by Ryan Reid
Member since:
October 5, 2008

My Electricity Bill Nearly Doubled!

January 06, 2012 05:15 AM UTC
views: 0 | 8 people recommend this | comments: 48

And i cant figure out why!!!

 

Apparently last month i used enough electricity to nearly double my bill. Not to mention that the month before was abnormally high as well! The worst part is i can only think of a few little things that would effect my bill. One being the christmas tree, another being an extra computer hooked up to our TV.

My furnace is a gas burning furnace so it uses some electricity but not that much and it really wasn't all that cold last month anyway. I use almost 100% CFL bulbs which did bring my bill down when i installed them so i cant blame lighting...i am at a loss...

[upon further inspection]

I just got done doing the math on my bill and i noticed a few things. One being that the bill was for 35 days, more than normal...so that would change things a little. But the other being that when i did the math on the bill amount divided by the KWH, things werent quite even.

In fact the rate was over a full dollar more this month compared to last month! So not only did i apparently use an obscenely larger amount of energy, but it also cost more per unit. awesome...

 

Now i really need to figure this out...i cant be paying more for my bills at a time when my income is less than it ever has been...ugh...now i can't wait to see my gas bill...

 

Have you noticed any changes in your energy bills lately?

Comments: 48

Heather Reid Jan 6, 2012, 6:10am UTC
Your house has been kept warming ever since Noah made his appearance.
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 7:21am UTC
this is my electric bill not my gas bill : /
Morgan S. Jan 6, 2012, 11:34am UTC
pardon my butting in.... if the furnace is a forced air furnace, you still have that blower running more often. just for curiosity - turn on the furnace and see how fast the electric meter turns (after the fan kicks on, of course).
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:11pm UTC
i know the blower still uses electicity, but the change was drastic and the furnace ran little more than it did the previous month, and actually i have had MUCH lower bills in the dead of winter when it is running full tilt. so i wrote the furnace off as the cause as it has never been an issue in the past.

but thanks for the input! Our old furnace made our electric bill astronomical because the blower was ALWAYS running. we installed a new, Higher efficiency furnace a couple years back
Ann L. Jan 6, 2012, 7:33am UTC
Your hot water heater can really increase your power bill, if it's electric like mine.
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 11:25am UTC
mine is gas, so that isnt it lol
iPhoneaddict88 Tba Jan 27, 2012, 8:44am UTC
Mine was gas it was messed up and was leaking so it ran up our gas and our water bills it's dropped back to 40 a month water from $60 and gas and electric are together at about $150 again from $220
iPhoneaddict88 Tba Jan 27, 2012, 8:44am UTC
Once we changed to a energy efficient electricwater heater
Tina Dalasinski Jan 6, 2012, 7:42am UTC
I hope you figure it out soon.
Peter Joseph Swanson Jan 6, 2012, 8:14am UTC
crap
Denise L. Jan 6, 2012, 8:59am UTC
There are lots of ways to reduce your bill through conservation, as you know. Time to look into them a little harder, perhaps.
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:12pm UTC
i had been doing REALLY good at it in the past year. I was cutting my bill from the previous year by almost 50% every month...and then this...it just threw me
Justin Reid Jan 6, 2012, 9:05am UTC
If you wanna figure out what is using a lot of energy I still have that meter thing that you can measure the amount used for each thing and what not. I still never even set it up for myself...
Diane Huizenga Jan 6, 2012, 9:14am UTC
A Christmas tree should not double you usage.
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:12pm UTC
no kidding lol! its just one of the only things i can really think of that was different last month than the ones before it.
Tory H. Jan 6, 2012, 9:33am UTC
Bleh :( Winter can be rough for bills...
*~*Meg*~* D. Jan 6, 2012, 9:40am UTC
out electricity was $50 higher this month than last, couldn't understand why since we have gas heat...hubby thinks it's because of Christmas, I beg to differ!
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:16pm UTC
ouch! so you know how i feel all too well
♥ Christine aka stine1 ♥ Jan 6, 2012, 9:48am UTC
Did you have more Christmas lights than just your tree? How long did the lights burn on the tree?
Are you heating stuff for your baby? Is the bathing water heated with electricity?

How long is the additional PC running per day? The average PC here costs 30 to 50 Eurocents per hour, don't know your electricity prices but they seem to be lower than in Germany.

