Islandsnowz

Hey guys, I have a situation that does not add up. Since 2008 my power bill has been increasing and when it seems like its at its peak, it just gets even higher.
I live in a 3 story townhouse 1,800sq ft (2 bed, 2 half bath)its only me and my mother. Our bill has started from the $200 area and is now constantly hitting around $370 each month...
We are very power conservative and do not leave electronics or lights running in the home if the room is empty or if nobody's home altogether. We called and complained about the bill and was told that even "when an object is connected to the wall and is turned off, it still draws 30% power."
So we followed what she said and unplugged everything when its not in use, (coffee maker, front/back door lights, tv, surround stereo, dvd player, computers, modem, router & even the radio we keep in the kitchen) and the list goes on, it is very annoying because these things don't retain memory so everything always has to be reconfigured when we want to use it. This was done October of last year and the bill still is in the $300's after keeping up these habits.
Air and Heat is not needed much since everything are well insulated and facing the sun during the day. After complaining again they had a guy come check our meter and said that the meter was accurate to the power that was being used.
I tried to read the meter myself and to see how fast that little wheel was spinning but instead we have digital meters and every few seconds the meter flashes random numbers and is blank and will do it again, the samething with my neighbors meters. My neighbors and I are usually home at random late times so its hard to catch them to ask how much they are paying.
My friend that is a home owner has a 4,500+ sq ft house and his bill is only in the $200 range, there are 4 adults that live there so wtf.

When I go to sleep at night, the only things I "KNOW" thats using power that i don't disconnect is
----------------
3 Smoke Alarms
1 Microwave
1 Refrigerator
Heat/Air (in auto mode)
2 Alarm clocks
Washer/Dryer
2 charging cell phones and sometimes my electric razor.
-----------------
(The outside street lamps are provided for public use and not tied to us.)

So having a $370 power bill is definately a red flag.

But my question is,
Is there anything I can do to prove that i'm not using as much power as claimed?
Is there a certain way to read these new digital meters?
Do appliances really draw 30% power when turned off?


-thanks for reading and your answers.
-the money these guys are getting from me could be going elsewhere....like putting away to get a RL this summer

SupaRookie

The thing that looks concerning is:

Heat/Air (in auto mode)

What temperature did you set it? Did you know that lowering the temp by 1 degree actually cost some serious dough!!? Also, I think around November-January, PG&E just rape everyone in their bill because the average consumption rises (most people are home for the holidays).

subinf

That does seem pretty high.

crazycated

Hey your pretty much screwed I had a very similar problem with the electric company Southern California Edison I was renting a 4 bedroom house and my bill was coming out between $300 and $500 dollars a month the house had no air conditioning or working heater just basic appliances and every month I would call the electric company to come and check the meter since it was old with the dial numbers on it a couple of times they made adjustments on my bill well at the end I got fed up and look for some assistance I was told to go to the city and file a complain well I did they sent in inspector found out there was some faulty wiring that was not good but I still could not do anything since they had to give the landlord time to fix the problem 2 months past called the electric company up again and explained to them the situation well they came out and did a report and finally change the meter to a digital one but still did not help electric company had a report and city inspector had a report with same conclusion and still could not do anything at the end I had to move out from my home with a $2000 plus bill and all these reports saying what the problems were and im still stuck paying the bill. All I can say is you can get your own electrician or city inspector to find out if there is a problem with the wiring and fix it or have the landlord fix it if you rent the home and if all that fails move out quickly before you get stuck with a huge bill .

Islandsnowz

SupaRookie- During the night the Heat goes to 71 degrees and during the day I turn it down to 62 because the sun really does its job lol.

This is usually the #1 reason I try to rent from places that have power included in the rent, but this one already has cable and water included and you can't beat that.

Yes crazycated, my issue seems like its about to snowball into what you were having problems with. I will see if I can get the landlord to send a someone out, its getting to the point that I can't budget how much I have to put away in order to not interfere with other bills.

After talking to a few people someone told me that the power company can legally tell me the average my neighborhood /next door neighbors are paying... have you ever heard of that?

This is Alabama Power Co. btw

Islandsnowz

I would ask them these questions but your not going to get customer service unless you have a power outage, or want to cough up some cash early. lol

TzarChasm

Holy shit dude, how about some punctuation? Maybe throw in a paragraph or five? That was painful to read.

svtmike

Electric heat I take it? That's what's sucking down the power.

Plug all the other stuff back in because the inconvenience far outweighs the benefit as you've described it.

svtmike

There was a period at the end.

Islandsnowz

svtmike- Electric heat I take it? That's what's sucking down the power.


The only reason I would say its not the heat/air conditioner unit is because I have already cut down on use and my friend with the 4,500 sq ft house has his unit running almost all the time yet his bill remains less than mine.

svtmike

Is it gas heat or electric?

I had electric heat in my first (and last) apartment, and it was freaking expensive to run compared to gas heat.

