In an effort to cut down costs, we are evaluating all expenses. Home energy usage being one of them. Just thought it might be fun to see if anyone else will join me in becoming less of a "Watt Waster" (my mother coined that phrase!).
I am going to post our energy usage in kWh (kilowatt hours) as well as actual cost for every month.
We have started the journey by lowering our water heater to 115 degrees rather than the scalding 130 it was at. I am ashamed to admit we haven't changed that since we moved in two years ago. No trips to the burn unit yet...
We are chucking one of our energy sucking fridges.
And we are going to start unplugging appliances like the microwave, computer, TV, VCR and DVD player. According to the electric utilities website these create phantom loads which drain power while not even ON!
So to kick off the Watt Watchers Club here is the current billing for July:
Energy Charges: 865 kWh
Which works out to be about $85.53 in charges
Plus taxes and fees $2.92
Minus a credit of $3.80
Subtotal: $84.65
We are on the average pay plan. Which adds up charges from this time last year and averages them out each month. For right now that makes it easier on the wallet, but if we get the energy usage down a lot, we are going to switch to regular billing.
Average Pay Amount Due: $95.87
According to the handy little graph on the side of my bill, in August of 2007 we used 15 kWh LESS per day. Another interesting piece of information is the average cost per day. In August 2007 it was $1.58 this August they have it projected at $2.72...which is $1.14 MORE.
So will you join me in this frugal adventure?
Photo created by J.N Gallegos
2 comments:
I just noticed this post!
I have been blown away since I got my current electric bill the other day. It is $391.00.
I will have to do the breaking down later...but, clearly, the fuel surcharges have gone through the roof.
We moved into this house two years ago June to make room for Sophie. We truly believed God lined this house up for us.
Since then, however, we have had many setbacks. We had problems with one of the hot water heaters. Yes, I said one of them. I didn't even know we had two. This is a lesson learned in getting an inspector. The buyers of our previous home (which we were the sole owners of...bought new) got an inspector. He told them he could find hardly anything wrong. Nit-picky things...like cut a few bushes back away from the side of the house.
We have a vaulted ceiling in our living room/kitchen area. I'm thinking it's a big no-no! Not good on the air circulation.
While we cannot control the fuel surcharges, we can make changes to cut down on the overall bill.
I'm still learning and open for more suggestions. HELP....
Since we are not skilled in adding a timer to our hot water heaters, we can flip the breaker on them when we are all gone for the day. That can be a sporadic, but perhaps worth trying.
Other ideas???
Thanks for the post and any advice you have! I'm open!
Rena
Ok...I got my bill out....I don't have the same graph I saw on your previous post. But I will tell you that my kWh went up this August from last August.
And, ahem, my total usage was 3122.
No, I'm not kidding. We do have two teen daughters...but...well, I don't know.
My energy charge on my bill is $139.00. My fuel surcharge is $278.61. There is 28.74 credit on something and a couple other adjustments...but as I said,grand total: $391.24.
HELLLLPPPPP! I'm taking advice. Do you think it will really help to unplug appliances???
Rena
Post a Comment