$300?!?!

[easjer]

How the fuck can I have a $300 electricity bill? I live in a 650 square foot 1 bedroom apartment. For fuck's sake! That's ridiculous! I'm sure it had to do with the air conditioning going out a couple weeks ago. It's not like we keep it at arctic temps, we don't leave unnecessary appliances running or lights on, and I almost never use the oven anymore because it takes so much energy to heat and maintain the temp.

I cannot wait to be out of that shithole.

Sadly, that appears to be delayed AGAIN. :madrun We were supposed to close Monday, but it got pushed back. We're supposed to close tomorrow, and it looks like it's going to be pushed back again. Next week, I'm out of town Thursday and Friday, and can't be off from work Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday, so if it gets pushed beyond Monday, it's another week. We've already lost a full week in which to move. Another week and weekend will send me over the roof. We have to get out of our apartment and repaint it and clean it, and apparently, will have to do this during one of the few times neither of us can take off of work - ie, the first week of school. Only one of the longest, busiest weeks of the year.
:bang

[CubanMustGo]

(1) where do you live (city, not trying to be a stalker), and
(2) how many kWh did you use?

[Mrs.Jimcs50]

You can always ask Jim to cover it.

[dougp]

(1) where do you live (city, not trying to be a stalker), and
(2) how many kWh did you use?
In H-town ... and I agree with her, energy is a freakin joke here. 580sq ft apartment, and only my laptop/TV running with AC, $128 this month ... I show by freakin candle light so that I don't use electricity! Jees.

[easjer]

Part of it is that I live in an older, energy inefficient building, with older appliances. Also use Reliant Energy (a mistake we will not be making in the new place).

But still. $300?! My bill has never been that high, ever.

[CubanMustGo]

If you have your kWh usage history over time you could try getting them to come out and do a re-read. It's entirely possible that they made a mistake and if you show a huge increase between the previous month (and/or the same month last year) it could be evidence that they screwed up.

We live in the D/FW area, used about 1700 kWh in a 2100 sf house last month, keeping the AC between 80 and 85. The bill was about $225 (Cirro Energy). We used 30% more electricity last year yet the bill was the same. That's pretty low usage for our neighborhood, most people are in the $400 range, but we have done a number of energy conserving things (like replace most of our bulbs with the energy-saving flourescents).

What a shame we don't live in SA, from what their website says they are paying about 2/3rds per kWh as those of us stuck in "competitive" markets.

[easjer]

Yeah, I agree. I'd much rather be there than in Houston. But from what I know about the new place (and the advantages of TXU), our bills should decrease. Better construction, more sound and new, more efficient appliances should make sure that are bills are not more expensive - sad for a place nearly 3 times as big as our current.

[angel_luv]

$300 for an apartment? Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

No chance that was a mistake?

[easjer]

Possibly. On Cuban's advice I'll look at the bill and past usage history (the amount just came via email announcement that it was ready to view and pay).

Grrrr.

More concerned with the damn house stuff. Nobody can make it go faster than it is, but I NEED to be able to move some this weekend and next week and weekend. Otherwise, I'm not sure we'll be able to get out of our apartment on time.

[spurster]

In SA, paid $160 for 1800kWh for a 2000 sq.ft. house. Thermostat is at 79.

[TDMVPDPOY]

it costs money to have them fools come out to check ur meter.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I got something like a $360 bill last month.

I face the afternoon sun, but last month was really my fault as I didn't realize my bedroom window was still slightly open after one cool night when I left it open.

My complex pays $100 of the bill and for some reason, I seemed to get a readjusted bill later for about $150 (550 sq. ft apartment), but I also went the Mexican (as me and my friends put it) and nailed a heavy blanket over my bedroom window (I'm moving out of here in about 10 days so there's no need to invest in curtains).

It'll be interesting to see what the final bill is.

[SpursWoman]

Part of it is that I live in an older, energy inefficient building, with older appliances. Also use Reliant Energy (a mistake we will not be making in the new place).

But still. $300?! My bill has never been that high, ever.

:wow :wow :wow

Damn ... I live in a 2,000sqft older home with pretty much no insulation in it, several old and/or broken (rigged) windows--including a fucked up patio sliding door--and a large portion of the (vaulted) ceilings gutted...a full size side-by-side of older model Sub-Zero refrigerators and an extra fridge ... and mine was $302. I'd GTFO of there ASAP. That's seriously fucked up, even for not being terribly efficient.

[FromWayDowntown]

I thought my $160 for an 1,800 square foot home in June was high.

I actually found that my bill went down pretty significantly (by about 20%) for July after I installed a programmable thermostat. It may be that I was more energy conscious in July after thinking my bill had been too high and that I managed to cut my usage without regard to the new thermostat. Whatever, I know my bill went down enough to make me feel comfortable with the charge.

I realize that my solution isn't really feasible for an apartment dweller, but I'm swearing by it and suggesting it to any homeowners who will listen to me.

[midgetonadonkey]

Your posts are always really long.

[angel_luv]

Possibly. On Cuban's advice I'll look at the bill and past usage history (the amount just came via email announcement that it was ready to view and pay).

Grrrr.

More concerned with the damn house stuff. Nobody can make it go faster than it is, but I NEED to be able to move some this weekend and next week and weekend. Otherwise, I'm not sure we'll be able to get out of our apartment on time.


