Electric Power Billing .
 

Have an elderly family friend who lives alone with electrical power charges of $542.00 for December 2014. All meters are smart meters.There are 4 of them on the ranch..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.

Here's some historic facts. She had bills in the $1000.00 per month range up to June last year until I did an audit on energy consumption for her.
I found that the lower heater element ( 12 years old.)for the shower and kitchen tank had welded it self ON. I disconnected it and turned the upper element to 125 degrees.

Found the ( 12 year old ) utility room double element water heater tank ON and set to 170 to 185 degrees. I shut both elements off. She now does laundry with TIDE cold water detergent in cold water.

Out in the back yard is an old kennel house ( Unused now. ) about 10 x30. It had a double element water heater and was set to 185 degrees That is now shut off.

In the old dental lab' there is a water heater tank and lights with a art studio for the grandson. It runs on a separate smart meter ...about $100.00 a month in winter.

After shutting off unnecessary power, monthly power charges dropped to $190.00 in summer....with August around $225.00.
Last September the house a/c burnt out and has not been fixed .

So she has gone up around $300.00 for December and I cannot see how....maybe $50.00 or so for colder weather.
The bill is not itemized and only last Kwh's used. For their claim of 5320 Kwh they are charging $510.00 for power.

They list previous reading : 11359.
Month end reading : 11492....with a multiplier of 40.0000 giving 5320 kwh used.

Their web page has no Tariff or Kwh charge rates. Seems average Kwh rates in Oklahoma are 0.09 per Kwh.

What I cannot fathom is a jump of nearly $300.00 from November to December.

Any power guys help me get a handle on this and any suggestions?

FYI : A residence power costing page .....http://www.cornhusker-power.com/householdappliances.asp



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Does she have electric heat?

That's the only thing I can think of. With 4 power-hungry and high-hot water usage kids and electric hot water in our rental, our bill is less than $250 now. In August with the central air cranking we used 2057 kWH (bill for delivery and generation was $352).

Even in our house with with 4 window AC units in the summer and the same kids' energy usage, we never got much higher than 2100 kWH.

I just can't fathom how she could over double our usage.

That seems absurdly high. 300 dollars a month in summer??

My bill with 3 window ac units running was under or just over 100 bucks (though i do only run ac at night). With no ac units running was under 40.

Makes sense its a lot higher in winter if its electric heat, but still, single and elderly paying 500 plus on electricity? Incredible

Something definitely wrong here. It would take me a year to use 5300 KW in my all-electric 1800 SF house in PA. It also has central air, and a 700 SF shop building which is heated with propane. I also supplement the home heat with a pellet stove, but even without it, there is no way I could use that much juice.

Even in the sunny south, Columbia, S.C., a screen door to hell, where the heat is brutal in the summers, and when everyone is home for the summer eating up the A/C, leaving doors open, et cet., the bill would never exceed $250-$275 / month, and that's a 2,500 SF house. Could the meter be "wrong" somehow?

1. I don't know if it is efficient to have a water heater originally designed to utilize two elements now operating with just one element.

2. Can the water heaters be outfitted with some type of exterior insulating wrap? How old are all of the water heaters? Is there economic justification to replace them with new, presumably more efficient models?

3. As the lab and studio are being used from time to time, has the insulation/energy efficiency of that structure been evaluated?

4. I assume that the property is remote enough to make natural gas piped in from a utility company impossible/impractical. What about propane delivered by truck? You could leave the electric system in place as a supplement/backup.

Sit yourself down next to the meter and do some observations. Turn off the water heaters and see what consumption is. Turn them back on and observe consumption.

Grandson's an artist?? Are you sure he doesn't have a secret grow operation there?

She wouldn't happen to be in the Choctaw Co-op would she?

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."

Choctaw Electric Co-op members file petition to oust board of trustees

Something to consider: Are there any buried feeds to any of the out buildings? I have a buried feed to my shop and something underground failed and electricity started "leaking" out into the ground. A high enough resistance to draw a substantial amount of power and yet not enough to pop the 60 amp breaker. This resulted in a steady unexplained rise in the electric bill over about 6 months until I noticed the trend and found the problem.

All good suggestions
 

I Like #8,9+10.

But if there's nothing explaining the Increase...

Take all your information/investigations and make a conference call to the
Grid Owner's (Power Company)Customer Service Department,
and "Walk the Matter Up The Chain"

Not Happy with the response,or lack thereof ?

Call the State's Version of the Public Service Commission.
Call the local T.V. station's
(In the Power Company's Headquarters Location)
Consumer Assistance Reporter and go "LIVE"
that'll get a response.

Thank you for all your suggestions folks...no, he does not have a 'grow' :cool:

I am about to talk to the company this afternoon.

The home heating is all electric. No gas line as it is rural. Although there is a disused huge propane tank out back of lab'.

As you say 5000 Kwh is high.

I'll request a Audit by them too.

Let you all know what happens tonight.

If it's electric heat and it was a really cold month, I could see that kind of increase. Install set back thermostats if they're not there already.

While that could explain the $$$ (if she were in fact in the area), that's still a crapload of kWH used for a single old lady!

Or somebody tapping into her electricity?