$310 electric bill

[John VN]

Various throughout the country...................................... If I had purchased my solar panels, I would not have a solar bill, but my system would have cost me $36,000 before tax credits, or about $24,000 after Federal and State tax credits.

Solar for our 2,000sq/ft ac area house here in SW FL with 430Watt panels is $15,500 out of pocket net metering with $9.00/month FPL bill and surplus at year's end. Procrastination maybe a good thing. (but this older couple keeps temp a bit higher than most)

I'm in NE FL, and we have an electric co-op. Last month, our bill was $241.36. I bumped the a/c from 73 to 74; any higher and it is just too muggy, ...........................

SW FL here and house is at 79F from *overnight cooling* with thermostat set at 84F right now until 2pm/3pm when it will come down gradually to again 79F at bedtime's 10pm. Should be 95F today so a bit on the warmer side.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have had a crazy hot summer so far, so I have no idea what that is going to do to our electric bill. We do the budget payments of $204/month, so I won't know how bad it is until our balance out month (I can't remember exactly when that is).

 

[barkley]

Our bill for June was $400 something. It also said our usage was up 113% from last June. I honestly dont know how that is even possible.

Wow! I'd definitely be having someone come look at my air conditioner to see if something is up if my usage was more than double last June!

i second getting it looked at. 2 years ago when we had our annual check of our system it was discovered that a small part of the heating portion of our hvac had gotten stuck in between the on and off position. we hadn't noticed any kind of issue with the house cooling but when they discovered and repaired it our utility bill took a very noticeable drop.

It doesn't make sense for everyone. Ours were half that cost, and then they were effectively a further 33% less than that due to the federal tax credit. We also have no plans to move, had just done a new roof on the house, and our house is well positioned to get maximum benefit from the panels. We calculated the break even point to be about 10 years out from installation, and from that point on we are effectively saving money. Though with the increase in electricity costs, break even may actually be sooner.

if you don't mind me asking-did your homeowner's insurance increase greatly due to having these installed? we upped our coverage last year b/c of the crazy increase in construction costs (know a couple of people who lost homes due to fires, despite what they had always considered excellent coverage they are finding they were grossly under insured for re-construction ). i look at what these systems cost and that's a hefty additional amount to add on to a policy so i've always wondered.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Our latest bill was over $380, leading DH to put handwritten “turn off the lights!” “don’t touch the thermostat!” And “keep the door closed!” Signs throughout the house lol. We have 5 kids and a 5 br house so I personally don’t think the bills too awful but it’s giving dh indigestion.

 

[MICKIMINI]

It doesn't make sense for everyone. Ours were half that cost, and then they were effectively a further 33% less than that due to the federal tax credit. We also have no plans to move, had just done a new roof on the house, and our house is well positioned to get maximum benefit from the panels. We calculated the break even point to be about 10 years out from installation, and from that point on we are effectively saving money. Though with the increase in electricity costs, break even may actually be sooner.

That is so awesome! We thought costs would be in the 25k range and about an 8 year payback, but it is much higher than we expected. We do have a brand new roof, but can't change the orientation of the house or become younger LOL! If we do decide to build it would make sense. I'm glad you are saving money! The future looks pretty scary if you don't have options...

 

[DLgal]

Our bill for June was $400 something. It also said our usage was up 113% from last June. I honestly dont know how that is even possible.

Are you sure it didn't say your usage was 113% of last year? Meaning up 13%?

 

[DLgal]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

 

[Meriweather]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

No they don't.
We just turn the electricity off from 3-6pm(peak times)
and they review very 3 months

 

[DLgal]

No they don't.
We just turn the electricity off from 3-6pm(peak times)
and they review very 3 months

You turn the ELECTRICITY off? Like, you go into blackout status for 3 hours every day?

 

[kdonnel]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

No.

Budget billing with Jackson EMC merely estimates your 12 month bill and divides it by 12.

They do offer multiple rate plans that offer different features.

1. Normal residential
2. Residential Energy Advantage (you must get your house qualified for this rate plan and can save a great deal)
3. Residential Time of Use (Potentially large savings if you limit your usage from 3pm-8pm June 1st - September 15th, potentially a huge cost if you don't.)
4. Residential EV (very similar to Residential Time of Use with the same potential benefits or disadvantages.)

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

if you don't mind me asking-did your homeowner's insurance increase greatly due to having these installed? we upped our coverage last year b/c of the crazy increase in construction costs (know a couple of people who lost homes due to fires, despite what they had always considered excellent coverage they are finding they were grossly under insured for re-construction ). i look at what these systems cost and that's a hefty additional amount to add on to a policy so i've always wondered.

No, it didn't go up all that much. We put them on the policy in Aug that year and I had to pay $16 for that coverage for the remainder of the year. So I guess it was an increase of maybe $50 per year.

 

[DLgal]

No.

