my electric bill is way to high!!?

Question

ok here we go i use reliant energy i have 1 computer 1 tv and im home only for about 12 hours max a day everything is turned off when im not using it i have a 1 bedroom aptfor 31 billing days i used 2241 kwh. but my girlfreing lives in a 2 story house with 2 computers 2 central ac units 4 tvs and alot more stuff and she dosent hit $200 electric bills what can i do to fix this problem

Answer 1

make sure your winows and doors are well insulated, and your filters are clean.

Answer 2

You can't compare bills with another persons. That won't do it.
What type of water heat do you have, gas or electric, this is a high heat item, anything that creates heat will rise the bill. Fans in this weather we've had, air-conditioners. Do you use lawn sprinklers a lot, water your garden a lot. What type of range do you have, etc. mark these down, all the electric items you use and how much you use them.

Every ones electric bill has gone up, a product of high energy and the price of gas, this includes electric.

Go back on your bills through the years. We've saved all ours going back ten years, all of them. We can see a gentle but increasing incline on the electric bills since the gas has gone up while we are using the same amount of electric.

Considering this, being on a fixed income, we've turned off the air conditioner, like some others we know, took out one freezer, spend more time outside in the shade and cool the house at night only to sleep, leave the windows open instead of the fans going. There are ways to save on electric. Turn down you hot water heater, take shorter showers or baths, use cold water to wash clothes, etc.

Answer 3

1 computer is .450 watts X 8 hrs = 3.600 unit
2. lights 5 x 100 500X 6 hours = 3.000 unit
3. fan 100 watts x 10 hours = 1.000 units per day
you can apply usisng this basic calculator and apply for 31 days and if found excess ask the people to correctly calibrate the meter or change it new one

Answer 4

Take a sheet of paper and take meter readings at the same time each day, you will then know how much you are using each day.
Turn off everything in the apartment, and using a flashlight observe if the meter is stopped. I once heard of a guy who was stealing from his neighbour by connecting cable across an attic space,

Answer 5

TV's, lights, computers..those types of things aren'ty our culprit. It has to be your AC. You need to make sure and change the furnace filter at least once every 60 days (or sooner). You also need to make sure the "grill" on the compressor unit is cleaned. You can simply hose these off really well. you might have to take off the cover to the unit...and be sure and shut the power off at the breaker before doing this. They can get really clogged up sometimes and make things very inefficient.

Answer 6

Don't turn the AC completely off when you leave. That will cause a ton of heat and humidity to build up and when you get homoe your AC will have to work twice as hard to get rid of it. I recommend a set back thermostat.. Set it at 80 when you are not home, but do not turn it off completely.

Answer 7

Sometimes electric meters get out of "calibration" and most utility companies will come out and check them and re calibrate if necessary for free..only once a yeatr..call your utility company and see if they offer this service free and have them do this..this is the start..if that isnt the cause..check windows and doorsm as suggested prior to this..I had mine calibrated once..it was way off..and they figured the room of error in there and i got credited 32.00 for 12 months due to it..

Answer 8

That does seem pretty high. I would call the power company. They will usually do an audit for free to explain the high bills. You may be paying for some other apartment besides your own.

Answer 9

I'm in agreement with the other poster.

September will bring cooler weather and your bill will start to return to normal.

It has been a terrible summer for all of us.

Hang in there.

Answer 10

do you live in Fla?