Why does electric use increase in winter

[Doc C]

Did you order a monitor yet?

No. I've been using my meters that I have. I should order one. Just really hoping that the electric company meter is bad.

If it's not then I'm going to have to order the monitor.

 

[Doc C]

Im jumping in late here but something is radically wrong here.
I have more appliances than you and use way less power
I have 3 Refrigerators going You have 1
Also a deep freeze
4 Big Sc TVs going You have 1
4 person household You have 2
50 Gallon WH
3 computers going
Electric bathroom heaters.
Washer going daily
Electric Dryer going daily
I use about 1000 KWH a month sometimes less . Bill runs about $100 a month. Same usage year round.

WOW!

I have a dishwasher. I went through today and checked every light bulb. All of them are 5.3 watts or less. And I do not have a whole lot of them.

My house is 1965 square feet roughly but it's really compact 2 story. A 13nc heats the whole house even in the coldest weather. My house feels more like a 1500 square foot house.

I'm pretty sure that the electric company is going to owe me a lot of money after they change my meter.

 

[Doc C]

I'm expecting a solution soon.
This thread is dragging on too long!

This is going to be an epic thread on all things to try when your electric bill is too high! Maybe

 

[Ashful]

I'm pretty sure that the electric company is going to owe me a lot of money after they change my meter.

Bird in the hand... how are you going to work out what is owed?

 

[maple1]

No. I've been using my meters that I have. I should order one. Just really hoping that the electric company meter is bad.

If it's not then I'm going to have to order the monitor.

I would get one anyway, regardless. Don't wait any longer. Just think, you could have had one for a while now & had your problem figured out if you'd gotten one when first suggested.

I got one, just to see if I could cut my bill or to see where my juice was going, even though it wasn't outrageous to start with. Watching the monitor while I turned my office 4' flourescent light fixtures off & on was a real eye opener.

Then if you keep an eye on it, you could also tell when something goes wonky. I can glance at mine most any time - if it's higher than it should be, I go for a little walk & look & listen. And usually see that my fridge is cycling, as it should be. I just glanced at it, 460 watts. All OK. I would really really be wanting one, if I couldn't plainly hear my water pump running when it does - it uses big juice when it runs, and it doesn't take much of a water leak to make it cycle a lot. Like, a little dirt under a toilet flapper. Or a weeping foot valve. Or a hung up toilet flush - seems I am the only one in the house that can tell when that has happened.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

WOW!

I have a dishwasher. I went through today and checked every light bulb. All of them are 5.3 watts or less. And I do not have a whole lot of them.
r.

I did nt list every appliance but yes,
have a dishwasher that runs daily sometimes twice. Electric Stove too the runs daily.
Its got to be your meter. Anything drawing THAT much power its not supposed to would be starting a fire by now.

 

[Doc C]

Bird in the hand... how are you going to work out what is owed?

The old discount tire commercial comes to mind. But in all seriousness I am not sure how

 

[Seasoned Oak]

DId i mention you could see my place from space at Xmas time ,the whole month of Dec. Thousands of Xmas lights. Didnt do much to the Bill Added about $25 to $30 . Mostly LED.

 

[Doc C]

DId i mention you could see my place from space at Xmas time ,the whole month of Dec. Thousands of Xmas lights. Didnt do much to the Bill Added about $25 to $30 . Mostly LED.

We don't use Xmas lights really. I have 1 string that stays up year round for light on the covered deck and it's led.

Ally lights are led in my house and garage. Our house is hidden from people so I do not ever feel the need to decorate.

 

[Ashful]

I did nt list every appliance but yes, have a dishwasher that runs daily sometimes twice. Electric Stove too the runs daily.

You only have one dishwasher? Seriously?

... and just ONE stove? ;-)

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You only have one dishwasher? Seriously?

... and just ONE stove? ;-)

One electric stove as opposed to a gas stove. But 2 clothes washers. And i forgot a rice cooker that works overtime .2 of the refrigerators are in the bar, just beer and overflow.
Not exactly a "green" lifestyle .

 

[Dobish]

One electric stove as opposed to a gas stove. But 2 clothes washers. And i forgot a rice cooker that works overtime .2 of the refrigerators are in the bar, just beer and overflow.
Not exactly a "green" lifestyle .

we have the double oven, but we only use the lower one when my mom is in town (because she's short!).

 

[semipro]

Not exactly a "green" lifestyle .

Sounds like fun one though.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Unless that Well pump is using 2000KWH a month your meter is messed up.

 

[fbelec]

funny thing about the well pump i have a customer that call me into look at something and after that starts asking me what could cause the electric bill to be so high she says i have the same house as my neighbor same amount of people and she went down the list. she had the electric company down twice and nothing until i walked around the house and asked her why is there water coming from around the well head. she said i don't know but the garden has been really green along with the grass. it was her well pump adding money to her bill

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I guess if you had a loose connection or a leak of some kind that darn thing could run constantly.

 

[velvetfoot]

Bird in the hand... how are you going to work out what is owed?

The state public service commission might help if it comes down o that.

 

[Doc C]

I just talked to the meter testing guy. He will be here in the morning and he's going to bring hourly print outs to see if we can narrow this down

 

[velvetfoot]

He's bringing historical hourly printouts extracted from the meter?

 

[Doc C]

He's bringing historical hourly printouts extracted from the meter?

That is what he claims. He said he would bring the last couple months worth of hourly readouts.

 

[maple1]

Have you asked them yet about being able to access data at home?

 

[Doc C]

Have you asked them yet about being able to access data at home?

I have not. I am going to ask him tomorrow. The lady on the phone didn't really know much

 

[semipro]

You pulled a submersible pump from 500 feet yourself? I am impressed. I’ve done them, but never any nearly that deep! I hope you had some buddies to tag-team that bad boy, and lots of lawn space to lay out the pipe.

Yeah, clamp-on ammeter is the only way to go, on these things. Like stoves, every install is different.

Photos attached or it didn't happen
The pipe was 20' sections of PVC. At our depths, black poly was out of spec as far as tensile strength or I would have gone back with that. We built a tripod out of old soccer goal parts, attached a pulley at the top and pulled it with a winch attached to the back of our tractor. I also paid $150 for a well pipe clamp (the orange thing) but it was well worth it. I used a section of climbing webbing with a Prusik knot on the end of the cable to lift the pipe. I should have invested in a metal "elevator" to attach the cable to the pipe (last photo) I also put a camera down the well to the bottom of the casing to check for any perforations or leakage at the casing/formation interface.

 

[Doc C]

The electric company came out and tested the meter. It is off a little bit charging us too much.

Not nearly enough to explain the issue.

He put a monitor in place for the next week or so.

Also the hourly report shows huge spike of around 5kw per hour on occasion. And alot of them are when we are sleeping.

I had one day where we used over 10kw in one hour! Holy crap!

 

[velvetfoot]

It's documented now. A little more sleuthing and you'll have it!