Electric Bill

[RegGuheert]

That is a big bill..

Not with electric heat. 3 to 4 MWh is normal for us in January and February with our highly-efficient heat pump. An electric furnace (resistor) is over 3X as much electricity, but they are common in hot places like Houston where you rarely need heat.

 

[healyourself]

So now I'm learning that Nissan Leaf owners are also very intelligent!

The house isn't very big at all. Really, it's small. It's a 3 bedroom 2 bath, but I think it's no more than 1200 square feet. MAYBE 1500 square feet if you are pushing it.

However, like I've mentioned before, it is drafty. Ever since this issue with the electric bill, I have not made a peep of a complaint about the temp in the house. Most of the time I haven't even been there as I've been charging the Leaf after work.

The windows definitely need replacing, and like I've stated, something is going on with the heat as when it comes on, the house becomes unbearably hot even though the thermostat is set to 69. But then when the heat goes down, it gets chilly again.

As far as the average temps for this time of year, one thing I've had to get used to about Houston (as I'm a native New Yorker) is that it gets cold at night. So in the daytime it may hit 70 degrees, but at night the temp can drop to 35. So there's no way we can be in the house at night when it's 35 or 40 degrees outside, and not turn on the heat. But the AVERAGE may make it seem as though it's warmer overall than it has been.

 

[RegGuheert]

The windows definitely need replacing, and like I've stated, something is going on with the heat as when it comes on, the house becomes unbearably hot even though the thermostat is set to 69. But then when the heat goes down, it gets chilly again.

I meant to suggest that you check the furnace air filter. If it is dirty either replace it or clean it (depending on the type). It sounds as if you may not be getting good airflow through your furnace, which would explain the very hot air coming out and long times to warm the house. A dirty filter can increase electricity usage quite a bit while making you quite uncomfortable.

FWIW, our thermostat drops to 58F overnight and ramps back up to 64F in the early morning and stays there through the daytime. During the daytime hours, it rarely cycles on unless it is very cloudy or very cold outside or both. Today, with the sun shining brightly and the temperature at 28F outside, the heat pump is off and the thermostat reads 66F. It is quite comfortable. Likely the heat pump will not cycle too many times before early tomorrow morning as it tries to heat the house up before we awake.

We dress warmly in our home in the wintertime (and the opposite in the summertime).

 

[dhanson865]

2545 kwh is insanely high unless there are a lot of people living in that house.

I have a large 3 bedroom house (over 2000 sq ft) and I get electric bills with consumption around 700 kwh in the spring/fall, around 900-1100 kwh in the summer, and maybe 1100-1500 in the winter.

You likely heat with a heat pump while OP likely heats with a resistor.

very much a heat pump, SEER of 18-20 and HSPF of ~8.x

 

[RegGuheert]

very much a heat pump, SEER of 18-20 and HSPF of ~8.x

Yeah, that's what I have, too. HSPF is 8.2 on mine, IIRC.

 

[rexki]

Electric bills are a huge mystery to 95% of Americans: Can I Eat, pay my cell phone bill, put gasoline in my car to get to work and go shopping, then life is good. If I have to make a choice between cell phone and gasoline then "Houston we have a problem".

I am of course not implying this for our Houston Teacher as she is obviously very intelligent or she would not have posted a question on this forum. I would make the owner choke up the bills for the entire year to see if you can afford to live here!!

$370.70 for 2,545 kwh comes to 14.57 cents per kwh - This is Houston were I grew up half my life. - This is a high rate and extremely high usage. Summer AC months just might make this a 500 per month electric bill if something is not done quick:

Summary for the HVAC electric Hog House in Houston - 1200-1500 - 3 bedroom home:
1. Water Heat - electric - $35-45 /m - solution - put a $20 electric timer on it and cut bill in half - savings 20/m - payback 1 month!
2. Standby electric usage "vampire" must be in the 400-600 watt range, should be in the 30-200 range. Solution - get a kilowatt meter and start taking down those vampires: a. ceiling fan remotes 20w, garage door remotes - 30w, outside motion detectors for exterior lights 15 watts (more than a CFL bulb). Leaf uses 150 watts in standby per Paul on this forum ($16 per month at $0.1457) - savings 600-120=480 watts *24 *31 days / 1000 watts *$0.1457 = $52/m - payback 15 days.
3. Heating and cooling - get a programmable thermostat $200 high end - savings per month could be >$100 in heavy winter and Summer months - pretty much not an option with this HVAC hog house.
4. The rest of the standard crap that people recommend that only yields 3-12% savings

Target Electric per square foot is another good measure:
this electric Hog house is 2.12 kwh
My house in Chicago is 0.333 - Natural gas forced air heat 95% AFUE, NG Takagi-JR Tankless water heater, 16 seer Goodman AC 2.5 tons from Houston. 5 mature occupants. This is before the Leaf!!

 

[cwerdna]

$370.70 for 2,545 kwh comes to 14.57 cents per kwh - This is Houston were I grew up half my life. - This is a high rate and extremely high usage. Summer AC months just might make this a 500 per month electric bill if something is not done quick:

I haven't been paying attention to this thread but.... high usage? Yes. High rate? LOL, PG&E customers in area X code B (having nat gas furnace and water heater) and probably ALL areas would LOVE to pay only that low an average rate for that many kWh.

Our standard non-TOU plan is E-1: http://www.pge.com/tariffs/tm2/pdf/ELEC_SCHEDS_E-1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and even tier 1 (baseline usage) isn't that cheap at 16.170 cents/kWh.

Per http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/saveenergymoney/financialassistance/medicalbaseline/understand/index.page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, area X, code B code gets a winter baseline of 11.7 kWh/day (or 351 kWh/month). You can see the rising rates as you go higher and you get hit pretty hard when you hit tier 4. On that plan and area, in "winter", once you reach your 702nd kWh in a month, you're being charged 33.322 cents/kWh for each one after that.

 

[rexki]

Comparisons should always be made to where you live and not to another region of the country or world!

If you don't live there then don't compare your rates! Those of us that drive BEV and dont live in Phoenix or South Harlingen Texas should not compare our battery degradation to those locations either.

Hawaii $/KWh makes southern California look great! (Just typed a wasted 50 bytes or 400 bits and my time!!)

The only time rate per kwh comes into play is when you have to make choices "Houston we have a problem". Its more about your usage than the rate, as this is what ultimately allows you to drive your final bill once you determine you have a problem - 95% of Americans don't know they have a problem!!

Phase B - of this rate problem comes either to Time of Use electricity exploration - to lower your rate especially if you have a BEV

Phase C - would be abandoning centralized electricity generation and going to local on site generation solutions - i.e. Solar Panels