Electricity Bill Quadrupled! - Energy Questions

[Billy]

Our electricity usage for this month in our 2000 sqft split-level home here in the NE USA is nearly 4 times that of last year and we can't understand why. My usage for July/03 was 1825 kWh and cost about $275, but our August usage was 3768 kWh at a cost of a whopping $458.

Granted, we've only been in for about three months, but I researched historical data with PSE&G and it doesn't add up. Last years history revealed July/02 at about the same as this year - 1825 kWh, but reveals August/02 at only about 1000 kWh.

We ran our 22 year old 4 tone A/C unit at about 70° every day in the past several months, and had a small 2' x 1' dehumidifier in the basement running fairly constant. However, I just don't think these could push the kWh that high based on observations of using similar appliances in our previous home. We are not excessive with lighting usage.

Could a bad appliance or faulty electrical wiring cause this problem? How about a faulty meter?

FYI - I looked at the meter today and it revealed my usage as 1500 kWh higher than the reading taken just 6 days ago. At that rate, I could use nearly 7000 kWh this month. This freaked me out. Could a home really be pulling this much energy from standard appliances?

[Tom J]

With the air conditioner on and blowing cold air, go look at the wheel in the meter and see how fast it's spinning. Now turn the air conditioner off and look at the meter again. If the wheel is now down to a crawl, it's the air conditioner doing it's job. If the wheel is still spinning almost as fast as before turning off the air conditioner, then you have a current leak somewhere, or an electric water heater with leaking hot water pipes or tank. Just my guess.

Tom J

[donald girod]

1500KWh in 6 days is 250 KWh/day or 10KW continuous. That is a lot of power. Your water heater is probably 5KW if it is electric; 10KW is about 10 horsepower if running an electric motor or motors. Your air conditioner is probably 3 to 4 horsepower. So a water heater running continuously and an air conditioner compressor running continuously could do this. Your compressor could run continuously if the unit is screwed up (low on refrigerant etc.) I can't imagine why or how you could run the water heater continuously unless as the other poster says, you have a hot water leak.

You definitely have a problem, and unless you have lots of money to throw away, you had better fix it.

And I thought my 550KWh per month consumption was high.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Do the math. What is the actual use of the AC? At 22 years old, it is not very efficient compared to newer models. You will have to use an Amprobe to get the actual use, not the "rated" use as it can differ. If the bearings on the motors are getting old and causing more drag, the energy use will go up. Add together the furnace fan as well as the condensing unit for the full load.

From the amps used you can covert to watts, then to kW and multiply by the cost of electricity.

If you check the weather, this year has been much more humid and AC use has gone up considerably. If the AC is working well, you'd not need the dehumidifier. Check the draw from that also. A dehumidifier is essentially an AC unit and takes a lot of power. August was a nasty month My usage is up a lot also. Much more than last year, bust my last bill was $50 more than last year at the same time. Ed [e-mail]

[Don H.]

Do you have a well for your water? If so, check to make sure you're water pump is not running continuously. It is fixable but may be a sign of a bad pump or something.

--Don--

[Billy]

When you say "current leak", could this mean faulty electrical wiring too? I ask this because we've had some very scary discoveries of the previously owners carelessness with the electrical wiring. My electrician is coming tomorrow to fix some things, and I may wish to alert him of this too.

[Billy]

I have now taken notice of the a/c running fairly often and continuous, so I bumped it up from 70 to 72 degrees. It still is running often, if not the same. Could this be a faulty thermostat?

conditioner

[Tom J]

You have money to burn if you are trying to maintain 70/72 degrees in summer. Try 76 degrees and you'll see a sharp drop in current draw.

Tom J

[Tom J]

There is a good possibility, but you may have pointed out the high usage when you said you were maintaining 70 degrees. Try maintaining 76 degrees. That will become comfortable to you in a few days and will save a pot full on electric cost.

