[aahala]

I'm at a loss to explain the increase. Your newer fridge should most likely
be using less rather than more energy than the older one. This page has
a link to refrigerator usage database(the model number is usually at the
bottom of the front after you open the door).

http://www.homeenergy.org/consumerinfo/ ... rticle.htm

There are electrical units you can plug into the wall, then the appliance
that will measure the actual amount used. About $30-$40.

Perhaps some of your appliances had a standby mode, which was off while
you were in the apartment but which you inadvertently activated once you
moved. However, I can't imagine that would be anything like $20 more.

You said the cost doubled, but not the usage. Have you compared the price
per kilowatt?

[NonToxic]

My vote is for the AC. Is it a older unit? What is the SEER rating?

[turmoil]

Dryers use a lot of power too. I'd say that it's a combo between the fridge, the a/c, and the clothes dryer.

[gnm]

If you have an electric dryer and A/C that could do it... One other thing to consider is that the billing rate for a residence might include some sort of base fee (you know just for the privelege of being hooked up to them) - kind of like a monthly fee for having the hookup before even getting charged. I think PNM here has something like that - like you could use no power and still get a bill of $9.95 or somesuch. You might also be taxed differently. examine your bill...

-G

[Caoimhan]

My electric bill is broken down into generation charges and delivery charges. I would take a look at that, especially if you have an old bill to compare it to. It may be possible that the delivery charges at the apartment building were shared between multiple units (because there's only one line presumably coming into the building). With the house, however, you bear the cost of delivery alone.

For those who don't know, generation costs are the cost of the electricity itself. Delivery charges are the cost of infrastructure and maintenance of that infrastructure for bringing that electricity to your building.

[Caoimhan]

One more thing... you might just call your electric company and ask. There may be discounts that they give to multi-unit buildings that you're not aware of. They might also be able to give you historical usage data for your address to compare.

It's rare, but there could also be some bad wiring somewhere that is causing a power bleed. You can try unplugging ALL of your appliances, and shutting off all lights and checking to see if your meter still moves. If so, contact your landlord and let him know, because it'll be his responsibility to get an electrician out to check the wiring.

[WisJim]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Caoimhan', 'M')y electric bill is broken down into generation charges and delivery charges. I would take a look at that, especially if you have an old bill to compare it to. It may be possible that the delivery charges at the apartment building were shared between multiple units (because there's only one line presumably coming into the building).

[DoctorDoom]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Yeah, I should indeed compare kwh used versus an old bill. Unfortunately I don't have any of those lying around, but I'll call PG&E to see about that. Still seems unusual for me to be crowding the so-called "baseline" with my minimal usage of lighting.

The AC simply can't be the culprit. 12 hours in the last month, if that cost $20 then that would say someone who ran it all the time in (say) LA would pay $1200 / month for their AC. The dryer is a possibility, but it would be hard to measure its usage because of the unusual plug. I will look into getting a device by which I could measure the fridge. Standby power for my consumer electronics is the same as the apartment, I'm absolutely sure no modes were changed. Maybe I need to have PG&E come out to do an energy audit of the house.

[strider3700]

Figure out how many kwh you use per month, this should be on your bill.

Buy the kill-o-watt meter or something similar, it should be about $30, start taking measurements giving each appliance a day or so to run.

Throw the results into a spreadsheet and see what percentage of your usage it covers when spread across the month. Don't be surprised that you can't find it all. Some appliances can't be measured with the cheap meters. I'm guessing something like 30% of my usage goes to electric hotwater and can't measure it directly because it's 220.

For hardwired items you'll have to guess how much they are using, lights are simple. Watts x time used. but things like doorbells and motion sensors on lights and so on are a guess at best.

Once you figure out where the problems are start looking into cheaper replacements.

You mentioned a 60 Watt and a 300 watt light. I have 13 watt bulbs inside which are fine for me to read by but I also have 27 watt flood lamps on the outside of my house. 6 of these use less power then 1 of the bulbs I replaced with them and they light up my entire front yard quite nicely.

[DoctorDoom]

I believe I'm using about 12 kwh / day. So that's like 500 watts of something running 24x7. Hard to believe really. In the apartment it was more like 7 kwh / day, I think (checking with PG&E). 13 watts would be pretty hard to read by for me (my eyes can't see well in dim light), unless it was some new technology like an LCD bulb.

[Aedo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoctorDoom', 'T')he house has a gas hot-water heater

[jlpicard2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoctorDoom', '1')3 watts would be pretty hard to read by for me (my eyes can't see well in dim light), unless it was some new technology like an LCD bulb.

[kelee877]

Also look over your bill and see if it is an estimate..and not an actual..mine is actual every 3 months and in the winter that hurts cause they estimate for 2 months and then they reall catch up to you..they could have done the estimate on the person who had the house before you..

[skyemoor]

Check your fridge to see if it is a frost-free unit, which uses much more electricity.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jlpicard2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoctorDoom', '1')3 watts would be pretty hard to read by for me (my eyes can't see well in dim light), unless it was some new technology like an LCD bulb.

[Brandon]

"It's $40"

Bah.. After replacing my ancient heatpump with a 17 SEER unit my monthly average has gone from $180 to $140.

$40! Never heard of a bill so low...

[DoctorDoom]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Brandon', '$')40! Never heard of a bill so low...

[DoctorDoom]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('strider3700', '
')I actually have two different types of 13 watt CFL in house, most of them are a nice off white light that is very close to a 60 watt regular bulb.

[gnm]

The unusual plug on your dryers is because its 240V not 120. Don't try sticking a kill -a - watt on that! Just look on the dryer for the rated amps. multiply that by 2 to get your amps at 120V. In other words 8 amps@240V = 16 amps@120V

Then do this
amps x volts (120) x hours (per month that dryer is on) - that will tell you how many Kwh your dryer uses per month.

-G

[Caoimhan]

You can now get CFLs in different "color temperatures". The lower the color temperature (in degrees Kelvin) the bulb, the "warmer" the tone will be. Basically, it will be shifted toward the red end of the spectrum instead of the blue.

Check out THIS PAGEfor some CFLs in the brightness range you are looking for, but with different color temperatures. At the top of each listing, you will see a number "##K", which indicates its color temperature/100. So "51K" = 5100 Kelvin color temperature. If you like warmer tones, I would stay near the 5000 mark. Those bulbs also say "warm white" in the details.