Does this sound high to you? Electric Bill...

Macdaddy4738

Macdaddy4738

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Just got the first bill for the house we moved into.

In Blowing Rock, NO A/C....

the bill is apparently 186 dollars. This sounds absolutely TOO high to me. There is no way that this could be the cost in my mind. Lights are never left on, only one fan stays on most of the time, which probably equates to 4 dollars or so a month. Lights stay on outside from dark till around 8 am. Maybe 2-3 dollars there? There are 2 refrigerators (full size) in the house, but IMO thats only probably 20 dollars of the bill for the month....

Keep in mind, the bill was 99 dollars last month with 7 people living in the house, now its 186 with 5 people living in the house.

Does 186 sound reasonable or is that just too high like I am thinking?
 
only thing that changed was the addition of one more computer, and one LCD 32" tv. That is all.

No way I can see that being the source of the cost jump.
 
I know at my parent's house...the power bill will go up $50 a month is they keep all the outside lights on overnight. I also know there's a huge difference in power when they leave the curtains/blinds open and the A/C has to fight that heat. And if there's a lot fo foot traffic inside to outside and vice versa, that always tacks on more. So those things you may not have noticed, but cause a huge difference for my folks.


Oh and one more thing to check are seals around doors and windows. We had a seal crumble on a sliding glass door, and didn't realize it until we replaced the rollers...when we fixed the seal, that saved some...so we went on a mission checking for others.



Depending on the combo of the stuff above...my parents will pay anywhere from $225-350 for a 2200 sq/ft house with 6 people there.
 
Black Bear said:
Do you have an electric water heater?
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yes, but I kind of ruled this out as the problem, being that there were 7 people in the house at 99 dollars a month, now there are 5 at 186? makes no sense...

add to the fact that I live with 2 couples...you can figure out the rest.

There are probably 4 separate showers taken a day, and mine last around 5-8 minutes.

Laundry is run probably 3 times a week or so....
 
Are u on an equal payment plan??? My sister started this and the month or so were ok then she jumped way up bc they figured in the winter time high bills.
 
that doesnt sound right.
could the electric water heater be stuck on?
Our heat was stuck on once. We noticed it in the summer, but it took a few months of high bills and a second HVAC company to figure it out. First company was doing warranty work on the new system, they were useless. Our AC didnt seem nice and cold, they checked for leaks, refilled freon, etc. AC still wasnt right, and our electric bill was out the roof. New house, we didnt have a good baseline, but still seemed way high. Cut our losses, we paid a another recommended company to take a look, they found the aux. heat grid was stuck on, bad controller I think. I'm not sure of the order, if our AC'd air was being heated, or pre-heated, but the electric meter was spinning overtime.
 
Check billing period/cycle. I've seen the number of days a bill is for vary as much as 7 days before. I'm willing to bet you're also paying for a few more days in there as well. It makes a different anyways.
 
also check for water leaks if you are on a well .The pump may be running alot more if there is a leak.
 
BigClay said:
Yep, this could be it.
Or New River made a mistake. It is worth calling them.
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Its actually through Blue Ridge Electric.

Haven't seen the bill specifics yet either, as the bill goes to the landlord (Blue Ridge wants a 1000 dollar deposit to put it in our name...yeah right :shaking:)

the water heater looks fine, same with the well pump. I cant hear any noise of any kind coming from it...

How would running a dehumidifier affect the bill?
 
The bill goes to the landlord...

Do you at least see it? Maybe his bill jumped and he's hitting you up for his overage.
 
13bullets said:
The bill goes to the landlord...

Do you at least see it? Maybe his bill jumped and he's hitting you up for his overage.
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i would def ask to see this bill.

and youd be surprised how much one computer will use when left on a lot. assuming its a desk top.

but that is quite a jump.
 
I'd keep an eye on the meter outside. They can't charge you for more than it says you're using.
 
13bullets said:
The bill goes to the landlord...

Do you at least see it? Maybe his bill jumped and he's hitting you up for his overage.
Click to expand...

Saw it, its kind of confusing.

The bill was actually for 200 something...

What happened was the tenants living upstairs paid for 99 dollars of the bill last month, the landlord paid the remaining amount (although for some reason she paid it late resulting in a 5 dollar late fee :shaking:)

Anyways, she took the 50 dollars off our amount, resulting in 186 dollars.

Either way, we are getting the bill in our name soon...something still doesnt seem right.
 
well this is for a gas meter but theres also meter readers for electric...one here in durham was "guesstimating" our usage...and quite a few more
 
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