Why has the light bill gone up??

[Jaxom]

Don't get me started on power companies!!! We've got ComEd here. I think after Hawaii, and some other places out west, we've the most expensive electric in the country here in Illinois. Reason? A really stupid one. Anyone remember 3 Mile island??? Before that happened ComEd was in the process of converting over the nuclear power here. By the time 3 Mile island happened, we had two plants running and a 3rd about to go online.

Of course over reacting, they never brought the third one online and the other two were then reconverted back to coal. And WE paid the price for this. NOT the stock holders!!!

It's mind boggling here. We have CUB (Citizens Utility Board) that sappose to moniotor the electric co and the gas co. No sooner do they win a case for ComEd raising the rates to high or too fast, the next day ComEd does it again. It's so confusing seeing all the different credits and debits, you can barely understand your bill.

About the only thing I have to say good about ComEd, and CUB is, CUB got our state to pass a bill, that anyone going solar that any extra power created ComEd is required to pay back at the same rate at which they charge. And there's no limit to how much you can produce. The only drawback to this is our state's energy rebate expired. We have no state incentives anymore to go solar.

 

[Farmfresh]

We blew through 3500 KWH last month as opposed to 2500 last year same month.

I know Texas is LOTS hotter than in other parts of the world. How big is your house? How much insulation?

Our house is 1500 sq ft and July we used 661 KWH, but we are NOT all electric. Our water heater and stove is natural gas.

 

[marcusian]

keep in mind, that's "only" an extra 1400 watts / hour. Does he multitask? a desktop computer, plus lights plus a TV on can EASILY suck down 11.7 amps.

It's not rocket science to extrapolate that an extra member of the household home 8 hrs a day they wouldn't otherwise could add significantly to your bill....

but I think your initial hunch is right, because not only can your oven and range suck up 4000w /h EACH (8kw/h total, which is 125hours of use, or ~four hours a day), but every watt of heat you generate has to be cooled by your a/c (unless you vent it somehow), so split the dif. and you get two hours of cooking w/ both, then cooling and you have your answer...

Of course global warming kicked in like a mofo this past month here in the south, our a/c sucked down an extra 400kwh (with the thermostat at 88!!) in July over last year w/ no other lifestyle changes (we live in GA)...

(...even though our temperatures didn't change much, we have been missing our normal afternoon T-storms which cool the whole house down in the afternoons... climate change is a b**ch!!!)

 

[TanksHill]