Utilities Question for those electrically inclined

[photographyjess.livejournal.com]

My electric bill seems unusually high. I saw the meter-reader man this morning, and so I thought I might check it out. Knowing nothing about electricity, I have a question. I live in an owner occupied house. My side pays for our own utilities including electric. There is one digital meter, and two identical analog meters. How do I figure out which one is for my side of the house? I didn't see any identifying markers on any of the meters.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Do those use any power when they are not being used? (I don't have a dishwasher, and my stove is gas.)

Refrigerator

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Your refrigerator uses a tremendous amount of electricity (the compressor).

It is sort of like running a window unit air conditioner on a modest temperature setting all year round.

An electric or gas stove should use negligible energy when not in use. The dishwasher uses a large amount of electricity, but only when running. Washers and in particular dryers use an enormous amount of energy, but again, only when running. If you have an electric water heater, that too would use a large amount of energy.

[electricube.livejournal.com]

Some do: my stove has a digital clock, I've seen dishwashers that always have an LED lit on the front panel, to mean "ready".

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

All kinds of appliances draw standby power even when they're off. Basically anything without a mechanical on-off switch (or which has a wall wart transformer) is drawing at least a few watts 24/7 to keep its circuit boards powered up.

Not just appliances with remote controls like TVs, DVD players, stereos, and cable boxes, but also things like dishwashers, toasters, blenders, microwaves, computers and monitors, air conditioners, cordless phones, cell phone chargers, and even some lamps. It can really add up -- some estimates put this standby power as 25% of a household's electricity use.