Recently my electric bill has shot through the roof. That it increased really didn't surprise me as it was a Houston summer and I'll be damned if I live in a home where the temperature is more than 75 degrees or so. But what is blowing me away is how MUCH it has increased. I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in Dallas for 4 years. It was roughly the same size as the townhome where I currently reside. When I lived in Dallas, during the summers the electric bill would sometimes reach $150, maybe getting as close to $200 during the really hot summer months. My last electric bill in the townhome I live in was $300 and this summer has been MUCH milder than most of the summers I experienced in Dallas. I don't keep the place any cooler than I kept my old apartment, I don't watch more TV, and I operate my computer considerably less. So why the huge jump in the bill? One theory I have is that, since it is a townhome that is one story and located at the end of the building, the surface area exposed to the sun is much greater than living in an apartment on the inside bottom floor of a three story apartment complex. But is that enough to account for this discrepancy? I know the AC unit works because it doesn't get overly hot in my place, but sometimes it does seem like it is warmer than it should be. If I suspect the AC unit is so old it is working double time to keep my place cool, is enough to ask my landlord to replace the thing? They've already been over once because we complained about it being too hot. The problem was that we had really weird air vents that I had never encountered before and the damn things were closed without us realizing it. The repair man that checked them out felt them after her opened them up and told us cold air was coming out, so that was apparently enough for him. I fear that will be the same reaction I get if I ask them to check it out again. Anybody with experience here, I would really appreciate your input. My townhome is approximately 980 sq. ft., if that helps.
I haven't moved at all, and my electric bills are considerably higher this year over last year despite it, overall, not being as hot this summer as last summer.
I have a 2300sq ft 2-story house and have 2 AC units. My highest bill this year has been $200 and I keep it around 72. I put in a radiant barrier in my attic this spring and I think this has really helped......Have you had your AC serviced?
I have a 1500 sqft home, one story, and I had 30 grade insulation blown into my attic in March. When I leave for work, I turn my thermostat up to 80 degrees and leave both ceiling fans running all day. The highest my electricity bill has been so far this summer is $150.
We had one month when our bill was over $200 but it turned out they had based it on an estimated reading (I think the dog was outside at the time and she isn't that welcoming). So the next couple months we had a credit. Last winter we had a higher bill and it turned out our AC wasn't working properly. Certainly, get your AC looked into, I don't think your bill should be that high. Ours is about $130 for 2300 SF and two stories (seperate units for each floor help).
Our electric bills have been $8-12 dollars/mo this summer. Of course, our meter's broken, and we're not telling.
There are people in the area I'm building my house that have 3000+ sq. ft. houses that have bills between $150 and $225. Then again there are a few that have $350-$450 bills.
That's a bit high for what you've done, isn't it? I'm having 38 put in my house hoping to curb electric costs a bit. I almost went for the radiant barrier and house wrap, but it seemed like you'd need to live in the house for 10 years before you even broke even on the cost of the stuff.
Not really. When I'm in the house, I run it like a fiend. If I would have went 38 it might be lower. 30 was the minimum as per Reliant Energy. The attic had ZERO insulation in it.
With roughly the same usage this summer as last summer, I've noticed a marked increase in rates. I think Reliant has raised their rates. Oil prices are probably driving the increase. I think you can switch to some of the other companies and get a discount, but then you are constantly switching to whoever has the lower rates at the time. I guess it doesn't matter. Centerpoint owns the infrastructure...Reliant just sells the power...so you could buy from someone else. Anybody switch to one of the other companies and save money?
I'm dreading my first electric bill from my new house. It has two large skylights in the living room. When the sun is shining, it shines directly on the thermostat for about an hour. I have to leave it on about 90 before I go to work or else the AC will run all day. Are there companies that sell covers for skylights? I'd love it if I could open and close them when ever I wanted. They will be great in the winter but having them in the summer blows. Also, what is a radiant barrier? This house stuff is all new to me.
Call Reliant customer service and have someone come out and read your meter again. It could lower your bill, or it might raise your bill. But most likely, it'll lower your bill
Well, I had a tree fall down on my elctrical-wiring going to my house from the utility pole. And it fried my meter and the breaker box. Reliant came and took off the meter and said they would come put back another one once I had it fixed and inspected. I got it fixed and it was inspected by the city of Houston and he left a sticker on it saying it was o.k. Thing is I never called reliant to come put back the meter and its been over 2 years now. Makes me want to start playing the lotto. Anyway, my suggestion is to definitely have that unit serviced. When I say serviced make sure they clean the coils off because they may be dirty and restricting the airflow. Even though the air comes out cold does not mean it is blowing as hard as it should be. (That didn’t sound right) Also you need to make sure they check your lines for any restrictions. It could possibly be that your unit is not pulling out the hot air of your home properly. Another thing may be to see if you need an extra return air vent installed to pull out the heat from areas of the home the get the hottest. Good luck.
My last apartment had skylights which really warmed up the place during the middle of a hot summer day. I measured the skylight opening and got someone at Home Depot to cut me a piece of plywood with the demensions of the skylight. Then I painted it white, the color of my ceiling. The plywood fits inside the skylight, level with the ceiling. I screwed in 4 brackets into the ceiling that keeps the plywood from falling out. It worked great during the hot summer and I took them down during the winter.
I had this problem earlier this summer. My A/C would end up running all the time without really cooling off the apartment. After a thorough cleaning, it was able to cool the apartment and my electric bill went down a good bit (though it is still considerably higher than it was last year).
Its fairly easy to move your thermostat. Radiant barrier is a barrier that is applied to the top side of your attic (bottom of your roof) which keeps alot of the heat out and is put on existing homes with a spray gun. The rule of thumb to check to see if you need it is to put a thermostat in your attic at the hottest part of the day and it should be 10-15 degrees hotter then it is outside. If it is above that you should look at putting a radiant barrier in although it is a bit pricey but if you plan to live in your house for awhile its more then worth it