Budget billing with Jackson EMC merely estimates your 12 month bill and divides it by 12.

They do offer multiple rate plans that offer different features.

1. Normal residential
2. Residential Energy Advantage (you must get your house qualified for this rate plan and can save a great deal)
3. Residential Time of Use (Potentially large savings if you limit your usage from 3pm-8pm June 1st - September 15th, potentially a huge cost if you don't.)
4. Residential EV (very similar to Residential Time of Use with the same potential benefits or disadvantages.)

Gotcha. Our power company literally makes you install new thermostats that they can remotely control. There is NO WAY I would fo that, but I guess if you do, you can save a LOT.

Our water company has a similar program where they install a limiter to your water supply that they can throttle when necessary.

Air conditioning is one of my "high maintenence" spare no expenses needs.

We have nothing similar to the budget billing where they just estimate your annual usage and divide by 12. That would be okay with me.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'm wondering how everyone absorbs these wide swinging costs? These swings made me so anxious back in my 20's that I started to average in the yearly cost and pay that each month regardless of the bills, roughly $230 or so year in and year out. We did the budget billing too which maintained a 3 month running average which still didn't spread it all out enough so we preferred to use the more moderate months to pay ahead and carry a bit of a credit into the upcoming season so spring I would pay into electric and fall I would pay ahead into gas. Tax return money was often used to pad the costs and minimize angst, if I had a gas tank like my family did when I was a kid I would totally prepay now.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

Ours doesn't. It's simply a financial thing.
They do a review every 6 months, though, which keeps rates slightly lower in the summer, and slightly higher in the winter. We've never owed when ending the program, though.

 

[Dan Murphy]

less expensive to get the house to a temp with the a/c and then maintain that temp

I agree.

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

We have budget for our gas, not electric. Our gas usage varies greatly from summer (almost none) to winter (quite a bit more). As above, basically based on annual usage divided by 12, along with an anticipation factor of weather patterns and gas therm pricing.

Our electric, amazingly, varies little during the year (maybe $110 in the winter, $150 in the summer, so we just pay that as we go. However, ComEd has a Peak Time Savings (PTS) program that we do use. When ComEd anticipates a super hot/humid day, they will notify us that PTS will be in effect for that day. If we use less than we have averaged in the past, we get a bill credit. We don't have to do anything or change our usual whatever we do. And we do not change our behavior. Seems we almost always get a credit, nominal as it might be, ($8-$15) for each of the average of the maybe 3-5 PTS days each summer. If we did change our behavior, we would save more. But we do not ration our AC to ourselves. If we happen to use more, no penalty. It is a no-lose program..

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's still well over 90 degrees here at 8pm.

No kidding. In the summer it can get like that. We've had about 4 years of non-100 degree days which is crazy but that's about to change this week where the projected highs will be over 100 several days. Normally in the summer we get over 100 at least some of the days with heat index 100-115 depending on the event but it hasn't been quite as bad in the last several years. I def. remember it being 95 (and feels like could be hotter) at 11pm at night in the height of summer fairly normally in years past.

For the comment about opening the windows I don't know anyone who would ever do that here because it's just too humid at night. That's not good for your house. I also have allergies although summer isn't quite as bad for me.

Right now from yesterday until tomorrow we're also on an air quality alert you don't want to open your windows right now anyways.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

You can enroll in those here too although you can opt out of it whenever they advise they will be doing it so if you keep yourself opt in for the energy savings event yes they can adjust your thermostat. I also wouldn't enroll in a program like that.

 

[Meriweather]

You turn the ELECTRICITY off? Like, you go into blackout status for 3 hours every day?

no...sorry, just the thermostat, the tools in shop don't get used and the pool grotto is not run.
We have the low usage things, like lights, TV

 

[barkley]

Question for those who do the balanced/budget billing program:

Does your power company have override control over your thermostats? Our power company does when you choose this billing program. They can remotely control your thermostat/energy usage during "peak energy need times" as they wish. This is the reason I will never subscribe to this type of billing system. I will never let the power company dictate when I can run my AC and how low it can be set.

ours is doing a HUGE push for the thermostats they can control-FREE, FREE, FREE (system, installation...). we ignore the solicitations. not required for balanced billing w/our provider nor the nearby provider our oldest kiddo has. when we were in california i hated the balanced billing program pg&e had then-reevaluation of costs every 3 months. here it's once per year. based on our experience i suspect the utility company kind of overestimates usage using a formula of prior years use/projected temps for the next year/projected utility increases b/c it's took about 3 years for them to not overestimate our usage/cost, and my oldest just hit the 3rd year review without it being adjusted much at all (despite his utility's projected cost increases).

 

[RamblingMad]

I have solar, so that helps. I also keep my house 77 degrees all day long. I found that if I'm adjusting it that my bill goes up. Best to keep it fixed and run my fans. Having really good fans help a lot too.