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Whats your City Light Bill?

Started 4 years ago by Robert2715
Latest reply from BusinessOwner

Robert2715
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My bill is around $200 (3000KWH) every two months - is that normal? high? low? We have 4 \"users\" (2 parents and 2 toddlers) in a modern 3000 sf or so house. (Heat and hot water is via gas so my usage is for lighting, appliances, and electronics). We think we aren\'t being too wasteful in our electrical usage, but I have no clue if our usage is above or below the norm. Whats yours?

Posted 4 years ago #
Anonymous
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Ours is around $150. Much smaller house, two adults, one 8 yr old. Hope that helps

Posted 4 years ago #
JoB
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have you looked at the number of lights you have? especially if you have recessed lighting.

changing the floods in the kitchen to low watt bulbs meant that with all the lights on now.. i burn 120 watts... before i was burning 5 times that.

And we seldom use more than one of the lights...

it\'s amazing how much those little things add up.

that said.. i don\'t know what the numbers are on our usage .. I will check when i get the bill which i think should be soon.

Posted 4 years ago #
WSB
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Sounds pretty good for a 3Ksf house. Our house is less than half that but our bill is still $150/2 mos., despite gas heat, hot water, and cooking.

Posted 4 years ago #
Erik
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My last bill was about $58 for two months. But then my 90yo house is a whopping 660sq ft., heated by oil and wood pellet, and only inhabited by me and the dog. I don\'t think he watches tv while I\'m not home?
And, yes I do cook my own meals, most of the time.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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Our house is 100% electric, so no gas or oil. Our house is over 3400 square foot with a/c (don\'t use much this time of the year!) and our bill is around $360 for 2 months.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bonnie
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Forgot to add we have 2 adults and 2 kids at our house.

Posted 4 years ago #
Aim
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We have a 900 sq ft apt, and spend about 70 hours a week outside the home. We also have energy efficient bulbs and don\'t have extras like a tv running. However, everything is electric in here. Just keeping the water tank filled and hot takes a lot of energy. I don\'t know how much more we can reasonably do. Our 2 month bill is over $200.

Posted 4 years ago #
JoB
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i haven\'t lived here long enough to have an average...

and i don\'t have the current bill.. just the one for Dec/Jan...

but our usage wasn\'t that high.

We used 1949 kWh @ $118.65

There are two of us in about 2700 Sq ft... a main, bonus garage and finished basement...

We have electric hot water and oil heat... with electric wall heaters in the basement and bonus garage.

we are extremely careful about leaving lights on.. have changed the entire house out to low energy bulbs... and have made a sort of game of trying to keep energy usage down. But we do use almost the entire house... the bonus garage is only heated to 50.

We seldom use overhead lights and have low energy lamps on timers both upstairs and down...

reminds me.. i need to change the timers:)

that said, i can\'t have a cold house and this place is poorly insulated... we often have to heat the basement.. where we spend the evenings and sleep. with electric wall heaters... and of course, the oil furnace does use electricity...

we have two computers that get constant use, we do watch televsion and use a DVR... i don\'t have any of those on energy saving strips and they are pretty much constantly on.....

i have dogs who shed and i can\'t seem to wear anything more than once without getting it soiled... so i am constantly washing clothing, bedding and rugs.... and about 25% of those loads have to be in hot water...

i drain my water tank of hot water at least twice a day for a hot soak in the tub... and probably use at least one tank more every day.. possibly two because i do use the dishwasher... and i use it.

i cook. We have an electric range.. a microwave... electric appliances...and i use the oven a lot.

our landlord does not believe in energy efficient appliances.

We may get a real surprise with the next bill... I am hoping for a positive one as we put the low energy bulbs in the overheads just before christmas..

but since we rarely use them it\'s not likely to make much difference. The cold snap will though.

Looking at this. i am aware how much more we could be doing... if we were better.. we would. but i think this i s probably our current threshold:(

Posted 4 years ago #
JoB
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JoB...

if you add our heating cost (oil) at about 140/mo for 5 months... our utilities look pretty grim.

