Kilowatt question

[blume357]

Duke power sends us a report each month on how we are doing electrical energy wise....

Here is my question... in looking at their report is seems we use too much at our house, they claim an efficient home only uses 539 kWh a month and the average home uses 815 kWh and it seems we average around 1,200, low of 500 in the Fall and then peak up to close to 2,000 in the Summer.

May question for those that want to answer.... what are y'all's average?

 

[Fox Mike]

Our company also sends such a 'notice' each month and I have NEVER been one of the 'average' users. Perhaps if I turned of my coffee maker it would even out a bit but that is a BAD idea.

 

[gunzo]

Thinking the numbers could vary wildly due to home size, number of devices, their age(efficiency rating) etc. Heck, just the sizes of our hot water heaters & thermostat setting could make a noticable difference.
So many variables.

I did try to find a bill so I could answer your question, but wife pays it immediately when we get it & then throws the stub away.

 

[gnappi]

In summer on average I use ~1100 kWH monthly which the power company says is high for my 1,600 square foot house. High my butt. If someone uses less power than me in an "average" family (2.64 occupants) I'd like to meet them

My son moved out, dad passed away and now I live alone. In summer I keep the house at 79 degrees, and the oldest power user is my hot water heater (HWH). I only use 1000 gallons of water per month (or less) so that HWH isn't being taxed much and my air conditioner is modern.

 

[txramfan]

I get a weekly usage report, and quarterly I receive an annual usage report.
The quarterly isn't exact numbers its a bar graph and in looking at it our high usage in the past 12 months was
January approximately 1600 kwh.

Last week was 125 kwh

All electric , two story , new doors , windows and heat pump in the last 6 years. 47 year old house.


ETA, We keep the a/c at 76 now during summer and the heat at 68 for winter and open windows whenever possible. One morning years ago we had left the windows open and the house was 48 degrees when we woke up.

 

[Kevin]

We get those reports, without the a/c we will be around 600 to 700 per month. The pool pump takes a lot. In the summer it is around 2,000 to 2,300.

But we had two a/c units and the pool. This makes the bill around $700 in the summer. It might be more. I try to forget about it as fast as possible.

 

[s4s4u]

I have no idea, but I run tools in my shop which is hooked up to the same meter so I expect it's above average...

 

[Fox Mike]

I honestly haven't lost any sleep over the information I received. We go about our lives as usual. I pay the bill and await the next one.

 

[DGW1949]

The power company likes me a lot because I married a yankee, so my house stays at 65 or below year round. Plus, I doubt that she's ever turned a light off when leaving a room in her life. Or anything else electrical for that matter. Bless her heart..LOL....just sayin'.

DGW

 

[The Norseman]

They’re telling you to conserve, so they have more electricity
and other utilities for the AI centers and Data centers.

It’s all about Big Tech and Control.

 

[Jim Walsh]

The power company likes me a lot because I married a yankee, so my house stays at 65 or below year round. Plus, I doubt that she's ever turned a light off when leaving a room in her life. Or anything else electrical for that matter. Bless her heart..LOL....just sayin'.

DGW

We tend not to choose a wife based on their patterns of electrical usage or their preferred air conditioning settings…at least that’s true for me

 

[nvbirdman]

When I lived in Los Angeles, we had a severe drought. We had a mandate to use less water. The water and power company said people were using less water so sales were down and they had to raise rates to make up the difference.
But the good news is that when the drought ended, the rates came down again, right? Don't hold your breath.

 

[Paul B]

Got a shocker on my gas bill for last motn. It was the lowest I've ever seen is since I moved into this place in 1979. $22. Unbelievable.
The A/C keeps the electric bill on the high side and usually is in the $200 to $350 depending on how hot it gets. I set the temp at 79 in the summer and 68 for heat come winter.
Currently it's set for 68 but I offset that with my poor man's solar system. Around noon uve or take I open all the doors and hope for a nice breeze. By that time the house is usually about 70* and within an our somewhere around 75 to 79 depending on how hot it is outside. About four PM or so everything gets shut down tight and the house will stay warm until about midnight. That's my poor man's solar system. I can probably get away with it for a few more weeks before it start to get really chilly around here.
Paul B.

 

[NC FNS]

Maybe one month we were close to average on the report from Duke. Always above average use, they say…I doubt it.

