OMG! Who would ever think it possible for a person to be thrilled by a power bill? The electric bill just arrived in the mail: only $187.04!!!!!!!
In freaking JULY! It defies belief!
I’m budgeted for $225 in the summer months. Last July the bill was $176.63, but that was with the old unit cranked up to 82 during the day and 78 at night. It was very, very uncomfortable in the house. Some of my friends refused to come into the house at all last summer, not wanting to be invited to sit and stay awhile.
This summer, having a few more dollah to spare, I’ve run it at an unheard-of 76 during the night and kept it at 80 in the daytime hours. While 80 is a little warm when you’re in an enclosed space, the new AC unit has kept the house relatively comfortable. And it has exactly reversed the relative comfort zones that characterized the old unit. The decrepit Goettl kept the front part of the house fairly comfortable but left the bedrooms roasting hot. This Goodman unit, set at 80, keeps the bedrooms at around 81 and lets the kitchen and family room slide up to a cozy 84. Since I’d rather be cool enough at night to have a shot at sleeping than end up lying on the living-room tiles trying to get a few z’s, the new arrangement is just fine by me.
For the bill to go up just 11 dollars is pretty amazing, especially considering that the power company raised the rates by 4.9 percent. I expected to see a $300 tab, which is exactly what I would’ve had if I’d tried pushing the thermostat down to 76 with the old machine. Since $176.63 + 4.9% = $185.28, what it means is that the new unit’s improved efficiency is allowing me to keep the house almost comfortable without a real increase in cost. If the hailstorm hadn’t brought me a new unit, free from heaven, I’d be sweltering all summer for the same amount I’m paying to ratchet it down to 76 at night.
Last August the bill was $239.08, so I expect we could see a $250 bill next month. But with this month’s bill coming in $38 under budget, I can afford it. 🙂
Image: High-voltage lines in Washington State. Jeffrey G. Katz. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Hurray! I dread the electric bill every summer. Last year near the end of summer I got a $500 bill and I nearly keeled over. Some investigating revealed that the bill was so freakin’ high because they had been estimating my usage for several months and finally gotten around to actually reading the meter. Thank goodness for emergency funds, is all I can say about that situation. Now I usually read the meter myself and send in the numbers.
My summer bills are still pretty high because I’m not optimizing electrical usage. The roomie/tenant often leaves electronics and a fan running all the time. At least he’s not running the attic fan anymore. That ancient fan sucks tons of juice and he used to routinely turn it on for the “white noise” until I found a way to disconnect it completely. Other than his electrical use he’s a great roomie/tenant and I do get to write off his portion of the bills on my taxes, so I’m not willing to terminate him for this reason. Nonetheless, I need to set some discussion time with him about turning off that damn fan, at least.
Over here the electric bill doubled in the last 10-11 years for the same usage. I’ve often wondered if the same thing happened in other parts of the country too.
Yea! Ah that lovely Hail storm!
@ Linda: My son was clever enough to get his roommate to cover the electric bill as part of the rent payment. Smart, because every time son went out the door, roommate would crank the air conditioning. Also the guy stayed awake all night–literally–playing computer games and rattling around the house, so the lights and electronics were on 24/7.
I’ve never let the power company prorate my bills. In January, February, and March, my bills can be around $80. When they’ve offered to prorate year-round, they proposed to charge $150 a month! Well…that’s not much savings off $187, and those really HIGH bills happen in only two or maybe three months. I can’t see any good reason to jack up my bills in the other eight or ten months to save $20 or $30 in the summer.
@ Stephen: I think power bills have generally risen steadily over the past decade. My Quicken files reaching that far back were on the PC platform & so aren’t readable on the Mac, but I wouldn’t be surprised but what they’ve almost doubled around here. Seems to me the power bill used to be around $120 to $140 in the hottest period. I remember having a kitten the first summer bill I got in this neighborhood–the house had a grass yard that racked up a $150 bill. That was more than I was paying for power, which just seemed outrageous.
I did a blog post last year tracking my gas and electric bill:
http://frautech.blogspot.com/2010/11/life-tracking-gas-electric.html
It’s been pretty consistently between $30 and $40 for me every month for the last couple years. Maybe not as toasty as where you’re at, but it’s been mid nineties for the last month and can get in the 30s and 40s overnight during the winter. Having no A/C or heat leaves me with few options though. I guess I’ll try to console myself with my low bill this weekend when I’m stuck to my own couch in a pool of my own sweat. All about the tradeoffs I guess.
Interesting blog you’ve got there, Frau Tech!
Hmm… In the winter, I hardly ever turn on the heat. Space heaters do just fine, I prefer to be cool or even a little chilly. We also get nights in the 30s and (more often) 40s during the winter, though the house doesn’t drop much below the mid-60s.
A 118-degree day, though, is simply not tolerable without some sort of air-conditioning. The nineties are OK, when the humidity is low — I normally turn on the AC when it gets to be around 100 degrees. But in mid-summer, when it’s wet outside, even the low 100s or high 90s can be pretty uncomfortable.