Hope that helps :-)
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:15pm UTC
from what i have read, US energy prices are lower than those in Europe. It really depends on if someone is using it to watch TV. We canceled our cable and use the additional computer to stream music or Netflix in place of a cable bill. but if that is causing this i'm not saving a dime!
Nancy S. Jan 6, 2012, 10:51am UTC
Haven't gotten my bill yet. I expect it to be some higher but hopefully not as much as your's. I would call the electric company and see what they say.
Morgan S. Jan 6, 2012, 11:38am UTC
what a bummer. and winter isn't even here yet. keep yourselves bundled up. :-)
Ryan Reid Jan 6, 2012, 1:13pm UTC
i am keeping it warmer in the house than i usual do for Noah's sake. I am all for the keeping it low and bundling up. but its hard to explain that to a 3 month old lol.
Beth J. Jan 6, 2012, 12:31pm UTC
Thanks for sharing on Helping Out One Another
Chris E. Jan 6, 2012, 4:10pm UTC
Heating prices are going up but not enough to double you bill. Although that may be happening soon. I cant think of anything to suggest that might be causing it that you have not already mentioned. I can suggest that if your state has deregulated you can pick your supplier. I researched and found one that was a lot cheaper. Not only did my monthly costs go down but they were working with Upromise so I get money every month going to my Upromise account for my son's college fund.
Steph-in-NE ..... Jan 6, 2012, 5:21pm UTC
our water/sewage bile doubled,, they blamed it on the cost of running the water treatment center during the flood last may - oct.
DarkBeauty 73 (Melanie) Jan 6, 2012, 5:53pm UTC
I hope you get it figured out. No surprises with any of my bills thank god.
I would get it checked out
M L M. Jan 6, 2012, 11:21pm UTC
During the cold months my electric bill shots up, I'm on SS so I'm worried I'll get another bill of $200, I'm in a 16x56 mobile home and its all electric, luckily I have no gas at all. Thats still high for me though.
Larry H. Jan 6, 2012, 11:21pm UTC
mine was 0ut of sight too...
Ryan Reid Jan 7, 2012, 7:21am UTC
DTE?
M L M. Jan 6, 2012, 11:22pm UTC
Hope you find work soon.
Meagan T. Jan 6, 2012, 11:28pm UTC
That happened to me last summer we used do much we had to pay more... hardly makes sence.
Marilyn M. Jan 6, 2012, 11:36pm UTC
Obama told us our electric bills were necessarily going to go up under his presidency.
Heidi S. Jan 7, 2012, 2:05am UTC
There was quite an increase in the price of electricity last month. Call your power company and they should be able to explain it to you. Having worked for a utility company, I know it could be possible there was an error in reading your meter. Good luck!
Heather M. Jan 7, 2012, 6:42am UTC
As Heidi suggested, you should contact the power company for an explanation. They will probably try to attribute it to heating and/or Christmas decorations, though.

Come warmer temps, you should consider installing some solar panels. They will pay for themselves fairly quickly.
Bernard C. Jan 7, 2012, 1:44pm UTC
Interesting - I tend to keep tabs on my usage on a regular basis and by using other alternative lighting whenever necessary :-)
Justin Reid Jan 7, 2012, 3:02pm UTC
Just got mine... $40 more... I don't understand...
Ryan Reid Jan 8, 2012, 5:52pm UTC
mine was 90 more...
J F. Jan 7, 2012, 5:43pm UTC
Even with us having a gas furnace it is kicked on by electric. So, our electric is always much higher now.
Beth Yost Jan 7, 2012, 7:31pm UTC
Didn't you get the notice that electricity and gas were going up? I did and now I worry a bit. Was using a bit over 100.00 per month and now it's almost double. Doesn't help this house used to be apartments so there are 2 meters to read and add together. Holding my breathe to see how much my gas goes up, then the phone will go up and the water. OUCH!!
Ryan Reid Jan 8, 2012, 5:52pm UTC
I got my gas bill today and it wasn't exceptional. Actually a little lower than last year this time. But it has been warmer this year by a lot
Susan G. Jan 8, 2012, 6:10pm UTC
It's slightly possible someone is piggybacking on your electricity. I've known people who caught neighbors running long extensions cords and/or generators off them. Also double check the meter readings yourself. The power companies can and do misread meters sometimes. I really don't like that my power company only reads meters every third month and guesstimates in between.
Nichole D. Jan 10, 2012, 12:24am UTC
We seem to pay more and more for electricity. Good luck!

Good news! This post has reached 100 Views!
Adelaide M. Jan 10, 2012, 11:47am UTC
Thanks for posting to Point Taken. Have a great day!

Hope you're able to figure out why it was higher. Ours was actually a bit lower in Dec. even with Christmas-but it was really warm here.
Katie R. Jan 11, 2012, 8:19pm UTC
I think most of mine have went down actually.
Marsha C. Jan 14, 2012, 6:36pm UTC
we have extra on our electric bill each month to pay off 2 months worth of summer bills of $700!
Pamela Marks Apr 16, 2012, 12:31pm UTC
thankfully our energy bills are about the same. I did notice our water pump part of the bill was over the amount our landlord takes off of the rent so I had to tell him so he could take the difference off of our rent as well. Someone was using a lot of water and it wasn't us. with out the water pump part of the bill our electric is about 70-100 a month for a 13 room house with the higher amount being in the winter

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