 

[kentucky yeti]

Our average usage can be seen on these examples: spring, the hottest month we have ever had (August, when the unit kicked on several times during the night, and ran for 40 or more minutes nonstop for several times during the day), and last month. The $276 August statement is by far the highest I have ever paid. Before this year, I had only had one bill top $200, and that was at my old house with a standard efficiency unit. During the winter months and spring, our bills are under $100/month. Kilowatts are in the blue circles on the bills.

 

[blume357]

the interesting part of the report is they claim we used $31 heating water... our primary water heater is a on demand GAS one... I do have a 4 gallon electric one under the kitchen sink for that and the dish washer but here is the key to that one..I plumbed it in line with the gas hat water unit and so hot water is running to it... I need to hook a meter to it and see just how much it uses...

For a number of years after my wife bought the house we were on the total electric rate which was a couple cents a kilowatt lower then we got a survey from Duke which I threw in the trash but my wife said we should fill out and so I did and sent it in, a month later we got a letter from Duke saying since we were not total electric, wood stove and gas hot water we would be charged the standard rate.

Can't really complain much... they did get our power back on in 6 days after Helene.... had to pretty much rewire the entire neighborhood.

 

[jimbo1096]

This last bill shows I used 1081kw. That was a milder weather month so it's down. My high usage month is usually July and August and they were 1540kw. I won't take the time to do an average, but I am the only person using up all that electricity.

 

[t-reg]

And they charged you for that electricity.

FDE

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

First, a quickie. I changed all light bulbs to LED. In my kitchen alone the ceiling light used five 60 watt bulbs- 300 watts. LED bulbs with the same lumens were nine watts, or a change from 300 watts to 45 watts. Multiply that through the entire house and the savings get huge.

If you use central air, you are using double or triple the power of window AC. In my case, I have gas/hot water heat. No fans or circulators just radiators. The only power it uses is a spark for the igniter. I could run it for 2 weeks off a car battery. I have a fridge and a chest freezer. Both pull when on, but only intermittently to maintain temp. SO- look at what else you use. Electric space heaters draw 750 watts on low, 1500 on high. If you still have a tube TV ( don't laugh. I have one in my office. WAY better speakers than flats) they draw more than flats. Electric drier instead of gas? 1800 watts. Got a pool? The filter for a big pool is about a half horsepower 1200 watts. Hot tub? That heater- especially in cold weather can draw 2000 - 5000 watts. Are all your shop tools corded or cordless? Corded all draw a lot. I don't remember my average, but I am below normal

Here's a way to simplify.: During the Nor'easter of 2010- equal in damage to Sandy in my area- all I had was a Chicago Tool 1000 watt generator. I was able to run heat, fridge, chest freezer, TV (Broadcast- cable out), some lights, and a fan. I have a gas stove. It only used ONE gallon of gas every 8-9 hours. Sometimes it's about using what you NEED, not what you WANT. One guy was running an 8 KW and using almost 5 gallons of gas to my one because he WANTED central air and some other garbage during an emergency.

Note: In the interest of transparency, I am sort of a prepper lite. I happen to be an oil lamp collector, so light wasn't going to be an issue either way. I have a fireplace as well, so no one was going to freeze, and stuff like that. I just brought all of this up to show that MOST people use way more power than they need to. One can cut WAY down and never feel any difference.

 

[Mobuck]

We get those 'monthly' reports on our REC bills. I'm sort of confused because the church which has no electrical use other than a tiny fridge running varies so much. Sure, I'd expect it to be more during summer but not always the case--it hasn't burned down so don't think there's an intermittent short circuit. The livestock well and connected waterers are fairly consistent: the colder it is, the more electricity it takes to keep the tanks warm.

 

[GasGuzzler]

First there is no such thing as average (yes I know mathematically there is) when homes are 600-12K sq feet, pool/no pool, all electric vs gas heater, water heater, dryer, etc. My bill in North Texas varies from $200 to $400 for just under 1500 feet all electric. This time of year it's low. January, February, July, August it's high.

