How much is your utility bill? OT

[steveplym]

The powers that be here in Illinois have decided to increase our electric rates again. Wondering how much are power bills where everyone else lives?

I've got a 3 bedroom manufactured home with electric heat and my bill runs about $200-$230 a month.

[eric wissing]

Last month was $105.00 Gas heat and hot water. Only two people.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well.........don't feel too bad. That's about $30 a month less than our gas and light bill, if you average it over 12 months. Our house is about average size and was built in 1958 though, but it is still using the original furnace. Central AC was tacked onto that.

Guess the bottom line is, how cool or how warm you keep your house. Everyone is going to be a little different. I know some people who keep there house around 60 degrees in the winter and their bills are much less. Me.........I'd rather pay a little more and be comfortable, so I pay the price for that.

Also, make sure you seal up any possible leaks as well as you can. Our bathroom window was bad and should have been replaced a few years ago. So........we had a nice little air leak coming in from that. However, we should fair better after next week. Contractor is scheduled to come in and replace it next Tuesday.

PS: We use gas for heating, cooking and hot water. Also only two of us live in the house.

[dezeldoc]

Last month 375.00 !! Well you all might think I have a mansion with the power bills I get but it is just a 1500sf house plus the shop and the pool and the A/C and a wife that thinks that every light in the house must be on !!

[teardrop puller]

I paid over $400 last month and was only here for 17 days. Welcome to the cheep living in Mexico. We pay over 32cents a kwh here. Since this is basically socialist country, the medium income and up people have all of the not so well on their back. This 700billion is looking like the same thing is happening in the upper North America.

kai

[eric wissing]

Kai, I am not sure what you were saying. The $400 was for 17 days in Mexico? Eric

[Dennis Hemingway]

We pay $130. a month level pay. That is for our house, my shop and our water as we are on our own well. We have A/C in the house, and I use 2 big fans & a small swamp cooler when I'm in my shop. We cook & heat with gas.

Dennis:cool:

[teardrop puller]

Eric

We were on vacation most of last month, thus I was only home with the A/C on for 17 days to the end of the billing cycle. The Mexicans love to stick it to any one who has just a little bit. If you buy a new car, they have a license fee of 10% of their value per year for the first 10 years. Oh yes the gov. thinks that a car is worth a lot more than it is really worth. I, am in the middle of importing my 49 however as a classic there is only a one time fee for plates and no smog check.

Just a little insight into Mexican living. Oh yes, my house is for sale in case any one wants a nice house in front of the beach.

kai

[wayfarer]

We pay (for the moment) 0.067 per kw in Central Ory-Gun.

[Frank Blackstone]

Recently ,until last PM, I experienced a 10 day loss of power due to high winds that knocked out power to several hundred thousand customers in this part of Ohio. I have been constructing over the last several years a photo-voltaic ( read solar cells) battery backup system to power essential utilities. I am on a well that I have designed to run on 110 volts and have natural gas and propane as back up.. I am considering a wood burning outside furnace with plumbed

to existing gas furnace.

After 7 days of no power, tired of hearing the generator run for refrigeration and water, I bought the final piece of the P-V system the eight UL-16 deep cycle 6 volt batteries 110 pounds each. Humping those to the basement was an effort but essential and rewarding. I hooked them up and ran the well pump better than with the generator.

I can see by the utility prices members are paying that I will have this payed off sooner than I planned. Because our electric utility has already applied for a rate increase to cover the cost of repairing the storm damage.

My original motive was to be independent from an unreliable energy source not to save money but it looks like I can do both. Electrifying, Frank

[teardrop puller]

Wow Frank

I just have my well on solar. I am envious. Something has to happen with the price of energy.

kai

[JIPJOBXX]

I have a combination of gas and electric and I would say our average monthly bill is probably around 200 dollars per year. I live in a double wide mobile and there not know for good insulation and so if were probably a regular home maybe 150 dollars per year average. My wife weighs in at 98 lbs and so she always has the heat on during the winter above 70 or so. I can complain at all about out utility bills but if I wanted to knock them down I could go outside and cut down one of the many trees on my acreages and use wood to heat this old tin house.

[Don Coatney]

the eight UL-16 deep cycle 6 volt batteries

Frank;

How can you get 110 volts from 8 six volt batteries? My math says 48 volts maxium.

