..

niquejim said:

$350 here and that is with the house at 77 most of the time

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Same here, out house never gets bellow 75 in the summer. Even on 75 the air runs non stop.

In winter my utilites (it's all combined: gas, water, and electric) average around $120 a month. In summer I'm usually around $50 or $60 a month.

How the heck do you guys run up such huge bills? I live in silicon valley (where the premium unleaded has reached 5 bucks a gal) and I figured I'd be paying more than most of you!

My bill never gets above 100. Granted, I live in a small place, but sometimes run my ac 24/7. I work best at lagering temp.

Summer is my easy season. I've only had the A/C on for two days this year. Yesterday morning it was 38F.

I have a heat pump & the long winter nights add up. When I moved I kicked the attic insulation to R-40 and insulated the floor to R-23. Still cheaper than propane by a very large margin.

I have the oil/heatpump/AC combo. Oil works like a champ in the winter despite rising prices - $500 for a full tank gets us from october thru may. The heatpump is a piece of $hit and my electric is $200-$250 in summer with the thermostat on 75.

I've got an early 90's cooling system so I'm sure its really inefficient.

Ryan, how old is you AC unit? May want to consider a tune up.

Last year I finally had mine replaced after a very ugly $500+ bill in August 2 years ago. Now my bills are 40% of what they were and I've got it turned down to 74F. (also in TX)

We average about $200/mo for gas heat in the winter and the same for electric cooling in the summer. Winter we keep the house at 69 or 70 and summer it's 77ish. I haven't turned the AC on yet this year and I probably won't for another week or so.

We live in a cool climate- I have cental air, but I used it once or twice in 5 years. I'm comfortable, though, with temps in the mid-80s so I wouldn't use it if it was less than 86 degrees inside.

In the winter, we spend about $150-$200 on heating, keeping the house at 62 degrees. I dress warmly, so it's not too bad.

Jun - Sep is my ugly months. Average $250 a mo. I got a central and a wall unit for an addition along with the pool pump going 9hrs a day. Annual avg is $164. Must be all them fridges I got .

Lets talk water bills . Same summer months I'm at about 150 a month. Pool, token grass and a lot of drip lines on an acre kills me.

$3-350 in the summer, $175-200 in the winter. That's for all electric in Atlanta set about 75°F.

Soperbrew said:

Ryan, how old is you AC unit? May want to consider a tune up.

Last year I finally had mine replaced after a very ugly $500+ bill in August 2 years ago. Now my bills are 40% of what they were and I've got it turned down to 74F. (also in TX)

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Im in a rental house, and this is my last month in this house so nothing I can really do. I think its more the house than the AC. As soon as the AC shuts off, the house warms up.

Ok, made me whip out my spreadsheet:

Annual averages for me living in Pflugerville, TX keeping it 74-75F in summer & 71-72F in winter. Keep in mind energy cost per kWh changed as well between the years.

Electric:

2007 (new AC unit) = $171/mo. (* New AC unit saved $900 compared to 2006)
2006 = $242/mo.
2005 = $190/mo.
2004 = $130/mo.
2003 = $104/mo.

Natural Gas:

2007 = $49/mo.
2006 = $51/mo.
2005 = $47/mo.
2004 = $34/mo.
2003 = $35/mo.

My City bills include water, sewer, & garbage service & the last one I paid about $120 for the month. Last year during the summer my highest monthly city bill was about $180.

Just got my electric bill from May.

$199.36