Tom J

[Greg O]

At your rates your AC running steady, night and day may cost you over $600 a month to run it! My guess is you AC may need a tune up, or even replacement.

4 tons in a 2000 sq/ft home seems to me a bit large, but there are many variables so it is a WAG. Your unit is probably 6 or 8 SEER, the new units can get to 14 SEER pretty easy. A new will cut your cooling costs considerably as long as it is the problem! I think raising the 'stat to about 75 degrees will help too. You also state you have a humidifier running, that makes me wonder if your AC is working properly. If your AC is running constantly the humidity should be 40-50% easily.

The steps I would take first is to tune up the AC, tighten up the home, (make sure all the windows are closed and tight, etc.) raise the 'stat to

1. and learn to live with the higher setting. Pull the shades/curtains in south facing windows. If you decide to replace the AC make sure you get a Manual J done or you are just tossing good money away!

[Utility Man]

Its all a conspiracy, the util companys don't want ya to know, wait till next month(Sept), it will be lower....you'll see, its a cycle that they do because of summer activities, and not to mention that they gotta recoup their losses from the power grid failure couple weeks ago, that too is an enigma, (gov't caused)...... and 12,000 dead in France from heat????....C'mon ppl, wake up Watch what I say...its a damned routine they pull......The gov't is responsible, and our freedoms are being sucked dry as well....We're stuck with it...like it or not.....you'll believe when your next months(Sept) bill comes in and its the lowest one of the year...

[ROBMURR]

Wow, something is really wrong there... I am no expert but a few things jump out at me...

1. A 22 year old AC is very inefficient and gets worse as it gets older.
2. 4 tons in a 2000 sq ft house sounds like too big a unit was installed. 2 tons might be better.
3. your running a dehumidifier, your AC should be able to take out the humidity to a reasonable level.
4. In the NE you have some of the highest electric rates around.
5. 70 degrees is way to low to set that thermostat.

I have a 1 ton Trane unit about 6 years old on my 1200 sf ranch in Atlanta but I have about 1 foot of batt insulation in the attic and maintain a constant 79 temp day and night...I also have several ceiling fans turned on low speed most of the time too... Last power bill was $45 (the highest this year)... Have an electrician check out your usage it will be money well spent!

[Joe]

the previous resident probably vacationed in August

What kind of heat do you have? If electric, maybe the house is cool enough to kick the heat on

[Stormin Mormon]

Sometimes the wire between the electric meter and the circuit panel develops a "leak" and uses power which isn't getting to your appliances.

The quick and dirty check for this is to turn off every circuit breaker in the panel, and write down the number of the electric meter. Go to town for a couple hours, and come back and see if the numbers changed.

If it is a leaky lead in wire, it is double definitely a job for an electrician to do.

[Zaf]

LMAO. Thats a good one. My electric heat is set at 72 and my central air at 70; why is my electric bill so high?

[Austinfilam]

Don't forget to check your air ducts. You might be cooling the attic.

[jriegle]

I agree. Mine was not cooling as efficiently. I had an HVAC tech out to take temps and pressures. The system was low. He metered in some R22 and it is cooling great again.

John

[Stu Redman]

It's the age of your AC. Mine kept pulling more and more during its final years until I finally replaced it at the ripe old age of 20. Now my bills are considerably less.

[MSH]

You know those little electrons don't like that nasty old plastic sheathing and will run off every chance they get.....

[Billy]

Now that I'm focusing on the A/C, I bumped it up to 75 degrees and put in a new Honeywell digital thermostat. It sits at 75 degrees and keeps chugging - barely ever stops. If it's not the thermostat, what could make this unit keep going?

It feels really cool inside and the vent airflow feels nice and cold but I didn't do the thermometer in the vent thing yet (test temperature). Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the temperature is determined at the thermostat, right? I have a big 20"x16" return right there (it's the main return and by far the largest), and I don't know if that's drawing the heat return to the thermostat nearby.