Stupid electric company......

My wife called me at work flipping out saying we got our electric bill and it was $396 dollars! I started to flip out as we never usually have electric bills over $150. I was stressing about it all day at work wondering what was going on. So when I got home I was reading the bill and it said we used right at 3,000 Kwh hitch we have never used around here!

I quickly realized they estimated it so I promptly went out and read the meter and as it turns out we only used 1,100 Kwh ($143).... Holy crap that one gave me a scare! I have no idea where they came up with that number from though since we have never used anywhere near that much electricity before. I am half tempted to call them and see if I can get it reduced by reading the meter to them. Next ting you know they will be out here replacing my meter

 

There are probably a lot of people around here that are going to be getting bills way worse than the one I just got. One guy I work with just got a $580 dollar electric bill and it was real.

 

After the ice storm of '09 my friend got an estimated bill that was over twice as much as the month before.
He called them and explained that since he was without power for 15 days that month, he sure as hell didnt use twice as much electric as the previous month. They finally saw it his way.

 

Meanwhile, in NY:
http://www.timesunion.com/business/...ustomers-getting-a-break-on-bills-5187704.php

They blame it on natural gas prices, but I'm not so sure that's the whole story:

Albany
Fearing that customers wouldn't be able to handle another month of stiff increases to their electrical bills, National Grid is going to give its electric customers $32 million in bill credits next month.
The money will offset the $30 increase that most Capital Region customers are expected to experience in February due to skyrocketing wholesale electric rates amid frigid temperatures this month. In other parts of upstate where electricity isn't as costly, the credit will be around $13.
National Grid will eventually be able to recoup the money from ratepayers at another time, although not all at once.

 

Gas company has pulled that trick a number of times, I've always been able to straighten it out by reading the meter to them over the phone.

 

We changed over to smart meters. You can monitor you usage on line, but it is two days behind. They don't come to read the meter anymore. Some are complaining about health rick to being near these meter but so far it is all hype.

 

I read the meter once a month and report it to the co-op online.
They send someone out once a year to verify.
Pretty simple, really.
I forgot to do that one month, and got an estimated bill based on usage from some point in time when we first moved here and still had a "different" outlook on energy use.
It got fixed.
No "smart" meters here.....so far.
I actually like seeing use, since it keeps me aware. I can monitor use daily if I want to, as can anyone.
It's curious why they decided to estimate, unless they weren't able to get to the meter, or they're trying to save money by not having them read.
I'd give 'em a buzz and "discuss".

 

Yeah I am going to give them a call tomorrow to discuss it. The bill actually stated the next meter reading would be March 6. I have no idea where that date came from.

 

In our case they typically estimate in the hardest winter months, so I think it's related to difficulty of the winter landscape.

 

So, what's the "normal" reading date?
I always take the reading on the 10th......and have no idea why anymore.

 

1,100 Kwh in a month... I'm guessing you have electric heat, water heater, dryer, etc?

I don't meant to turn this into a "one up" type deal but I'd have a heart attack if I had a bill for that much! Before I put in solar panels, would average about 4,500 kWh a year.


EDIT: OK I HAD A GOOD STORY TYPED OUT, TOOK ME ABOUT 20 MINS AND THEN I GET A "JAVASCRIPT" ERROR AND EVERYTHING WAS ERASED BUT THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.... NOT VERY HAPPY RIGHT NOW!

 

After I typed this I figured someone was going to say that's way to much electricity but I have went over everything multiple times and it is what it is. Our house is all electric including the water heater and cooking appliances. We have two deep freezes in the basement to hold our years worth of frozen stuff from the garden, the half a cow and half a hog that we buy. On top of that my wife works from home and my daughter is homeschooled so there are 2-3 computers running and my wife's server for the majority of the day and with as cold as it has been I have been keeping my diesel plugged in as well as running a 700 watt space heater in my daughters bedroom at night to keep it 65 in there. So there really isn't much I can do to cut back at this point. In the spring-fall we dry all of our clothes outside and grill a lot so the oven doesn't run and our usage drops back to around 800 kilowatt hours but that is the lowest it ever gets. Considering our electric bill is the only utility bill we have since we have no home phone or cable/sattelite and my wife's work pays for business class internet service I don't get to worked up about it.

 

Wasn't an attack toward you or meant to indicate you are wasteful or anything like that. (why I said "I don't meant to turn this into a "one up"").

The rest of my story probably would have explained the reason for my post a bit, but I'm not retyping it again. It it wasn't that people are sleeping I probably would have punched the keyboard a few times.

 

I hope I didn't come off that I felt that way as I didn't take your comment that way at all! It's all good I completely understand the frustration with computers and have had the same thing happen plenty of times before

What I was trying to say is that I always feel like it's higher than it should be also but I have sat down multiple times and run the numbers and I don't know what else to do with it so I finally just said forget it and quit worrying about it. A lot of my bill is all the stupid line charges and distribution fees etc.... that they tack on at the end.

I looked into solar but where I sit in the woods and the limited amount of time I would have sun on the panels the ROI was not in my lifetime so I kicked that idea to the curb.

 

Yep, I'd love to get a gas dryer and stove/oven, but my wife is afraid the house will blow up or something.
It would dramatically reduce our elec. use (which is already pretty low). What ya' gonna do?
We've even been talking about getting another freezer.

 

Way to make them eat their words Dave.

 

What are folks paying for a KWH in your area? Right now, it is about 15.5 in our area, but they have been approved for a rate increase so who knows. I put a meter on my appliances to get a handle on what I am using. Our upright freezer was costing about $14 to $15 per month. I unplugged it and went to a small chest freezer that is more realistic for our needs. Now, I not sure why, but when I changed out the light bulbs to CFU in the off on light and LED to he ones with dimmers or light sensors, I noticed a dramatic difference in the bill. Just the wife and I here now. Large amount of electronics that go into sleep mode. I put the Meter on them and found the stand by mode was hardly measurable. What did the most was turning off things not being used. Amazing what I would leave on giving no thought to what it is costing. The smart meter is another good tool. When the drying is running, the power use is at its highest. Next is the oven. It is surprising how much counter top appliances save over the range or oven. I was up in the $150-$150 range, then dropped down to the $90 range. Now up anther $30 bucks because of the pellet stove and hours of darkness and the fact that we are home a lot more because it is too cold to go anywhere. Another high use item is our well pump. It is 39 years old and still going. I have no idea if the new ones run any better. The smart meter allows me to monitor my use from my computer so that is a good thing for us.