Electric Bill went even higher!! Grr

**qtkitty** · 08-17-2008, 04:12 AM

Now i am pissed ... to say the least... last month my electric bill was $190 some... i made some adjustments like getting the compact fluorescent light bulbs for all the lights in my home .. turned off kitchen light at night ( normally i left it on so i wasn't scambling with a baby for late night feedings trying to find the darn switch which is in the DUMB place where you have to stretch for it over the counter top ). I have waited til all most all my cloth diapers are dirty to do one massive load.

When i got this months bill i almost DIED $203 !! EVEN MORE THEN LAST TIME!! Supposedly we are using 81 KWH per day!!!
My mother has a house and only uses 50 KWH per month so she almost crapped when i told her.

I still think its our AC... Joe asked our land lord to come look at it day before yesterday who said that he would have teh AC guy come out and check it.. well he also forgot to mention the kitchen faucet was leaking .. and of course later on in the day i go to wash my hands after Joe had done some dishes and it squirted across the back of the counter and onto the couch. So we contacted our landlord and he came and checked that out. While he was there he suddenly said he would check the AC and said that the owner of the park had said no to someone looking at our AC because it was working. Repetively telling us that it wasn't their responsability to "fix" it as long as it is cooling. He has told us this garbage before so i know he hasn't talked to the owner. I have already told Joe that if he saw our old neighbor to let him know because he knows the owners wife and he will be able to let her know and she will talk to the owner ( it's our ace card .. but right now i can't afford an extra $70-80 or more electric bill every month ) Last time we pulled the ace card we had a new coil in our hot water heater Asapp.

**rebecca** · 08-17-2008, 07:07 AM

I feel your pain. I have not had my air conditioner on once, use strips to turn off appliances, tv's, etc., turn off lights and my bill went up $32!!! Our wonderful town increased our electric, water, sewer, up 30%! I also, have compact flourescent lights. I have never had my electric bill this High (122.00) in the summer time. Could you check with your utility company and see if they raised their rates?

**tomishco** · 08-17-2008, 08:17 AM

Could it be the electric meter isn't working properly? Have them come out and check the meter?

**DonnainME** · 08-17-2008, 08:45 AM

I feel your pain.

We have a hole in our water line and I am sooo worried that our electric bill is gonna be sky high because the pump is running more than normal. I am also worried that our water pump will go out and that's $400. We're on well water.

DH is gonna do a temp fix soon (I hope) and we have someone coming in about a week (I hope that too) to dig it up and replace it.

I also suggest having the electric company come out and check the meter. I need to go out and read ours today to see if we're using alot more than we did last month.

**Clutterbug Jen** · 08-17-2008, 08:51 AM

I hope they get things figured out soon and get them fixed for you.

**Missourimom** · 08-17-2008, 08:56 AM

I'm sorry....it really these high bills really hurt. If it makes you feel any better, our summer bills average between $350.00 and $400.00. Ouch.

**The Muse** · 08-17-2008, 09:24 AM

We switched to compact flourescents, bought power saver power strips, and installed a whole house fan which we use instead of a/c and our bills since June have been a hair under 1/2 of what they were during the same period last year.

Even when it's working properly, a/c is a major power sucker. I didn't realize how bad it really was until I started comparing bills.

**yankeegal** · 08-17-2008, 09:29 AM

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this..

A few years back our bill jumped quite a bit. We unplugged everything and plugged everything back in one at a time. I watched the meter outside to see if something was making it run faster. We found it was an older refrigerator causing the spike. Might be worth a try? Also are you in a single family home? If not, ask your neighbors what their electric bill is. A friend of ours found that the neighbors were "spliced" into his and he was basically paying their bill.

**Ms. Clear** · 08-17-2008, 09:50 AM

A/C is a major power suck. It may work perfectly fine, but every year, it's going to become less efficient. My honest advice to you is to limit its use whenever humanely possible.

**Marie78** · 08-17-2008, 10:00 AM

I am sorry your bill went up. Our bill went up more than $30 this last month, we know it's because of the increase in electric price in our area. We need to figure out the math though, how much was extra electric use and how much extra we are being charged. It NEVER ends!!!

**baxjul** · 08-17-2008, 10:11 AM

Sorry it went up, I can feel your pain!!!!

**jamie79** · 08-17-2008, 10:42 AM

We are getting another rate increase of 20% and they just raised it last yr. I feel your pain. My electric bill that I just paid was $60 more then the month before. We were using the a.c alot in that time though

**mommy4ever** · 08-17-2008, 11:34 AM

I'd look at the bill. Did the rate increase?

We use approximately that for a month in our house. We are a family of 6 though.

Also look at the dates, you may be paying for prior to the changes, ours runs about 3 weeks behind. That may be the difference.

Is it central air? Or a window unit? If it's a window unit, I'd save to buy a new one of your own next year. They make a portable one too, that is on wheels and a hose that gets vented out the window that way you can cool the area you need most, more effieciently.

I'm hoping to install and attic fan system next year, not A/C, as it's more cost effective. We opened our attic this week and the heat that goes up in a way has dropped the temp in the house without our window a/c running.

**Quadcam** · 08-17-2008, 12:19 PM

our last one was $256, it's been really hot here and we live in a MH, there really isnt a whole lot of insulation in them so the a/c keeps kicking on. plus DSD's BF moved in so thats more water use, which keeps the well pump running more. I cant wait till sept-oct when it cools down to the 70's and we can just opens the windows and not run the a/c

**peanut** · 08-17-2008, 02:20 PM

Welcome to why we don't get A/C, even though everyone around us has it. We picked up a window unit from a garage sale a friend had. Guaranteed us it worked. WEll it did, for $20/mth. to cool one room...and we didn't have it on all the time, just when we felt it needed to be on (probably less than a week all told). Not interested thank-you.

Jean