Electric Company Website

**jonesies** · 02-28-2009, 06:21 PM

In an attempt to figure out my rate, etc. I went to my electric company's website and found the greatest thing! We signed up for our address and bill number and can now use their tools online. They include DAILY uses that can be graphed so you know what time you're using the most, what days of the week are your highest usage and even how many kilowatts are being used when your house is "idle" (like on vacation, middle of the night, when no one's home and so on).
You can research up to two years ago. Our usage is significantly lower than last year for sure, it's just that the rates have gone up so we have to work even harder.
It also has a feature that tells us how much we've used so far in the current billing cycle and how much our bill is at this moment.
I found it to be a world of help! Maybe your electric company does the same?

**mombottoo** · 03-01-2009, 09:53 AM

That sounds like a hand gadget. Our light company allows you to do comparisons from month to month and year to year, but they don't have anything like you describe.

**banana** · 03-20-2009, 02:44 PM

Our electric company does something similiar. I love looking at the graphs online. It is soo much easier than running out to read the meter.

**sabrelvssammy** · 03-20-2009, 03:11 PM

gosh you guys are so lucky....in my small town i call the city office to betty and ask if debbie is in and say 'hi debbie-it's jan'.....need i say more.....

**dcompton** · 03-20-2009, 11:00 PM

Thanks for this thread. I haven't really explored the electric company site for a while, but I logged on and saw that they had added graphs - but only month to month.

I have the averaged billing, so my bill varies little from month to month. February was definitely the highest usage - we had lots of cold windy days - 484 KWH. Another cold snap on the last billing that just ended, but it came in at 351 KWH. I could be more stringent, but with my bill hovering around $30 a month I'm not too concerned.

Now when we hit summer, which seems to come earlier each year, it will be different. I've already turned the A/C on one day. Of course, a norther blew through that night and the next day it was back to heating! Ah, spring...

**sabrelvssammy** · 03-20-2009, 11:29 PM

wow...sounds like you have already got a good handle on the usage... good job....

**2ndGenGranola** · 03-21-2009, 06:23 AM

Wow! How do they get the daily usage? I know they don't drive by like they do here.

**sabrelvssammy** · 03-21-2009, 10:02 AM

the new meters in the 'big' cities' are all electronic and tied into the company....eventually there will be no meter readers anymore....

we have a new electronic meter that was installed with the re-model but our electric co is way behind the times so they don't have the capability of hooking it into their computers yet...we still get the monthly meter reader in the meantime...but it is all digital...looks like an electric clock now instead of numbers and dials.....

**banana** · 03-21-2009, 06:05 PM

Im in a small city but they must electronically read my meter every couple of days. I think it is a wonderful feature.

**beks37** · 03-21-2009, 06:17 PM

I checked ours and it just has a monthly graph. I suppose I could check my meter daily and track it if I wanted to see what we were using. But, that meter for daily usage sounds handy!!