You guys are getting a house? How exciting! Congrats! :)

[CubanMustGo]

I thought my $160 for an 1,800 square foot home in June was high.

Typical per kWh charges, April 2006, 1000 kWh/month (CPS website and powertochoose.org):

San Antonio (CPS) - 7.8 cents
Austin (Austin Public Utilities) - 9.2 cents
Dallas area (TXU price-to-beat) - 15.0 cents
Houston area (Reliant price-to-beat) - 16.3 cents

So if you are in SA you used 2000 kWh for your 1800 sf house, which is fairly typical. Be thankful; if you lived in Dallas or Houston you'd be paying twice as much.

BTW your suggestion about a programmable thermostat is excellent. No reason to cool the house during the day if there's nobody there.

[easjer]

Your posts are always really long.


Sorry?

[easjer]

You guys are getting a house? How exciting! Congrats! :)


Heh. In theory, we're getting a house. In practice, we have a too small apartment, a bunch of boxes, a big mess and a lot of anxiety.

[angel_luv]

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread:
easjer, Silver21_Black20, Summers,

Hi girls! :)

[angel_luv]

Heh. In theory, we're getting a house. In practice, we have a too small apartment, a bunch of boxes, a big mess and a lot of anxiety.

Well happy move in! I hope everything runs smoothly and you get delightful results. :)

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

What? $300??? Man I fucking hate that piece of shit complex.

Thanks for the well wishes Angel. If you, or anyone else on this board for that matter, has some free time might I recommend a Spurstalk "Let's Help easjer and SFIE Move" Road Trip.

[midgetonadonkey]

Sorry?

No need to apologize. I wasn't trying to be a dick, just making on observation.

[Mixability]

No need to apologize. I wasn't trying to be a dick, just making on observation.

have you observed conqueso's rants in the Troll forum? :lol

[Kori Ellis]

Our electric bills are around $250/month but we keep our house really cold.

[PakiDan]

$300 Electricity bill = 3 months unpaid bills plus fees.... busted.

[tlongII]

My electricity bill for July was less than fifty dollars.

[easjer]

$300 Electricity bill = 3 months unpaid bills plus fees.... busted.


:lol I wish my costs were that low. I could have used the extra $500 from the last two month's bills.

[Gatita]

Our apt. is larger, we keep the AC running all day, off at night, and our bill is $100 during the summer $50 during the "colder" months.

Raise hell woman.

[CubanMustGo]

I have been thinkin the same thing for a long time now....

Says the guy with one of the longest sigs on the board. GMAFB.

[ShoogarBear]

Typical per kWh charges, April 2006, 1000 kWh/month (CPS website and powertochoose.org):

San Antonio (CPS) - 7.8 cents
Austin (Austin Public Utilities) - 9.2 cents
Dallas area (TXU price-to-beat) - 15.0 cents
Houston area (Reliant price-to-beat) - 16.3 cents
Wow, I'm paying 10.5 cents in Maryland, but we're about to undergo a 40% rate increase (yes, that's right).

How can there be that much variance in price in one state?

[Jekka]

Damn, I am never leaving my all-utilities-paid apartment, ever.

Of course, with the AC going out every other day now sometimes I would like to move anyways.

[CubanMustGo]

Wow, I'm paying 10.5 cents in Maryland, but we're about to undergo a 40% rate increase (yes, that's right).

How can there be that much variance in price in one state?

San Antonio and Austin are served by municipal utilities. They seek to earn a decent return but have no greedy shareholders or executives who get paid depending on the bottom line. SA gets 20% of its annual budget from CPS net profits, Austin gets something similar, so they're able to make a healthy profit even at those low rates. Also worth noting that SA and Austin both have a piece of the South Texas Nuclear Project; Austin wanted to ditch their part of it back in the 80's but I bet they are happy to have it now. SA also generates power from coal, natural gas, and I think fuel oil, not sure about Austin.

Dallas and Houston, however, are two parts of the state that have (ahem) semi-regulated "competitive" rates. How it works is that the former monopoly provider, TXU in Dallas and Reliant in Houston, has to publish what's called a "price to beat." Other providers can try to give you service at lower rates. Only problem is that the "price to beat" people have been allowed to basically jack up their rates once a year b/c they are based on a formula based on the most expensive component, natural gas, and the rates never come down. Last year TXU, Reliant, etc. got a rate increase when natural gas was like $17/MCF. This summer natural gas was $5/MCF but they kept charging the same rate.

Oh, and of course, every time the "price to beat" people raise their rates, everyone else does too, even the people like Green Mountain Energy who produce all their Texas energy from wind power (which is subsidized by the Feds, even) and have fixed costs.

Go to www.powertochoose.org, enter different zip codes (Dallas, Houston, Abilene, Corpus Christi are the major players) and see just how screwed up things are. Reliant charges a couple cents less per kWh in Dallas than they do in Houston. Green Mountain charges the most in Abilene even though that's the closest location to their wind farm. It's totally bogus and always changing.

Energy rates are screwed up in Texas, just like homeowners' insurance rates are screwed up, automobile rates are screwed up, etc ...

[Guru of Nothing]

For you apartment dwellers, get a room ... one on the first floor, facing East.

I just moved into such an apartment and my bill dropped about $60 for the past month. Physical location makes a huge difference.