WTF? My power bill is triple any other bill in the last year

[lizerdbits]

Before you think I'm stupid because it's winter, my heat is hot air made from hot water out of my gas HWH. So my gas bill goes way up in the winter which is logical. I thought it was the rates after seeing $193 but it says I used 1410 KWH this period- triple almost every other bill. Last January it was not even 500 KWH.

So is it possible to have a malfunctioning appliance to cause that without me knowing there's a problem that is sucking power? What can cause using 2-3X more electricity than usual without doing anything differently? I think I need to call Pepco on Monday.

[ThomCat]

1. I'd have the gas company come out.

It could be a leak somewhere. :(

[lizerdbits]

2. It's the electric bill, not the gas

If it was the gas I'd have called them as soon as I saw it.

[doc03]

3. They may have estimated your

bill, they estimated my bill in December 2006 at 2820KWH. When they read my meter in January 2007 I was only billed for 905 KWH for that month. Check your bill it may have est. next to meter reading. There could also be an electrical problem, my brother had water in his main supply cable and it caused leakage to ground.

[lizerdbits]

5. They give the meter readings on the bill

There's also the statement "The present reading is an actual reading." My last one was 480.

[ThomCat]

6. Could someone be tapping in and using your electricity?

:(

[lizerdbits]

8. Interesting

There was someone at our condo association meeting a while ago thinking someone was doing that to her house because of her bill. Not sure what happened, she was told to take it up with Pepco since it wasn't the association's responsibility. I have my suspicions about neighbors on one side of me ("house of business"). Would it have to be someone next to me? I don't know if that could happen from a longer distance (these are TH style condos). Too bad I can't remember where that woman lived.

[Blue Diadem]

31. That happened to us once while we were gone.

Luckily the outlet he plugged into on the outside was a GFI breaker. He blew the circuit and then left us a note, apparently thinking we'd turned off the power or something. We found it two weeks later.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Ours went up too. Near as I could guess it was running the dryer every day sometimes

twice a day drying out the kiddies' snow suits that did us in.

[lizerdbits]

7. I can't think of anything I'm doing differently

No additional activity or appliances. That's why I'm at a loss.

[bigwillq]

9. Ours went way up too.

But that's because the power company went up 20 percent on everyone and we have an all electric house.

[Inchworm]

10. Check for a hot water leak (nt)

[lizerdbits]

13. My HWH is gas. nt

[doc03]

11. You could have an electrical problem

my brother had water get in his meter box and it drained down into his main feed line which caused current drain to ground.

[lizerdbits]

15. Thanks for the tip

I'll check it tomorrow when I check to see how fast the meter turns with almost everything off (see below).

[Suich]

12. Go take a look at your meter.

Turn everything off that you can, then go watch it to see how fast it's going around.

If your lights, tv, etc. are turned off, it should just barely be moving.

fwiw, I just checked my bill and I use between 450-500 KWH. My water and heat are gas, dryer and stove are electric.

Good luck!

:)

[lizerdbits]

14. I'll check tomorrow

Those are about my numbers too but with a couple in the upper 300's in the spring/fall when I'm not running the AC or air handler for heat.

Thanks!

[Orrex]

16. Was your electricity recently deregulated?

Ours was. Mysteriously, despite libertarian claims that great fortune would follow for all involved, the only impact we saw was a price-jump of 40% to 60% per month. Thank you, deregulation.


Don't know if that would account for the jump that you're seeing, but you might check into it...

[TZ]

18. AHA! Your post just jogged my memory....

Lizerdbits lives down the road from me....We were deregulated about a year ago...however I believe PEPCO gave us several options on how to deal with the large increase in prices. One was an immediate jump..(which I did preferring to get the pain over with right away). Another option was a deferred option where I think it was a gradual increase for a certain amount of time

Liz--do you remember if you had the deferred option on rate increase? That could indeed be the explanation for your sudden jump.
Look at your bill and see what the rates per kilowatt hour are. Look at the past few months and see if its much larger. The jump for me was indeed about 4-5 times the previous month.

Good catch, Orrex. This is indeed my suspicion, now

On edit: possibly they also read your meter short on month and in a longer period this month as well...Was you wattage lower than expected last bill?

[some guy]

26. I don't thik that's it.

She said her KWH is 1,410 and was only 500 or so last year. So the bill is due to more elictrical usage, not a rate increase, or at least not so much to an increase.

[lizerdbits]

30. You're correct

That's why I checked the KWHs, my first suspicion was a rate increase and that's not the case.

[Robeson]

17. But you're making filthy rich people richer.....

...surely thats some consolation....:shrug:

[quip]

19. Only losers play the lottery

What? "power bill?". Nevermind.

[Orrex]

20. Don't feel bad

I thought that it was a thread about a bionic duck.

[quip]

21. Is she bragging about her husband William?

[astral]

22. That happened to me when my fridge was going out

My landlord didn't give me a break on it either. He bought me another fridge and then immediately raised my rent $50a month.

[lizerdbits]

28. It has been making strange noises when it stops cooling

Maybe that's it....

I'll be checking the meter later after I eat and shower.

[Why Syzygy]

23. Did you have any Christmas lights?

Tree? Electrical decorations?

[lizerdbits]

29. I had a tree with the lights on only a couple hours a day

the same as last year when I used less than half the current KWHs as this bill.

[buzzard]

24. I just called my hydro company my bill was huge and I wanted to know why they said it was in line

with my last years bill. I must be supporting a grow op .

[CC]

25. Call them, they may of misread your meter.

Your meter readings should be on the bill, go out and get the reading right before you call. We had this happen to us once. Course they didn't send us the over payment but it was 4 months before we had to pay another electric bill. I check the meter every month now. I know about what day the come out so it isn't hard to do.


Edited to add- and it happened about the same time our second 38% rate increase went into effect so the SO missed it. He just thought it was the increase. BG&E was not the only company in MD to get a 72% increase in electric bills.

[krispos42]

33. Yeah, it might have been 410 kWh instead of 1,410 n/t

[Meshuga]

27. malfunctioning appliance is a huge possibility

We lived in an apartment, much smaller than the house we bought over a year ago, and in the apartment we paid $200-$250 for our Pepco bill. And we had Gas and Electrical appliances. Everything is electrical in my new house (which is much bigger than the apartment) but my bill is now lower than in the old apartment. Granted that we have been good in keeping the house as energy efficient as possible, but we also made a saving effort in our old apartment.

[Sanity Claws]

32. Did you get any new appliances?

I've heard HDTV uses an extraordinary amount of electricity. Maybe other appliances might too.
Also, how's your refrigerator working? Do you hear it come on a lot?

[lizerdbits]

34. Nothing new

And my fridge makes a weird sound sometimes when it cuts off, but it's not on a lot. I looked at the meter today and it's correct so I'll call Pepco on Monday. :shrug: