according to your Progress Energy (or whomever, for you out-of-towners) bill, in kWh?



Relevant info you may wish to provide:

number of people in your house
sq. footage
stories
apt./house
temperature settings
etc.

8/31/2011 8:56:45 AM

441

APT.

1 PERSON

78-79 Temperature




[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 9:02 AM. Reason : ]

8/31/2011 9:01:09 AM

We have only lived in this house for a little over a year and that includes 2 summers (one being pretty hot) so these numbers are skewed a little high but:

495 kWh
2 people, 1 dog
2 stories, 2500 ft² house (brick veneer on front, vinyl siding everywhere else)
Temperature settings vary a lot because of the programmable thermostats.

Things that help us:
-programmable thermostats and actually utilizing them
-belkin switchable power strips to reduce/eliminate "vampire" power usage

8/31/2011 9:09:59 AM

2 people, 1300-1500 sqft house (3br, 2bath). Kept house at 68 in the winter, 78 in the summer. Turned off a/c in the spring.

During the winter when the heater was broken (Dec, Jan, Feb): 3451 kWh
After fixing it (Mar, Apr): 1314 kWh
Spring into Summer (May, June): 675.5
Summer, until we realized the a/c was broken (July, August): 1649 kWh

We do a lot of shit to conserve energy and money. Efficient bulbs everywhere, low thermostat in the winter, high in the summer, all major entertainment appliances plugged into surge protectors that are turned off when not in use, thermal insulating or w/e curtains over the windows. Other vampire electronics (printers, external monitors not in use) aren't even plugged in.

A fucking broken air conditioner/heater fucks all of those plans though . A non-programmable thermostat doesn't help either. During the winter we manually set the temperature to 65 or 63 at night and for during the day, then put it back to 68 during the evening or whenever we would be there.

Our high was in December, 4616 kWh. Non stop emergency heating. Lowest was May, 472 kWh, where we didn't use the a/c at all. So that's what, about 1200 kWh to cool the house. Overall average is 1840 kWh.

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 9:26 AM. Reason : lkj]

8/31/2011 9:17:36 AM

well dang

ours is a 1100sq.ft apt, 2nd floor, 2 people and a couple animals and ours ranges from 800-1400kWh a month

we keep the temp at about 74-75 and i'm pretty anal about lights but there's definitely room for improvement...one computer is always on, the central HVAC is kinda shitty, we cook at home a lot, etc

still though, damn


[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 9:20 AM. Reason : asdf]

8/31/2011 9:18:39 AM

1800 sq ft 2 story house
3 people and 1 dog

The high mark always falls in August. This year it was 2,262 kWh.
The low was in February, 541 kWh this year.

Total kWh consumption over the last year was 13,905. The monthly average is 1,159 kWh.

Major contributing factors in that number: an undersized AC unit for the house that runs almost nonstop during daytime in the summer. Avg temp in the house during the summer is 78-82°. Avg temp in the winter is 60-65°. We cook a lot and the range is electric (ditto the oven). When at home there is usually more than one TV on at a time.

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 9:25 AM. Reason : k]

8/31/2011 9:23:05 AM

around 242 kWh or something ranges from 200-260 depending on season

950 sq ft
2 people
on 1st floor condo
Whatever it is outside so 70s mainly.

8/31/2011 9:27:35 AM

low 318kwh (April-May), high 693kwh (July-Aug)

1 person
1400sqft single story house
programmable thermostat set at 76 when i'm home, 84 when i'm gone

8/31/2011 9:50:39 AM

1,168 kWh for July

2 people
2 BR, 2 BA condominium on top floor facing afternoon sun. Cooling is the biggest factor here. Should be a pretty easy winter to get through with the afternoon sun and a wood burning fire place.

I also have an aquarium running 24/7 and one computer. and the GF does a bunch of laundry due to her job.

8/31/2011 10:06:11 AM

For those with programmable thermostats, what are your settings...summer and winter?

My current summer settings are 76/77 when I'm home, and 85 (anyone think that gap is too large?) during the day, with my return time set to 6pm (figuring the later the better...worst case you can always bump early if needed).

For winter I don't remember my exact settings...but I do remember my HVAC guy saying to set your return time earlier, to 4pm or so, since it is easier/cheaper to heat load your house then, versus later when it cools off more. Also I have a heat pump if that matters.

8/31/2011 10:14:36 AM

874 kwh for 7/29-8/29

2k~ sq feet
3 stories
run one floor at a time...keep it around 78-79

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 10:19 AM. Reason : fgdgdfg]

8/31/2011 10:18:32 AM

also my record low is 201 kwH -- last november

8/31/2011 10:20:19 AM

you guys make me wonder.


im gonna check it later..... but dont make fun of me if it's kinda high

8/31/2011 10:29:19 AM

^^,^^^ - townhome with gas heat?


