Your electric bill

Not meaning to pry...but what did you pay for your electric bill for the last two months? Hubby opened ours this past week and had chest pains and told me I am not allowed to use the blowdryer anymore. Right. The blowdryer is the problem.

We run a household, water is electric heated, no dishwasher.

Heat is wood, but blower fan on furnace requires electric.

Heated tack shed (free standing 1500 watt space heater on low, shuts off as needed) hen house heated with red heat lamp, 250 watts, 24/7. Two horse waterers heated with heat tape.

All the outbuildings and water buckets are run with MILES of extension cords, none are hard wired into the system, but plug-in auxillaries. Don't know if this makes a difference in usage.

We are good about turning off lights. There is a spare fridge in basement, meduim size freezer. Our bill was $357 which made Hubby wonder if we don't have an energy leak somewhere, I think he muttered about a ground fault short problem...I wasn'treally listening.

I find this two tiered usage billing penalizes anyone with livestock that needs water or heat 24/7.

So, is this bill high? Average? If anyone wants to share their own heating/electric usage and cost, I would be intersted to know where we sit on the scale of cost. Because Hubby is thinking it's my blowdryer. I'm not convinced.

For Dec and Jan it totalled 629.37....we don't have heat in the garage, one heat lamp 24/7 in barn, hubby wondered what all I was using in the barn, we have had such a warm winter, basically nothing.

What is this two tier thing you speak of? Do you get charged more for certain time periods?

What about using a timer? Have it set to come on right after the rate drops. The chickens would need the heat more at night anyway. How fast the waterer would freeze depends on how cold you are of course.

$840...we had chest pains too! Wood heat here too. Not very good.

Our last bill was $265. We have a good locked in rate of 6.8 cents for the power but I find the delivery charges are what kill us. Half of the bill goes to Fortis and their 'delivery' fees.

We have a water heater for the horses and an oil heater in the coop for the days we need a boost of warmth in there. Our dryer is electric and we have a dishwasher... you don't have a dishwasher uno, what are you nuts??

I know many around here have bills that are way higher than ours. So, I try not to complain, but it wasn't all that long ago I paid 265 for 3 months of power! We are freaks about turing the thermostat down. At night it is only 14 degress. It does seem to make a difference in the gas and electric bill. Even during the day it stays around 18 degrees. It isn't a big deal to put a sweater on if its cold. We used to heat with only wood heat but our bills were even higher - must have been Epcor's higher rates. We have since moved and switched companies. (Spark Power is who we use now, a small alberta company, they are awesome!)

One thing I would not give up is the blowdryer... sorry not happening! I can't see it making that much of a difference, or at least that's what I am going to tell myself.

Ours was $388 for the period of Oct 19 to Dec 16. The two tier rate in BC is supposely to encourage people to use electricity efficently. The first quanity of electricity is charged one rate and if you you more than that allotted amount it is charged at a higher amount. Since we have farm status we pay only the base amount. We use wood for heat and propane for cooking and heating water. We do have a dishwasher and an electric dryer. Interesting in BC how ferry rates, electrical rates and municipal taxes are allowed to increase, but wages paid to public sector employees are not allowed to increase.

Ours was 555.00 with 2 incubators running and a very large barn on 13hr timed lighting in 3 areas and small heated waters in approx 18 floor pens, and 3 large heated waters in 3 other larger pens, yard light, electric heat baseboards, hotwater heater and lights on in the pigeon loft,and 13hr timed lighting in another breeding building as well as heated water for bantam ducks going 24/7. We also have basebroad heating in 3 areas of the big barn After seeing this I don't feel so bad as this was for 58 days.

Heather

$965

Apparently there could have been a rush on heart attacks last night in bc. We are all electric no wood or gas. We need to replace all our old windows and do some upgrading.

But I have 3 heat lamps going, 6 heated waterers, 2 lights on timers, incubator ran for most of December and January plus a full house hold.

.