August was 2300 Kw/hr for a bill of $345.50
October was 1800 Kw/hr for $281.32

My two oldest are gone from home so it's just four of us but we do 25-30 loads of laundry per week and keep the thermostat on 74 in the nine "non-cold" months. My house has better than decent insulation but the original 1971 windows so the AC is a big consumer. The deep freeze, water heater, and clothes dryer are the next largest consumers. My HVAC (heat pump) was replaced in 2005 and is rated at 12 SEER, the best there was at the time was 13. Little to gain paying $8K for a 21 SEER. $15K for windows would make more sense. I know the window company owner too...

Now the water bill at $250 is crazy...

 

[32shooter]

Last month we used 404kw, prior month was approximately 850kw. This months bill was $92, which includes a $9 a month charge for the security light. We had our highest bills ever this summer, $173. The A/C was working overtime. Bill is usually around $100.

 

[thinckley]

I used to be signed up for those reports. I gave up trying to even come close to "average". Simply put, the information they ask for is not detailed enough to give an apples to apples comparison. It only looks at, and compares, similar sized homes. In an effort to keep the power bill low we have done the following:

• Replaced all of the lightbulbs with LED's
• Went with the most efficient furnace we could get
  • We do run too much AC, but the heat is at 68 or less during the winter
• Our house was built in the early 70's. We have reinsulated the attic and 3 of the 4 exterior walls (I replaced the exterior a few years ago)
• Replaced all of the windows and doors
• Here's something else that a lot of people do not think about.... vegetation.
  • Planted new deciduous trees on the west side of the house - provides shade in the summer, allows extra sunlight in the winter
  • Planted new evergreens on the north side of the house - blocks colder wind without blocking sunlight

Other things that will dramatically skew the results:

• Computers - Do you work from home? My wife and I both do, plus our son still lives here and has his own for school (plus an XBox)
• TV's - Unless you have a switched outlet, they are always pulling power
• Ceiling fans - We have these in every room but the bathroom and run them almost constantly to help with the AC and heat

I quit comparing myself to the neighbors and only compare to our own history.

We are still planning on beginning construction on our off-grid permanent residence in Montana next spring. Since we are 100% responsible for making sure we have enough power I am paying a lot of attention to efficiency during the design stage.

 

[Johnnu2]

I never read ours........... the bills will always go up no matter what the usage... it's NY

J.

 

[jules]

1750 sq ft. Pool runs from mid Apr - Labor day

 

[Captain America]

I have a small well insulated house…I use about 325 from September through April(give or take) and about 625 during the summer months so my bills range from $62 for most of the year to $125 in the summer.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I even have a ceiling fan in my garage but I think the energy they use is about how much you save off the HVAC bill. It's a wash. Evergreens won't grow here because of the summers and the soil acidity but I have a 35' tall sycamore in my back yard that shades the west side of my house where I have a 144" wide window/sliding door. I do need new windows.

 

[Puck]

12 month a average 645kwh

Built a small efficient home. Heat with a wood stove. Cooling is generally a whole house fan run when the outside is cooler than the inside. House faces southeast, and roof overhangs provide shade in the summer while allowing passive solar gain in the winter. All of my electric use decisions are based on convenience and comfort none on conservation. If I changed my attitude I expect I could reduce consumption significantly.

 

[pisgah]

Without knowing how they arrive at their figures, I can only take the info as questionable.

It's not like power companies won't fudge all the stats when lobbying for a rate increase, after all... and, they are always lobbying.

 

[Rclark]

Mine sits around 540KWh average. No air conditioner as not needed. Furnace and water heater are natural gas.

they are always lobbying.

As costs just keep going up.... You don't stay in business if you don't keep up. Utilities have it tougher than non-regulated. Hard for us to compete even wage wise as we are always pressured to keep prices low (consumer hates price increases for some reason ) . Find it hard to find/keep engineers and software personal. Of course transformers and lines aren't cheap with long lead times. With wind and solar playing havoc with the system is no fun either which there is a cost (not free) to that as well as we are forced to buy at a 'set' rate in some cases (which is higher than coal or hydro btw). And you need to build new plants for reliability when the wind/solar aren't present which aren't cheap. Oh and the ever increasing number of consumers still insists we provide 24x7x365 service thru it all . And then blame us if a fire starts and want payment... We have a whole department now just dedicated to mitigate fire risk because of Kalifornias legal mumbo jumbo that has occurred. A fun dance.