I have a ~1400 sq ft house with two people, and we used 1,240 kwh last month.

Quote :

"low 318kwh (April-May), high 693kwh (July-Aug) 1 person 1400sqft single story house programmable thermostat set at 76 when i'm home, 84 when i'm gone"

what year was your house built? what all have you done to keep your bill so low?

8/31/2011 10:32:02 AM

Quote :

"^,^^ - townhome with gas heat?"

yes

8/31/2011 10:33:42 AM

that explains a lot of it.


my condo was built in the mid 80s and I'm electric everything.

8/31/2011 10:43:15 AM

This house I'm renting was built in 2005 and is a piece of shit insulation wise

8/31/2011 10:44:26 AM

rocky mount communist utilities, here. chart from 2010:
Dec 21, 2010 666.00 KWH
Nov 22, 2010 791.00 KWH
Oct 22, 2010 866.00 KWH
Sep 21, 2010 1224.00 KWH
Aug 23, 2010 1522.00 KWH
Jul 26, 2010 1881.00 KWH
Jun 23, 2010 1819.00 KWH
May 25, 2010 936.00 KWH
Apr 26, 2010 604.00 KWH
Mar 29, 2010 604.00 KWH
Feb 27, 2010 712.00 KWH
Jan 28, 2010 714.00 KWH

2 ppl, 2 large dogs, 1 cat in the house
1609 SF
1 story
house, brick ranch
68 at night, 75 during the day (according to the thermostat, which isn't in a place to accurately read the temperature across the house)

built in 1964, shitty to no insulation in the walls, no insulation under floor, new blown-in insulation in attic. gas heat. packaged unit is from 1994 or 1997 i don't remember which right now. on days that it's 90+, if i let the house get hotter than 75 it won't cool down in time for bedtime & i'll sweat all night.

we also have a 55gal & a 30gal fish tanks. idk how much they pull on a daily basis but it's something that's running constantly.

8/31/2011 10:52:27 AM

8/22/2011 2,545
7/20/2011 2,508
6/20/2011 2,179
5/18/2011 1,012
4/19/2011 1,021
3/18/2011 874
2/17/2011 856
1/20/2011 1,235
12/20/2010 929
11/17/2010 735
10/20/2010 1,120
9/21/2010 1,940



3 people and 2 dogs
3400sqft house, 2 stories, built in 2008
We keep the A/C pretty cold 70 upstairs and 72 downstairs. I'm willing to pay a little extra to not be sweating in my own house.
Having a fridge, garage freezer, and kegerator probably don't help either.

It'll be interesting to see how that changes over time as the trees I planted provide shade to the house.

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 11:18 AM. Reason : .]

8/31/2011 11:17:05 AM

based on everyone's replies in this thread I can only gather that my undersized HVAC unit is raping me and my roommates...financially.

8/31/2011 11:32:24 AM

^ours in our townhouse was too...turned out to be a freon issue. we were very very low. with it being end of summer prolly pointless now, but next year see if your landlord will send someone out to add freon.

8/31/2011 11:39:19 AM

We've already had a technician come out twice this summer. The reality is our unit is undersized for the house, as are most units in this neighborhood of cheaply built houses

8/31/2011 11:43:39 AM

well dang! that's crazy...and shitty for you guys.

8/31/2011 11:45:25 AM

Avg 1000 kWh
1 person
1 story ~1200sqft house
74/72/70 Away/Home/Bed

Fuck electronics. I need to start utilizing the off switch on my surge protectors.

8/31/2011 11:53:28 AM

Yeah, the HVAC has really been the huge "fuck you" on the power bill. I don't know if its undersized or what though, it doesn't seem that small. I'm interested to see how it changes the power consumption after we got it serviced.

8/31/2011 11:57:23 AM

wow i turn AC off while away

its usually like 85 inside when i get home but the AC cools it down to around 78 within 15 mins

79 to sleep

8/31/2011 11:57:47 AM

holy crap, i can't sleep unless i have the temperature down around 70. We do not have a programmable T-stat, but ours does have an energy savings mode. We keep it around 74 when we are at home, energy savings at 79 when away, and 70 when sleeping.

8/31/2011 12:03:55 PM

Anything over low 70s at night is impossible, even with my jet engine fan blowing in my face with hurricane force

8/31/2011 12:07:58 PM

Quote :

"what year was your house built? what all have you done to keep your bill so low?"

not sure exactly, probably around 1970 or so

to be honest, I haven't put that much effort into keeping the bills low i switched most of the bulbs to cheap walmart CFLs (94 cents each) and I use a prog. thermostat set to 84 daytime/76 evening/78 night

i should note that I moved into this house in Feb, so the heat pump hasn't seen any heavy usage yet

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 12:17 PM. Reason : .]