Our power bill last month was $230, which isn't too bad. We run our household, the water heater/well pump and septic, as well as the barn light/and radio, and the heated water dishes in the coops. Our furnace is oil but turns on and off by electric. We haven't been using the heat much though, and we always turn it off before going to bed when we do...

uno wrote:All the outbuildings and water buckets are run with MILES of extension cords, none are hard wired into the system, but plug-in auxillaries. Don't know if this makes a difference in usage.

Ours was $150

If you have miles of cords you are probably experiencing 'line loss' or the gradual loss of electricity through small gauge cords. Heavy duty cords will help fix this, but are expensive.

Electricity is most often used for light, movement and heat. Light takes hardly any electricity. Running a motor or something that moves takes more. Creating heat requires a HUGE amount of electricity.

I have dropped my use from last year by eliminating all the electric heaters and using small red 60w light bulbs in various areas in the coops. The birds learn to go to them to warm up.

Sue

Viczoe, I'd have to say your rate was pretty good, considering.

Fowler, as Rosewood said, we pay different rates at different times. It works out to about 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour at one rate and 10 cents per kilowatt hour for the second rate. Since we DO NOT have farm status, we pay the full price.

Should also make clear that this bill is for 2 month, we get our Hydro bill every other month..so that works out to roughly $180 a month? Weird thing, this does not drop that much in the summer when the furnace does not run, nor the tack shed/hen house heaters nor the heat tapes. Hmm. Weird.

Thanks for replying. I am going to show this to Hubby later and see what he can make of it all. HOpefully I can keep my blowdryer!

I am going to make you all groan because I don't know what our electric bill is because we do not pay for it. It is part of our package. (actually, I do pay the bill but it is our of the ranch account) I would have to go through to see what our house is.
The down side is that we don't really get to do what we want here cause we don't own it and anything I build has to be moveable or know it is money gone as it will stay when we leave.
Sorry to hear all of you are having raises in power, it really sucks, but winter is almost over. yay

So Im not the only one!!!

Last year it was about 300, 400, 400 for Nov, Dec, Jan
This year it is about 300, 650, 750 for Nov, Dec, Jan !!!!!!

I have a couple more heat lamps this year, but seriously... nearly DOUBLE?!?!?!

My neighbour is having coniptions over her last two months bills also.

Arcticsun wrote:So Im not the only one!!!

Last year it was about 300, 400, 400 for Nov, Dec, Jan
This year it is about 300, 650, 750 for Nov, Dec, Jan !!!!!!

I have a couple more heat lamps this year, but seriously... nearly DOUBLE?!?!?!

My neighbour is having coniptions over her last two months bills also.

Nice to live in Alberta.


My last bill was $710 for the month.

Wife almost scalped me. (and I have little hair left to begin with).

Perry

My last bill was the year end one which was $2500, I also pay $500 a month on top of that . We have 2 water bowls that are heated, I run 4 radiant heater for coops ONLY when it gets below -20.

uno wrote:Viczoe, I'd have to say your rate was pretty good, considering.

Fowler, as Rosewood said, we pay different rates at different times. It works out to about 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour at one rate and 10 cents per kilowatt hour for the second rate. Since we DO NOT have farm status, we pay the full price.

Should also make clear that this bill is for 2 month, we get our Hydro bill every other month..so that works out to roughly $180 a month? Weird thing, this does not drop that much in the summer when the furnace does not run, nor the tack shed/hen house heaters nor the heat tapes. Hmm. Weird.

Thanks for replying. I am going to show this to Hubby later and see what he can make of it all. HOpefully I can keep my blowdryer!

$180 a month doesn't sound bad to me!!! Blowdry away uno...

And Sue, how do you keep your bill so low? $150 would be wonderful. We run a lot of electrical things, like the hot water and the dryer. We also noticed the sewer pump wasn't working right so I hope the new pump will help and our next bill is lower. Our gas bill is only around $80 a month. Now if I could just get the electrical bill down.

blackdove wrote: Now if I could just get the electrical bill down.

