I spent an hour on the phone with our electric provider (mostly on hold) this morning. After examining fixed rates of their competitors I found out that 16-17 cents/Kwh is the average fixed rate around here. Daniel didn't fix our rate again after the fixed expired awhile ago. So, they could not remedy our $500 bill since the energy was already consumed and paid for to the main electric company at the variable rate. The new fixed rate (which we haven't agreed to yet) would make a bill like our current one equal to $11.80 per day ($352) in electricity versus the $17.33 per day ($514) in electricity that we paid for our current bill. I'm still not excited about $300-$400 electric bills during the summers. So, in an attempt to shave it down a little more, I am keeping all the shades closed during the day (I hate when it's dark during the day), and I upped both the thermostats to 80 degrees (from the 78 that they've been set at). I'm too cheap to endure these ridiculous rising costs.
I really am dying to know what everyone else's electric bill looks like this month. Ugh.
8 comments:
$20-$30 BUT I live in the Pacific NW and we only have maybe one week a summer where we actually have to use the air conditioner. At my old apartment (where we had an electric heat system and water heater) it was more like $70 a month.
We have cheap electricity but make up for it with the price of everything else so don't get too jealous :P
Ours is 275.00. But we have a one story house. Makes me want to shop around too!
Just for fun check out this website.
http://www.electricitytexas.com
It might be helpful, and it might not! :)
Yeah, we've been shopping around all day trying to find the best rate. We should have locked in when it was lower, but we've been busy and forgot.
I paid $135 this month, but I'm sure it will double or be in the $300 next month. I keep my air at 80 degrees all day and usually turn it completely off if I am going to be gone for most of the day or all day. Most people would think I am insane, but I can't afford to pay a lot for the insane electric costs around here. Sorry that your bill was so much, that really bites! Our rate is locked in at .13
Hi Erika,
Our bill tripled this month! Our company offered us 16.6 cents per kWh, but requires a contract of 3 years. Our bill came and we'd used 2051 kWh, with two different rates over the last month. Our bill for last month was nearly $360! I was floored when I read it.
By the way, I took your advice that you gave me from last summer and grew cherry tomatoes more than full size. I also quickly got rid of the hornworms when they decided to invite themselves to dinner in my garden. We have so many tomatoes from just three husky varieties.
I haven't commented lately, but I have been enjoying reading your blog and watching your family grow. Congrats on the baby. All your children are adorable.
Sam
We usually pay about $160 a month in the summer. We don't have a choice on what power company we want to use. The electric company gives you a baseline of energy that you can use and once you go over it the price triples per kwh. The baseline is enough to pretty much run the fridge and a tv.
We keep the air set at 78. We had the power company stick a box on our system that allows them to turn our air of in the summer if the grid is being overwhelmed. We get some discount for that. I think the air has only been turned off once in the three years that we have had it.
Nik said we never pay more than $100, but we haven't seen a bill for this last month when we started needing the A/C.
I remember when we moved to IL everyone was freaking out (no exaggeration at all) about how expensive electricity was b/c the cap on it had expired. This public outcry had us concerned about what our first bill would look like since we just bought a home... well, it was cheaper than our apartment in Omaha was!
Now, if our bill in IL had been like yours is, yikes, we would have been freaking out too and then we would have understood why people were going crazy there!! We still laugh about that.
I was thinking last week with your photos of L that your bills must be high with those huge windows open. One of our best purchases in this home was thermal drapes on the back windows. I HATE the house being dark, but I'm certain I'd hate our bill to be $500 even more.
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