Electric Bills High?

[Fiat48]

I thought I would post this as others may be in the same boat. :D
I've lived in my house near 15 years, electric bill high it seems since the day I moved in. Got a wife and 2 kids that leave lights on like most everybody else. Followed them around turning off lights, put in the new little light bulbs, even put in some motion sensors in areas. Electric bill didn't care.
Over the years moved more and more to gas appliances. gas dryer, gas cooking, gas water heater, anything gas I could do. Gas bill stayed about the same, but so did the damn electric bill.
I did a lot of research and I found the culprits. Learned a lot on the web and also bought a little watt meter called Kill A Watt for $30. This little device lets you plug in an appliance and see how much electric it uses. Culprit #1 was a 12 year old freezer in the garage. Although excellent shape and all seals were fine, this thing was an electric eater. It used 9 KWH per day. Culprit #2 was the referigerator in the house. It used 8.5 kwh per day.
I junked them both and bought a new energy efficient fridge by researching best I could find on the web. That cost $600. New refer only costs $50 a year to run!
Combined with a couple master switches to turn off computers when not in use, my electric bill is now down 56%. That's a nice $100 a month savings.
Thought I would pass it on. Check them refrigerators!

[BADBLOWN572]

Thanks for the tip

[gnarley]

Hey Fiat thanks for the tip & good thinking. To bad you couldn't just tap into the lights the casino's use, hehe they'd never even notice it.

[Fiat48]

By the look of my bill before, I thought I was maybe running their lights! Good idea tho.

[Sun burners]

I have an old COCA COLA vending machine about $20 a month,
Wound up buying a better bigger fridge!

[Kindsvater Flat]

Depending on the time of year mine can run from 100 bucks to 500.

[Fiat48]

The big clue for us was that we spent May and June doing a repaint inside. Not a machine in the shop ran, all the furniture, computers, Tv was in the garage unplugged. And Electric bill was damn near the same as last year. That did it, I went looking. This time last year I was about $325. Nice to send in this bill for $164. The boat needs it more than the power co!

[Kindsvater Flat]

Running 6 of these during harvest runs about 4k a month, not to mention about 2000 gallons of propane.
http://atthefarm.mystarband.net/ranch2/seeddryer.jpg

[Infomaniac]

Wow good stuff.
our bill is never more than 80.00 in winter and gets 120 - 140 or so in summer.
the gas bill is only 20.00 or so in summer and gets to 40 - 50 in the winter.
One of my mechaincs was a scam artist. he lives in the country a ways and they read their own meters. he would add a bit in the off season and subtract a bit in the high season. He finally went extreme and got caught. LOL

[Infomaniac]

damn k-flat - rig up one of those Mopars to run on propane to operate those. guy out here has a 440 running his saw mill.

[JetBoatRich]

Our power bill drops a little in the winter but gas gets up in the 80-90 dollar range. $300 power is not unusual in Summer.
Temperture swings from the teens (winter) to 115 (summer) throughout the year sure make the utilities charges go up. :mad: :mad:
I am always turning lights TV's stereo's, etc off endless battle.

[396_Z]

Originally posted by Kindsvater Flat
Depending on the time of year mine can run from 100 bucks to 500.
Shut off that 100 hp irrigation pump....

[Kindsvater Flat]

Originally posted by 396_Z
Shut off that 100 hp irrigation pump....
Thats the house. Most the pumps can run pretty high also. Back in the day when we farmed big acreage I've seen it as high as 30k for the month.

[RiverRatMike]

I switched all my old energy hogging bulbs for those new low watt energy floresent spiral bulbs. I love them and sure dropped my electric bill big time!

[NorCal Gameshow]

Originally posted by RiverRatMike
I switched all my old energy hogging bulbs for those new low watt energy floresent spiral bulbs. I love them and sure dropped my electric bill big time!
i put recessed lighting in the kitchen and used fluorescent bulbs.
they take a little while to warm up, i don't get blinded in the morning when i kick them on :D

[SoCal_fun]

Originally posted by JetBoatRich
Our power bill drops a little in the winter but gas gets up in the 80-90 dollar range. $300 power is not unusual in Summer.
Temperture swings from the teens (winter) to 115 (summer) throughout the year sure make the utilities charges go up. :mad: :mad:
I am always turning lights TV's stereo's, etc off endless battle.
No kiddin, my Wife and kids think they live in some kind of electrical parade.
Sometimes there are 3 TV's, tons o lights and the PS2, Computer, etc.
DRIVES ME NUTS! :mad:

[Freak]

The old lady hates fluorescents. So I only get to run some.
I will admit that the light is not pleasing.
I went around and put the foam inserts in all the wall outlets and light switches but found cold air still coming in. What worked was a little shot of that expanding foam in the outlet box where the wire is coming in the box. The 2 other major places I found was behind the dish washer and the vent free fire place.
2400sqft home gas furnace down stairs heat pump up. I also scrapped the emergency heat elements in the heat pump and put a hot water coil in and humidification. Now my heat pump actually pumps heat out the vent.
Electric bill is 40 to 100 a month depending on time of year.
On some of the old power meters on your home (the ones with the spinning wheel) you can flip the meter in the box and it will run backwards. Cha ching!

[NorCal Gameshow]

remember when your dad told you he doesn't work for the electric company?? i caught myself saying the same thing to my kids...:frown: :D

[JetBoatRich]

Originally posted by Freak
On some of the old power meters on your home (the ones with the spinning wheel) you can flip the meter in the box and it will run backwards. Cha ching!
:rolleyes: just don't get caught;) they kinda of frown on this:eek:

[Freak]

Originally posted by JetBoatRich
:rolleyes: just don't get caught;) they kinda of frown on this:eek:
You got that right. I don't just because I'm lazy and I don't want to get caught. I would say if your going to, do it during some high current use such as the washer/dryer running because it will look funny in their records if your bill suddenly gets cheaper. Don't think they don't watch.