Maybe she likes to walk around in a bathrobe all day. Or doesn't like to be cold. Hell, my gas bill was 111.00 last month and my house is about 1900 sf rancher. Unit is 3 years old. My thermostat sets at 62 from 10pm to 6am and 8am to 6pm. A COLD Nov. 10 to Dec 10 stretch round the Midlantic area.

This too... how well insulated is the house and how old is the elec. heater?

i had my rural water district come out and changed my meter to one of those smart meters.i usually use 5-6 thousand gallons a month,about 50 to 60 bucks.my first smart meter bill was $285.the idiot that installed it calibrated it wrong.i would have them check the meter.

"" Main house . About 2500 sq brick built single story and well insulated, double glazing etc.

Trailer house....now gone and meter shut off.

Lab' and studio..runs about $100 in winter as grandson often sleeps there. It's own meter.

Kennel house.... It's own meter. Now shut off. ""


Do you have a breakdown of usage per meter? I'd expect a base charge even if no electricity is used so you have a 4x expense there.

Does this have central forced air heat? Put an hour meter on the element to get a sense of how often it runs. If you can't find an hour meter, try a plug in electric clock, the type with hands not digital. Check it on a every other day basis until you get a sense of power usage.

As people age their body temp gets lower. They can feel cold even if the room is 80* so there might be some undocumented energy usage there. ( " I can't have the temp turned up too high because I still feel cold." )

Losing power through a failing underground wire is a possibility as others have said.

""
The electrical rates have gone up inappropriately. They shouldn't be as high as they are," Harvey Arnold, a petitioner and legal volunteer, said.

"Our rates had gone sky high," Becky Franks, another petitioner said. "There had to be something going on. You have PSO rates that are so much cheaper than ours." ""

You might be able to thank Obama for this. . .( closing coal fired power plants )

18:10. Monday 29th Dec. 2014.....Customer Service REC. Oklahoma Cooperative Electric Co.

Obviously trained in 'damage control'. No help what so ever. Had to demand a power audit. No suggestions on how bill jumps nearly $300.00 in a month....with a smart meter. ( Smart meter's been fitted for over a year.)

Tech' is coming out...will call first !

My shop electric was $120.00 a month during March to September. $210.00 November. ...and I pay commercial rates.

REC said they charge $0.08 per Kwh. ...so we'll see what the 'audit' says....no TARIFF on their web page.http://www.recok.coop/

I walked the grounds but found no electrical leakage...hand in the wet grass type of check, over the buried cable. Although cable is pre-meter so no impact?

Took reading of meter at 1pm and later at 1:35pm .No change in meter reading(?) and this with electric furnaces running. 72 degrees in the house, 46 outside.

From meter reading on bill of Dec 11th to today....consumption on meter reads 98 Kwh. Something screwy here. 12 days and only 98 Kwh.

Check with buddy in towns shop with 5 bays, said last month was around $600.00.

Even figuring for the daily connection charge of $0.06 and minimum use charge of $39.00 a month still way too high.

I am anxious to see what transpires...I'll let y'al's know.
I got to get this resolved as she is down to her last $45.00 until 3rd January.

PS...REC told her they do not charge for a meter not in use.....we'll see.



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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Just been thinking...this jump in electric consumption coincides with heavy rain and snow...any connection ?


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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Rural home on 20 acres and long drive. No near by homes etc. ZIP 73080.


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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

If it has been snowing I would imagine they have been trying to stay warm.

I am going to assume that they are using the air handling unit set on "heat". This will result in the strip heat portion of the air handling unit operating which can easily run the bill up. How else do they heat?

__________________
Jim

It is on 'heat' but over ridden by the wall thermostat. Yes it did get cold...26 degree but only for 3 nights.

Central heating is by large electric blower furnaces in a cupboard in the hall and i see no signs of malfunction although I do not know if it has a filter. The cabinet did not feel excessively warm and interior fan comes on/off as thermostat dictates...I watched it or a while.

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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Does someone have any idea what would consume 5300 Kwh over a month so I can use it to argue with tech coming by.?

Say, a heater blower fan of around 4000 watts or so? How many hours would that need to run to consume 5300 Kwhs.?

Im a little lost on watts vs run time.


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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Contact the county office for the elderly and ask if there are any resources to help poor people pay for heat. Had a tenant once who had little income. There was a program which paid her utility bill.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Odd, it was freezing on the ranch last month, but the grandson was baked most of the time...

One thousand watts for one hour is one kilowatt hour. So four thousand watts of electric heat for one hour is four kilowatt hours. A substantial overall cost if heater is cycling on frequently.

Someone said as you age the body demands more heat as it self generates less and that is a pretty established fact. In the majority of cases I have looked at the customer is burning the electricity.

Some posters claimed fairly low consumption rates I noticed and they are to be commended. We as a household use about a thousand killowatts per month on average.

The first thing I examine is usually the frost free fridge to make sure the defrost heaters are not remaining on constantly. This problem gets a lot of people.

Point taken, but I checked the temperature in the house and it's always 72.
She says she turns heat way down in bedroom as she likes it cool to sleep.

Imagine 4 Kw heater on all month.

Okay...hours in a 30 day month ..720. 720 hours of 4 KW continual running would be 4 x 720 = 2880.

So that's 2880. x $0.08 per Kwh is $230.00 right ? Still not $520.00

Just did some Googling........


Seems average wattage for house furnaces is about 18,000 watts. This would need to run 12 hours every day or on 50% of the day to use $530.00 . May be her heating is higher than 18,000 watts
I'll have to find out tomorrow but as I said earlier, i watched the meter running the furnaces for 20 odd minutes and meter didn't go up any and 18,000 watts is 9 Kwh an hour so it should have gone up at least 4 to 5 Kwh on the meter read out..

I guess I need to go over this with the electric man.

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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Will do...thanks.

FYI : Million BTU cost for each type of heating fuel.......

Here are some example fuel prices to compare different heating systems:

Natural gas 60% efficient $1.20/CCF(therm) Cost per MBTUs = $20.00

Natural gas 80% efficient $1.20/CCF(therm) Cost per MBTUs = $15.00

Natural gas 90% efficient $1.20/CCF(therm) Cost per MBTUs = $13.33

Electric Furnace $.06/kWh Cost per MBTUs = $17.58

Electric 12 Seer heat pump $.06/kWh Cost per MBTUs = $8.00

Propane gas 80% efficient $1.60/gal. Cost per MBTUs = $16.67


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__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Just the air handler in the hall.

__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."