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Utility analysis

July 29th, 2008 at 04:42 pm

I called up my electric company and asked for my average daily KWH usage (total kwh/# of days in billing cycle), from January 2007 through my last bill. Computers never cease to amaze me; the rep had them for me in about 30 seconds. Here's what I learned:

Electric
2008 vs. 2007
Avg. kwh/day
January 38.63 < 41.77
Feb 31.31 < 34.90
March 29.72 > 29.62
Aoril 26.55 > 26.14
May 28.18 < 29.31
June 56.76 < 57.03
July ???? 55.29
August ???? 55.59
Sept ???? 52.13
October ???? 32.13
Nov ???? 35.21
Dec ???? 44.80

eta: sorry this is hard to read. The first number is 2008 use, the second number is 2007. For months where I have both years data, I indicated if it was < or > from 2008 to 2007.

My usage was up slightly in March and April vs. last year, but down the other 4 months. Overall, through the first 6 months of the year, avg daily usage is down by about 1.7kwh/day. That's pretty good. My bill, however, has increased during that time from $186/month in July 07 to $250/month now! I'm on the budget billing plan, so they reset my rate once/year, based on the previous 12 months. I assume rates during this time have gone up (alot, apparently). I'm going to keep trying to lower my usage vs. last year, and I'll put a reminder in my calendar to see what happens when the rate resets, and raise heck if it doesn't go down at all.

Then, I did the same thing with my gas company, and found this:

Gas
2008 vs 2007
Total CCF
January 377.476 > 118.404
Feb 334.972 < 494.868
March 370.392 < 432.124
Aoril 279.312 > 276.276
May 79.948 < 163.944
June 74.888 < 107.272
July 33.396 < 92.092
August ???? 39.468
Sep ???? 68.816
Oct ???? 93.104
Nov ???? 46.552
Dec ???? 246.928

Here, I was also up 2 months, and down the rest. My bill from July 07 to now went from $252/month to $264/month, which includes $11/month for a maintenance contract on my air conditioner, which I think I have duplicate coverage for. (Yes, I pay $500+/month for gas and electric, which is ridiculous! That's why I'm so bent on getting these down!). The winter is tough, because it's so dependent on the weather. My summer usage has gone down a lot because we have a pool that we used to heat pretty regularly last summer, and I think we've only used the heater twice this year. The kids don't mind the cold water, and I mind it a lot less when I think about how much it costs me! So this one will be harder than the electric bill, but I'm going to think about what else I can do to get this down, especially as the fall/winter approaches. (We replaced our front door last year, and we use digital thermostat timers to turn down the heat when we're out of the house. I have to drill down to the next level of ideas).

Fortunately for us, water is cheap, and costs us only $27/month. (Not even, as that's also on budget billing, and we always come in under).

So that's my challenge for today, tomorrow, and the rest of the year: To continue thinking about ways to get this down. All thoughts are welcome!

3 Responses to “Utility analysis”

  1. retire@50 Says:
    1217348943

    I use budget billing also. Even though I have a small surplus on my electric bill it recently went up $5 a month for the next year. I guess they are expecting higher prices and passing them on to me, even though I'm not using the entire amount from last year.

    I have almost a $200 credit on my gas bill. Partly because last winter was so much milder than the previous one.

    Other things I've done to decrease the bills is turn furnace down to 58 at night. I like to sleep cold. I have it at 62 in the daytime and use an electric throw. Since it's just me, that's easy to do. Not that easy with a family.

    I replaced all bulbs with CFLs and plugged most appliances, computers, TVs etc into power strips that I turn off when not in use.

    Good luck with the lower bills

  2. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1217351233

    Have you tried Ima's water heater trick - turning off the water heater until a bit before you need it?

  3. Ima saver Says:
    1217362604

    It works!!

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