Posted 4 years ago #
Sue
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Ours was horrifyingly high when it arrived last month: $450 for 2 months! This is a 1700 sq/ft house with electric heat and hot water and 2 people. We use energy efficient bulbs. We keep the heat turned down (setpoint is 63), and even though my husband works from home, he turns it off when I leave for work and it stays off all day. We have a furnace that heats the entire first floor, but ceramic heaters for the downstairs (offices) when needed. And we do have a large freezer in the basement.

I called City Light about it and they were very nice and helpful. They had me go out to make sure the meter was being read correctly (sadly, it was). Then, even though I\'d only been here for 10 months, they went over the last 5 years of history of the house for the average bills - obviously we don\'t know how many people were here then (various tenants) or how much they turned the heat off, etc., but it was helpful. Yes, he said we\'re on the high end, but tenants 5 years ago had similar kwh usage, so it\'s not unheard of.

I have a feeling that in our particular situation that the issue is that squirrels have recently ripped some insulation out of the front of the house under our bay window (which would explain why the livingroom and bedroom are 7 degrees in difference at the same setpoint). Despite the fact that squirrels are probably living god-knows-where in our house, that insulation is most certainly making a huge difference in our bills. We have a call in to our landlord about it, but we\'ll see what happens. I wasn\'t shocked by the previous $300 electric bill because I\'d had surgery and was home with heat on 24/7 and fairly high at that. So when I went back to work and we cut back even more, and to see it go up another $150, it was alarming. And there\'s seriously not much more I can cut back at this point.

Posted 4 years ago #
JoB
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isn\'t it amazing what small things can make a huge difference..

the lack of insulation and energy leaks at all the door and windows are what has driven our heating bill.

Posted 4 years ago #
beachdrivegirl
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1) http://www.komotv.com/news/17207856.html- Interesting with talk about \"energy\" I wanted to make sure everyone saw this.

2) Might be a dumb question, but I really dont know. How do you check the insulation in the walls ect of a home? Our master bedroom is absolutely freezing and I am wondering if it may be because the insulation has been ripped out by some sort of critter...

3) Lastly, with it be tax season and all I thought I would remind everyone that many times if you do make your home more energy efficient with better windows etc it can be tax deductable. (Its almost like getting 10% off the window purchase.:) )

Posted 4 years ago #
Gina
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Averages about $150 in the winter, 65 year old house, rockwool insulation in attic, oil heat, electric everything else, 1000 sq ft on main living level, equal amount of basement below. One person, one cat.

When there were six of us living in the house, the electric bill was 3.68 for a month. Forty odd years ago.

I never ripped out walls for a \"more open feeling\", I wonder if that helps with energy consumption.

I have one bathroom, and use a dishwasher. No microwave--wasteful to have one to burn popcorn in. Did put in an electric garage door opener. Two cordless phones and a dvd player and a computer. Those are my additions to the home of items that use electricity. The coldest room in the house is located on the NW back corner, gets the least amount of sunlight, and the heat register is shared with the bathroom.

Posted 4 years ago #
walfredo
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Some insulation tips cut from a webpage-

There are many things you can do to prepare your home for cold weather and many of these things are easy enough to do in an afternoon by yourself. First, before you begin any winterizing, change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. This should be done at least twice a year and make sure to test them as well.

Adding an extra layer of insulation in your attic can make a large difference in your energy bill, especially if you live in an older home. If you live in a mobile home be sure to check the insulation under your home. Make sure that you not only have enough insulation under the mobile home but also that the insulation has not fallen.

While you are checking your insulation be sure to check any exposed pipes you have, especially those under a mobile home. These pipes can be insulated if need be. This will also allow you to find your main shut off valve in case your water to the house needs to be quickly shut off. Be sure that any outside water faucets have been turned off and the hoses attached to them taken off and put up in the garage for the winter.

