Electric Bills

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

Hi folks,
I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share the amount of their electric bill - ours seems abnormally high (even considering the recent discussion on rate increase). It's a two-floor apartment, and the only thing we have running 24/7 is the fridge, three computers (that go into sleep mode), and a filter for a 20 gal fish tank. We don't have a dryer nor washing machine, so I'm having trouble figuring out what is costing so much.
I also heard that we can get NStar folks to come check out the apt, is this true? And has anybody done this? If so, how was their customer service?
Thanks folks!

Comments

[cnoocy]

One thing you can do to figure out your electricity use is to take a look at your electricity meter and see how the big disk slows based on turning off and disconnecting various items in your apartment.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

We sort of suspect that the neigbors downstairs may be unknowingly using our electricity - and they have a washer/dryer in the basement. This is a great idea, 'cause we can turn off *everything* in our apartment and see what the meter says. Thanks!

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

This is what is currently happening to us.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

Yuck. I hope your neighbors are reasonable and will reimburse what you paid for.

[mrpet.livejournal.com]

Techincally the owner of the property is at fault and since there isn't a good way to figure out the extent of the common space usage the entire electric bill since the beginning can be asked for. I am currently holding it in reserve against any try at a rent increase until after the lease is signed.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

Mine was around $25 but the only thing running is the fridge.

[sasha-bee.livejournal.com]

do you have electric heat? that could be an explanation if you do.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

We have forced air oil heat. There is a central air system, the fan turns on to push the oil heat through the house.

We considered that the fan may cost us so much in electricity, but that doesn't quite explain this last month's bill - it has been much warmer and the heat was on maybe twice this past month, and we still didn't really see a difference in our electric bill.

[othniel77.livejournal.com]

Mine averages $57 per month. I own a 2-story 2-bedroom house.

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

It's also worth looking on the bill to see when the previous "metered" read, rather than assumed read, was. If they hadn't read in a while, then did, and it would have been only slightly higher for a few months, you instead get hit with it all at once.

A gadget to try

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

I've been wanting to get one of these: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7657/

Lame puns aside, it seems pretty handy -- it tells you the exact usage of whatever you've got plugged into it. Saves some running back and forth to the meter, and is more precise and specific.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

What are the actual numbers involved here? What do you consider "abnormally high?"

As a baseline, my electric bill runs $60 to $70 per month. What is yours?

[charlwoo.livejournal.com]

It usually runs between $130 and $150/month.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Whoah, yeah. That's high.

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

ps - bodhimindpspirit is my SO who replied, re: the same bill.

[cfox.livejournal.com]

Big house, five adults, electric dryer, electric stove, gas heat, two kitchens is running at $250/month in electricity.