Your electric bill is more than triple my electric bill, and more than my combined gas+electric in winter for a 5,400 sq. ft house.

spdy0001

My house is full electric and my bill peaked at $130 this year and I thought that was bad

svtmike

OP, you can get one of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882715001

to see which of your devices might be sucking down the most power, and based on your per kw-h rate figure out how much it's costing you to have each of them plugged in.

Islandsnowz

Hey you lookin for a roommate? lol
----------------------------------------------------------------
! You answered my question before I asked lol, I'm going to check with some local stores for one so later I can see if I am really benefiting from unplugging these unnessesary things. (most likely not but it will be cool to know how much wattage my computer stuff is eating up)

TL_Captain

Looks like your dear neighbor is stealing sweet power from you.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Not all devices consume that much power when they're turned off. It all depends on if the device has a hard or soft power switch. And even if the device has a soft power switch, power consumption when on "standby" varies. It's not much on the scope of a single household...it only really starts to add up when you consider it at a country-wide level.

My electric+gas bill last month was $118. I don't unplug anything I use on a regular basis. The only things I do to conserve are...

1) Furnace (gas) is set to 68 degrees when I'm awake, 62 degrees when I'm sleeping and/or going for a jog on the treadmill.

2) If a device has a hard power switch, I make sure this switch is off when I'm not using the device. It's a little inconvenient, but meh.

3) Common sense stuff like turning things off (like lights and other devices) when I leave the room.

Cell phone chargers stay plugged in 24/7. I have a Debian server that runs 24/7 (Dell PowerEdge 830).

Other than a weird wiring problem or meter problem...I dunno what to say!

Billiam

As bad as this seems, the situation can always be worse. Here’s a power company story I heard about a month ago on a local home improvement show. It’s actually more of a cable company story, but still…

A lady, who’s been living in a 40-50 year old house for about 15 years, calls up the cable company about problems. The first cable guy comes out and isolates the problem to the small utility pole in the back yard. “We’ll have to send a pole crew back to replace some parts.” The pole crew comes back and consists of one person: Fatty the Cable Guy. Fatty hauls his large self up the pole and literally breaks the top portion of it where the hardware is attached. Fatty apologizes and says they’ll have someone come out to fix the pole.

Time passes…. About a week after Fatty’s visit, the lady gets a call from the cable company telling her that the pole actually belongs to the power company and they’re just leasing the right-of-way on it. That cable person provides the lady with power company contact info for pole issues. The lady calls them, explains her story, and is told “No problem. We’ll come out and look at it.” A week passes, nothing. The lady calls the power company asking for the status. “Oh, sorry. Someone will get back to you right away.” Three days later the lady gets a call from the power company.

“According to the survey we have for your area, that pole is actually your property, not ours. So it’s your responsibility to have it fixed or replaced. We can replace the pole for you or you’re welcome to pursue a contractor on your own but we would have to approve the contractor before any work takes place. You should also know that regulations require problems with poles to be fixed within X amount of time. That leaves you about two weeks to get this fixed.”

“OK, so how much would it cost for you to replace the pole?”

“About $7,500.”

SupaRookie

last month my bill was ~$320 or so. I got 6 people including myself. Each room has a heater and we cover the utility. I know one of them is turning the heater on all day long. I asked all of them to turn it off when not in use. I hope this month it's less.

Islandsnowz

yeah i was kinda thinking that some how my neighbors power was getting mixed in with mine even tho I don't have any external plugs outside.

There's no way in hell my bill should be higher than yours lol.
------------------------
Thanks for the story billiam, i'm trying to put a stop it before it gets any worse lol.

Islandsnowz

So today I took a shower early this afternoon the water went cold after about 10 minutes, this has been happening more often than usual but I didn't think twice about it since it is cold outside.
Then later on that evening I go downstairs to my room and find the entire downstairs carpet and bathroom is soaked with water to the point i'm splashing with each step. I trace the water to the water heater closet and I can hear a pipe constantly flowing water but I couldn't see where the water was coming from.

I ran to the circuit breaker and shut the water heater off and the pipe was still running so i used the knob to turn it off which slowed it down a little but not completely since some fucker painted it and its stuck, I believe the water was coming from behind the water heater and it was pretty wet. (Thank god i was home because my previous one sparked and caught fire).

The water heater had little black spots where the wires are hidden so I have no idea how long that's been there. I will post pics.
I'm beginning to think maybe the water heater was the cause of the high power bill? Since it was struggling to keep hot water before it died.
What sucks is that the carpet and walls are wet so both are going to have to be replaced if I want to avoid any mold. Ironically I have to renew my lease this week...

if its not one problem its another

Islandsnowz

Water heater with black stuff around blue area





Wet walls



Even my cat wont go down there.

svtmike

Well at least now I understand that your appliances are all electric. Electric heat, hot water, and clothes dryer is going to be expensive.