A large amount of energy can be lost in the cracks and crevices of your home which are commonly found around windows and places where items, such as your cable cords, enter and exit the home. You can check for places in your home where you are losing energy by carrying a lit incense stick around the walls, outlets, and windows. The smoke from the incense will pull toward areas where air is leaking to the outside. This is an easy way to see where you need to apply more caulk or weather stripping. This is a good time to put in storm windows and doors. Loss of energy can also be had in the cracks around window air conditioners and these AC units need to be taken out for the winter season

Posted 4 years ago #
andrea
Member Profile

this is something I came to a head with just this last month...the City Light bill was $400 (!) for Feb & March, and we\'re just 2 people (and 3 dogs)...its a 2500 sqft house and is run by electricity for everything...I\'ve pondered the idea of switching to gas heat a couple of times, as my parents switched and now save about $150 a month, however I found it costs upwards of $4000 to convert over to gas which just isn\'t economically conceivable to me right now...I do use all flourescent bulbs (even tho they flicker a lot and never seem to be bright enough), and keep the thermostat set to 63 during the day and 68 at night...its still ridiculous to me though that its that expensive for only 2 people! I need to learn to read by candle light I think...

Posted 4 years ago #
Jeannie
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By the way, Puget Sound Energy is proposing yet another rate hike, and quite a significant one at that. This lovely news was buried in the flurry of papers that typically accompany our utility bills.
One can submit comments to comments@utc.wa.gov
Specify docket # UE-072300 AND docket # UG-072301

Posted 4 years ago #
JoB
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thanks.. i will do that.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bernicki
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Our last bill was larger than usual, $308 for two months. Three adults, two kids, 2700 sf house. We have gas radiant heat, which saves a LOT of money on gas. But, we\'ve been running electric oil-filled radiators occasionally because the second floor gets cold (no radiant heat up there), so that\'s where the electricity money\'s going.

Posted 4 years ago #
charlabob
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Thanks for the pointer, Jeannie--I dug around a bit more. (Slow TV night).

Part of the Puget Sound Energy proposal, along with the rate hike, is to go private -- sell itself to a consortium of US and Canada investors.

PSE calls this privatization \"merger plans with infrastructure fund partners who are focused on the long term\" Here\'s a hint: if it sounds like obfuscation, it probably is.

If you get your bills online, you have to dig a little to get the required bill inserts:

rate increase:
http://www.pse.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/mediaKit/GenRateCaseHearings_MarApr2008.pdf

merger:
http://www.pse.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/mediaKit/MergerHearings_MarApr2008.pdf

Posted 4 years ago #
Jeannie
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\"merger plans with infrastructure fund partners who are focused on the long term\" Wow - who writes this double-speak jargon? Thanks for the tip, Charlabob. I\'m very suspicious of PSE\'s motivations.

Posted 4 years ago #
credmond
Member Profile

One thing I noticed in winter is that the washing machine and dryer get run more often (lord knows why). And, cooking is more intensive in the winter months than any other time (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannuka/whatever, New Year\'s, Easter). All these things may not seem like much but when you\'re cooking on an electric range two or three times longer than usual, when the oven\'s going for several hours at a clip, when three or four loads of wash are being done and dried, that\'s a huge jump in electricity (and/or gas) usage.
-
Do an audit of what\'s going on in your house for a couple months running and see what pops out. Maybe in the winter people take showers that last twice as long, burning twice the energy for a single shower. It\'s not so much the little things as the change in rhythm and not being able to relate it to something static (every 2 months bill).

Posted 4 years ago #
Jeannie
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Sounds like most of us are being conscientious about saving energy. Too bad PSE doesn\'t operate as responsibly. Perhaps the proposed rate increase is to pay off their fines!

PSE to pay $1.25 million fine

Seattle Times environment reporter

A tip from an anonymous whistle-blower has led to the largest fine ever against a Washington natural-gas distributor.

Puget Sound Energy has agreed to pay a $1.25 million fine after one of its subcontractors, Pilchuck Construction, was caught with dozens of gas-leak-inspection records that appeared to have been faked over a four-year period.

Posted 4 years ago #
BusinessOwner
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My bill was $643 and some change (for two months). I was running some ultra-power consuming equipment though.
 
Usually its right around $300-ish (for two months)
 

Posted 4 years ago #
BusinessOwner
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So much HTML tags working within this blog. Darn!

Posted 4 years ago #