Ouch!!!

[Janet]

Looks like I need to do some conserving in a bad way. We used 1,678 kWh this last month at a cost of $140.60. The average cost was $0.0783 per kWh. Not sure what was going on but the average cost last month per kWh was $0.0826.

We leave our ceiling fans on all the time to keep the air from turning on so much and my son and I do leave our computers on. I check in on and off throughout the day and it would be a real PITA to turn it on and off, plus according to the computer tech it's hard on computers to turn them on and off. Ours are only shut off during a storm.

Guess I need to put energy cost savings on my list of things to do too.

[HALEY]

Wow that is alot for one month! i hate to see ours, the a/c been running for days now.. look out !!! i bet ours is going to be around 200.00 this month

[Dobie]

Are you sure they are doing actual readings and not just an estimated reading? We are also very energy conscience and couldn't figure out why our bills are so high - until I read more closely and found out that our bill was "estimated" - based on what most of the other people in our neighborhood use.
Apparently, in our area, we only get an actual reading once or twice a year, the other times it's all estimated. We now call in the reading every month and the bill has been greatly reduced. Although they do give a little bit of an attitude on the phone - basically saying "If you are lying about what you are calling in, there is a big fine"

[judy]

Originally Posted by Dobie

Are you sure they are doing actual readings and not just an estimated reading? We are also very energy conscience and couldn't figure out why our bills are so high - until I read more closely and found out that our bill was "estimated" - based on what most of the other people in our neighborhood use.
Apparently, in our area, we only get an actual reading once or twice a year, the other times it's all estimated. We now call in the reading every month and the bill has been greatly reduced. Although they do give a little bit of an attitude on the phone - basically saying "If you are lying about what you are calling in, there is a big fine"

I had the same issue years ago. I couldn't afford it. I was a single parent at the time, so they put me on a payment plan. I'm still on it and it's much better. It just evens out over the year.

I've had my a/c on for the past 3 weeks day and night. I probably will be paying a steep bill when I close the account before I move!

[goofywife]

I am not sure how many kwh we used but our bill was $155.00. I thought that it was high. We have a programable t-stat. DH has it set to go to 84 after we leave in the morning. It goes back to 74 half an hour before we get home. We also planted lots of trees. Our big bill the is water/sewer. It was $202.00. We have to water the trees.

[teri88]

We just moved into this house in November, and the utilities are killing us! They are 3 times what we estimated they would be. Between that and the way gas has gone up it's costing my husband $70 a month just to drive back and forth to work. He works 3 jobs and the one part time job just covers our gas for the month. We are seriously considering moving out of NJ when Megan graduates from HS.

[DianaB]

I keep our thermostats at 78* and if we get hot then we turn it down. You know when it's 100* outside then 78* feels pretty good. We also turn on the ceiling fans when we need a breeze on us and sleep with them on in the night. We haven't had very many really hot days yet and have actually had a nice summer so far with the cloudy and rainy days.

We had blinds installed in our windows on the west side of the house soon after we moved in because of the heat that comes in so when it's hot the blinds are turned to reflect the sun. When it's really hot I close them completely in the afternoon. It really helps to keep the kitchen cooler. I try to keep my computer on stand-by when I'm not using it because then the fan doesn't have to run......now if my family could just get that little trick through their heads!!!! Just press a key and it automatically comes back on.

My bill last month was $82.20 and we used 712 KWH. We read our own meter and send it in with our bill and I know that next month's bill will be higher. Our home is 2,350 sq. ft. with a full unfinished basement (4,700 sq. ft. all together).