It's possible the water heater was sucking down more power as it failed, but don't expect miracles from repairing or replacing it.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Your post would be a lot easier to read if it had periods. :twocents:

svtmike

Your smiley would be easier to see if it had a digit.

T Ho

Have the rates increased over that time? Stop looking at your bill in $$$, and start looking at the Kilowatt-hours used for the month, and it'll be easier to figure out what's really going on.

It looks like you almost had an electrical fire with that water heater, though. Nice! I hope the landlord helps you out quick, or you are going to have a serious mold problem.

2001AudiS4

My girlfriend's electric bill at her new house is about $180 a month. No one lives there yet. We have been working on it for 4 months now, only on the weekends. We barely use the lights cause there is good natural light in most of the rooms. She has gas heat, have not used hot water. There is nothing in the house other then fridge, a dehumidifier, and clocks on the stove and microwave. There are two exterior lights on sensors that stay dimmed to 50% unless something passes in front of it, at which point it goes to 100% brightness. They are only on from dusk until dawn, then they shut off. So I am worried that her bill will exceed yours when she moves in.

subinf

That sucks about the water heater. Just had to replace one a few months ago because it was leaking, although it was in the garage so a lot easier to catch.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

screw renewing the lease, just move somewhere better.

SupaRookie

bingo!

Islandsnowz

I really love the sound of that idea lol, if this would have happened at a better time I could have but I think I'm gonna just renew, this just shows me that I need to constantly have a back up plan to certain situations.


So today the maintenance team of my neighborhood checked it out and discovered that my water heater had a crack in the bottom of it which made it do that and was beyond repair.
They took out the old, vacuumed the carpet and bathroom, and replaced it. They opened a slit in the carpet and stuck the nose of a powerful fan in there so its blowing under the carpet and drying that sponge that sits under also they sprayed something over my carpet that is suppose to stop mildew build up.
I can already tell that I'm going to have to be on their ass to get the carpet replaced...it smells like wet dog down there and my walls are still wet. after 8 hours of the fan running.







^^ I actually like that this one tells you the estimated usage of it.

Islandsnowz

oh wow, i hope shes prepared to get screwed.

Islandsnowz

I'm planning on doing that and gonna use the kilowatt meter svtmike mentioned earlier to compare, thats what happened at our old place, we had a electrical fire that burned the closet. Some idiot thought it was smart to build the heat and air unit above the water heater and all it did was leak condensation over the heater and woosh fire broke out it was already making popping noises inside the darn thing.

T Ho

What's the total kwh on your bill last month?

The "anything plugged in uses 30% of its power when off" is BS. There are a few items that behave this way-

Cable boxes, satellite TV boxes, routers, cable modems, etc- as these devices are never really OFF unless unplugged. But, your microwave isn't pulling 100W just because the clock is on, and neither is your TV, just because it's plugged in. That's silly for them to tell you that.

I have a 3300sq ft house, family of four, a few PCs, TVs, home theater, gas heat (obviously electric fan) and hot water. I use CFL bulbs throughout the house, but these have only made a $10/mo difference or so. Our bill in the winter time is about 750kwh typically, which adds up to about $100. Someone is home all day, as my wife works out of the house.
Even in the summer, with the AC, the hottest month I top out at $175 or so (AC @78, new 13SEER unit).

You have some big phantom loads. Something has to be defective somewhere. Once you get the Kill-a-Watt meter, start with the fridge. It should be in the 2-3kwh/day range, tops (my 25CF side-by-side is). Check the big loads first, and work your way down. It's not your toothbrush and cell phone, that's for sure.

EDIT: That busted water heater was certainly a factor. BTW, that energy graph is required on every new appliance, and has been for 15+ years.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad I don't have an electric water heater...$41 a month for hot water...geesh! Gas furnace, water heater, and dryer FTW. I have an electric stove, though...FTL lol.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

you should be running a dehumidifier down there 24/7 for the next little while.

Islandsnowz

good idea.


Ill post up my kwh when i find the bill. lol the old on only had a big ass sticker that said ENERGY STAR and that was it.

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

Damn that sucks and your cat doesn't look too happy either.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

I can't wait until your next power bill. I'm curious to see if the water heater was the culprit!

JLatimer

I would suspect your water heater was certainly a contributing factor. An old water heater will be filled with lime all over the heating elements that reduce the efficiency. Maybe your water heater was running all the time. The black mark on your water heater kinda looks like a clue. If the heater was plugged with lime, the electrical connection probably overheated because it would run too long and too hot.

If the problem continues you can get a clamp meter, open up your panel and take real measurements off each circuit.

Islandsnowz

Lol, I'm already planning on setting up donations via paypal .

That's what I think, also that noise went away when we take showers or run hot water for a period of time, especially the dishwasher, it made high pitch noises from the pipes as if it was straining for water. With the new water heater it still kinda does it but not as much.

He really wasn't lol. He was actually the one meowing the entire time which made me check on him, I guess that was his way of saying that there's water where it shouldn't be.