[Frank Blackstone]

The 48 VDC battery system is charged by the 48 VDC from th P-V array. The DC is inverted to 110V AC , hence the need for 110 VAC well pump, for use in the house without the need for rewiring to 12 V lights and appliances. You are still sharp for catching that inconsistency.

[steveplym]

The 48 VDC battery system is charged by the 48 VDC from th P-V array. The DC is inverted to 110V AC , hence the need for 110 VAC well pump, for use in the house without the need for rewiring to 12 V lights and appliances. You are still sharp for catching that inconsistency.

Wow Frank, and the government says they are having a hard time finding alternate sources of energy.

Well looks like we are getting an $18 increase per month. Lots of people in this area are upset about it and I wondered if we were really getting screwed or if we are just paying the national avg. I try to conserve power any way I can, but like Norm I like to be comfortable. I can't sleep at night in a hot room so I turn my air down. During the winter I try to keep the heat lower and use my fireplace, but with 3 women in the house you have to keep the heat up.

[Frank Elder]

Try having propane on a limited budget for your only heat source.

Minimum fill on your tank is over 600 us dollars . We do not have an xtra wallet. We start saving during winter to pay for the next winter!

So much for the next Doodad..FRANKIE47

[Dennis_MN]

If you want to compare rates, you need to look at the charge for each KWH or kilowatt hour rate the power company charges.

Here in Minnesota, our rate averaged .097 (just about a dime per kwh)

Our average was around $70 per month with a peak of $150 in August because of airconditioning.

I live in a townhouse and my neighbor is always crabbing about his electric bill. I tell him to use a automatic thermo stat on his a/c usage, remove any item with a transformer on it when not in use (amazing how many phone chargers are plugged in 24/7) change out your light bulbs to the dumb looking coil dealies. Go to sleep when its dark and wake up when its light.

Use only one refer, no extra freezer use a gas water heater or use an off peak electric unit.

Dennis

[55 Fargo]

Here in the land of Hydro electric dams in Manitoba, we pay around 6 cnets per Kwh, all ofmy utilites for my 1400 square ft home, triple car electric heated garage is is $210 per month, this includes all as we have no natural gas to our house. I also heat the garage, the dryer, the hot water tank,all lights, central air, furnace.

It is very cold here in winter, and quite hot in summer, so this is still a good deal for us in Manitoba........Fred

[Tony Cipponeri]

Well California leads the way again, we have gas for heating and hot water, and cooking. I keep our air at 78 degrees, and last months bill was $298.00. Tony C

[Young Ed]

My last elec bill was about $50. I have gas heat stove dryer and hot water. No central air. I run a couple ceiling fans and occasionally 1 window unit in my bedroom.

[eric wissing]

Ed, turn off the fans when you are not there. I have a hard time convincing someone here that the fan only makes it seem cooler so if you are not in the room don't run it. That's right you're single. pretty soon you will lose control of the thermostat, keep a firm grip on that remote control. Eric

[Norm's Coupe]

My last elec bill was about $50. I have gas heat stove dryer and hot water. No central air. I run a couple ceiling fans and occasionally 1 window unit in my bedroom.

Ed,

We use natural gas for everything except lights, etc. in our house too. Our average electric bill only is about $60 to $80 per month. However, we get a combined bill for gas and electric on one bill. So.......to get the true average monthly bill you have to look at what you paid for both over the course of the last 12 months, then divide that total by 12. That's what we were more or less doing here. Getting the average bill for both. Of course like many in the northern states we don't use our A/C everyday in the summer. We're lucky using it for a total of around 30 days each summer. We do have ceiling fans in each room except the bathroom that are running almost constantly all year around to circulate the air better.

This may be way OT but I think this thread is interesting. Always thought we were paying more than the average person. However, after reading the post made so far I can see we are about average with everyone else. Even those in the warm climates. Of course they aren't paying as much for heat, but they make that up in their A/C cost. So, it still comes out about the same cost. Also shows that the ads saying electric heat is cheaper than gas is not true. It seems to be about the same either way.

[Young Ed]

I only run the fans when I am home. I turn it off when I get up in the morning. I already warned her my house is cold in the winter. Otherwise the heat bill is even more outrageous.

[eric wissing]

I am still looking for those Jammys with the feet built in. I too keep the heat down, why even get out of bed if you don't have to. Get yourself a thunder pot. Eric

[Plymouthy Adams]

CNN and utility bills are some of the few items I care not to reflect upon...