Electric Bill???Crazy!! Is it possible someone is hooked up to my electricity?

Question

This is the second month in a row my electric bill has came sky high! I live in a small one bedroom apartment, last bill was for 375 this month I got the bill its for 417 bucks man!! We are billed every 2 months.I spoke with the lady at Electric company she said she gonna send a memo to investugation department or something but I still need to pay bill in the meantime. How or what else can I do here? Anyone have this experiance?

Hi,Thanks for all the quick responses! I love Yahoo Answers!! Well everyone I have no Washer and dryer in here and we never use the heater!! I am going to try and find the meter and shut everything off and see if it still is running!

Answer 1

Check around with the other tenants to see what's happening. California got outrageous bills after Enron messed with their energy supply. Your building may be very poorly insulated.

I'm not spending what you're spending on our 5000 sq ft house - tho I was spending much more until we got new windows...

Every state has an agency that regulates utilities. Use google or your phone book to find your state's and start talking with someone there about investigating what's going on.

In terms of meeting the bill - you usually can't be turned off while it's cold, so make partial payments. (You may want to check on the law in your jurisdiction on that.) Your electric company itself will have a fund for helping pay bills, but don't know if you can qualify. Also, lots of churches and other community service agencies will help people pay high electric bills.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Electricity is expensive these days but so is natural gas. Your bill does seem very high for a one bedroom apt but if you leave your heat on all the time the bill could easily be that high. You should compare your summer time bills (assuming no Air conditioning) and compare to winter. This will tell you if the difference is all heating or if its something else. For now pay the bill and keep pestering the electric co for an investigation.

Answer 3

Living in California, that is not that high of a bill for an apartment unfortunately. If it works like it does with my company you are getting killed on the top tier rates (if you go over the assumed usage). So small changes in your energy usage will do wonders in your bill.

First of all get rid of your old Light Bulbs and replace them with LEDs or CFLs. Here is a good resource (download the excel file and try it out):
http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=1142

Also clean around your refridgerator for dog hair and dirt so that it doesn't have to work so hard to keep your food cool.

Monitor your heating / cooling all the time make sure to turn it off etc.

Finally, If you have a laundry unit in there think about a centrifuge drier.

Answer 4

My upstairs neighbor never got a bill because the utility companies said the space was to small. It used to be all one house and the utility companies and/or the landlord encurs a bill to install electrical meters, etc. but also you need to establish the usage like who's taking 1/2 an hour showers, cooking with electric stoves, and, using other electrical expensive devices. Your concerns will go unnoticed until you ask the meter reader to come out and verify at least one month's reading and ask for an explanation then one on one with him.

Answer 5

In winter these are the items that can ramp up your bill...
Electric heat, electric hot water, electric space heaters, electric dryer. If you have an old central A/C unit, sometimes the compressor heating coil can run all winter, wasting electric. You can kill this at the outside shutoff, or the 240V breaker inside - should not impair your unit to heat. Is a sump pump on your circuit, the float could be stuck running it around the clock.

Answer 6

you have an interest in a dynamotor. that is a unit containing a motor and a generator. Many protection rigidity radios from international conflict 2 used 12 volt potential from automobiles and used a dynamotor to generate 250 volts to activate the vacuum tubes. You look interested in creating 33,000 volts from one thousand volts at 5,000 watts. this can artwork, regardless of the indisputable fact that the most cutting-edge you ought to draw from it should be 5/33 , it really is 0.151515 Amps at 33,000 volts if it were one hundred% valuable. As each body else talked about you may not get better effective than one hundred% performance, and in practice dynamotors were better like 30% so the utmost cutting-edge you ought to get should be about a million/20 amp. do not attempt it with out specialist help because 33,000 volts will leap about 2 inches by skill of air and a million/20 amp is better than adequate to kill someone.

Answer 7

By any chance do you have an airconditioner as this does use lots of electricity. Otherwize try thinking about what you might have started using over the last few months. Or check to see if your water heater is leaking.

Answer 8

Do you have a meter? Read it. turn off everything in your
place. Watch the meter. Just keep a journal of your
appliance usage and your meter reading. If you're
using nothing and the meter goes round and round, then
something is awry. Unplug stuff and turn off water when
going out of town. No need to heat water then.

Answer 9

the highest electricity consuming appliance in the house are heat/cold producing ones, such as your water heater, your AC unit, cooking stove, dryer, washing machine and refrigerator. if you have been washing and drying a lot of clothes, heating your neighbourhood by leaving the window open or leave it on while you're away. the chances are quite high. which part of the country do you live in? if your appliances are old, it can also consume electricity. have you asked your neighbour? compare and see what are their tips.

Answer 10

People have done this before. But first did you live there this time last year. If not, it could just be that you have an electric furnace, and if it is winter right now for you the furnace can definitely cause a jump.