I agree!

It is looking like $350 for 2 months isn't so bad. But maybe we are comparing apples to oranges.

If your electric bill includes your heat, of course it is going to be high. What our bill does NOT reflect is the value of the wood we burn every month. We do not buy wood. BUt we do spend all stinking summer getting it! If we had to pay for a cord of wood (from $120 -$160) now add that to the bill and it is even higher!

We do not put out money for our wood, but we sacrifice leisure time in the short summer months this country offers. It's getting old. Hubby still splits by hand, about 8 cords a year. His shoulders and back hurt more all the time. I want to spend more time fishing, less time humping wood around.

So the question is, does your electric bill reflect the cost of HEATING your home? OR is there wood, oil, natural gas or propane that is NOT in that cost? I should have thought of this from the start. So $350 does NOT reflect the oil in the furnace nor the value of the wood. That is extra.

I was worried when we moved and no longer used wood to heat our home. But now I am just mad that all that work we did with gathering, chopping, and lugging wood into the house all winter didn't save us anything. Our utilities at our new place are lower and that includes the extra gas bill and heating our garage. I don't get it. It is nice to have wood heat as a back up plan though. What happens when the power goes out now. We freeze I guess.

.

Blackdove, If our bill is over $100 Doug has fits. I can't imagine if some of the bills you guys are reporting came in to our house.

How do we keep it low- well, remember, light uses little electricity, movement a bit more and heating with electricity will suck you dry!

Natural gas heats our home. The bulbs are all florescent. We take 3 short showers between us a week, we wash clothes in cold and dry minimally- taking the clothes out and hanging them when they are partially dry. There is a small electric heater in the pump house and electricity runs the water pump. I have 11 very efficient dog bowls to keep the water warm and 5 60w red bulbs for heat.

I think we must have very low rates as well. Perhaps we should all look at our bills and report how much we pay per kilowatt hour. Then we will be on an even playing field. Comparing oranges to oranges, right?

Sue

Uno That cost does include heating our house,this past year we replaced all the windows and resided the house in Hardi-Board this has made a big differance in the house heat.
With all the goings on in the barn and out buildings at our place and hearing, what others are paying we are doing well.

Heather

viczoe wrote:Uno That cost does include heating our house,this past year we replaced all the windows and resided the house in Hardi-Board this has made a big differance in the house heat.
With all the goings on in the barn and out buildings at our place and hearing, what others are paying we are doing well.

Heather

I hear ya. I've been residing our house as well. Taking off that stuff from the 70s that seems to be practically cardboard with a waterproof covering and replacing it with cedar shingles over styrofoam. Our power usage drops about 10% with every wall I get done.

Of course they keep raising the rates so it is saving us money by keeping our bill at the same level.

Schipperkesue wrote:Blackdove, If our bill is over $100 Doug has fits. I can't imagine if some of the bills you guys are reporting came in to our house.

How do we keep it low- well, remember, light uses little electricity, movement a bit more and heating with electricity will suck you dry!

Natural gas heats our home. The bulbs are all florescent. We take 3 short showers between us a week, we wash clothes in cold and dry minimally- taking the clothes out and hanging them when they are partially dry. There is a small electric heater in the pump house and electricity runs the water pump. I have 11 very efficient dog bowls to keep the water warm and 5 60w red bulbs for heat.

I think we must have very low rates as well. Perhaps we should all look at our bills and report how much we pay per kilowatt hour. Then we will be on an even playing field. Comparing oranges to oranges, right?


Sue

Yes, I had no idea how the rates could be so different from company to company. I am glad I shopped around when we moved. I pay 6.8 cents and I hear Epcor has been in the teens for a while now. Our bills were under $100 up until December. One thing I know I should be doing differently is how I dry our laundry. A clothes line would save us alot. I just have to not be so lazy.