8/31/2011 12:08:57 PM

impossible for me to sleep in conditions hotter than 75

8/31/2011 12:09:56 PM

Highest:

Jan this year: 1,303 kWh
usual temp setting: 68-ish

Lowest:

May this year: 384 kWh
usual temp setting: probably wasn't on at all

I have a heat pump and it does not like it when it gets to be freezing or below. Otherwise there really isn't much that sucks power. Heating and cooling is probably 50% or so of all the total power costs. I don't think my place is very energy efficient. I like it when the weather is nice and I can leave the windows open. That, and the bills are too darn high

8/31/2011 12:16:22 PM

Quote :

"8/22/2011 2,545 7/20/2011 2,508 6/20/2011 2,179 5/18/2011 1,012 4/19/2011 1,021 3/18/2011 874 2/17/2011 856 1/20/2011 1,235 12/20/2010 929 11/17/2010 735 10/20/2010 1,120 9/21/2010 1,940 3 people and 2 dogs 3400sqft house, 2 stories, built in 2008 We keep the A/C pretty cold 70 upstairs and 72 downstairs. I'm willing to pay a little extra to not be sweating in my own house. Having a fridge, garage freezer, and kegerator probably don't help either."

Do you live in fregin Florida or somethin?

8/31/2011 12:18:29 PM

gas heat

I live in NC

8/31/2011 3:43:15 PM

^so why's your power bill so high in the winter?

8/31/2011 3:52:45 PM

shit i thought that was low

8/31/2011 4:14:42 PM

2 people, 2 dogs.
~2200 square ft house
southeast texas, it be hot. about half way between houston and the gulf.
keep the thermostat on 74 while were there, 78 while we're not
gas heat/water heater/range/stove
electric w/d
brand new house, finished construction in oct 2010. thermal shield, tons of insulation. brick dawg.


nov 2010 - 445 kWh avg temp 72F
dec 2010 - 287 kWh avg temp 66F (vacation)
jan 2011 - 540 kWh avg temp 58F
february 2011 - 439 kWh avg temp 70F
march 2011 - 502 kWh avg temp 78F
april 2011 - 665 kWh avg temp 85F
may 2011 - 959 avg temp 90F
june 2011 - 1162 kWh avg temp 95F
july 2011 - 1043 kWh avg temp 97F


i do fuckall for conservation. i turn on damn near every light.

8/31/2011 4:23:40 PM

Quote :

"We've already had a technician come out twice this summer. The reality is our unit is undersized for the house, as are most units in this neighborhood of cheaply built houses"

Depends on how "undersized" it is. I would always rather have a slightly "undersized" unit than an "oversized" unit. However, if you are keeping it between 78-82 it definitely shouldn't be running nonstop. Plus, one unit for a two-story house always blows. What size is the unit? What did the technician do when they were out?

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 4:34 PM. Reason : ]

8/31/2011 4:26:40 PM

I'm in a lovely ( ) U.Woods 3 bedroom 2nd floor unit and we've been hovering right around 30kWh/day, or 900 kWh/month. Granted, our A/C is shit, so I'm hoping we can improve that number as it cools down outside - right now the thermostat sits somewhere between 76-78, and there are plenty of power-hungry electronics in the apartment.

8/31/2011 4:27:19 PM

24 month avg: 1725 kWh /low: 942, hi: 2861
2000 sq ft (+2 car garage, unfinished), just the wife and I
2 story house
both upstairs/downstairs thermostats on 70 year round (electric heat pumps)

8/31/2011 4:38:50 PM

Roughly an assload. I keep the air on all the time, have a media server and a PC running at all times, and have my TV on a lot of the time. Granted I still am in a dorm so doing this is all fine.

8/31/2011 4:43:43 PM

dunno- i like to keep it cool during the summer... but we use gas heating in the winter, so we make up for it then

8/31/2011 4:44:29 PM

I don't know how you people live in the low 60's and 80's. I keep my house at 72-74 year round.

8/31/2011 5:11:36 PM

3 BR apartment

8/31/2011 6:30:14 PM

1BR, about 800 ft^2. OLD building. No insulation whatsoever.

I'm averaging about 650 kwh for the 5 months I've been here. ~21kwh/day

8/31/2011 6:46:21 PM

high thermostat temps ITT

mine doesn't dare approach 70

8/31/2011 7:26:52 PM

bump for cold weather

348kwh Sept-Oct
580kwh for Oct-Nov

no aux heat on my heat pump, so i'm interested to see what my bill looks like for this cycle since we're getting back down to freezing at night

12/1/2011 8:15:16 PM