A question about Electric bills

[reeneejune]

I moved in April 1st. It wasn't particularly cold that month, but I did have the baseboard heaters on once or twice. And if I remember correctly, the power was transferred into my name before the apartment complex cleaned the carpets prior to my move in. My first bill was $60. August's bill (which just came in) was only $29. April was only 20 days worth of use, while August's was a full 30. Now I'm willing to accept that I used a little more power with the heaters and having lights on while I moved, etc. but double seems excessive to me, especially in a mild climate. I live in Oregon and it's been a particularly mild summer.

For reference, it's a townhouse style apartment with two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs and the living/dining/kitchen and half bath downstairs. The windows are old-ish and include a sliding glass door. I've had the thermostat on "low" (off) since the beginning of May and I've even kept windows open most of the time. Even when the heaters were on, I kept the thermostat at about 62F. Slightly off topic but along the same lines, the only room with a visible baseboard heater is the living room. The two bedrooms have thermostat controls but no visible means of heat delivery (no wall or baseboard heaters, no ducts or registers, nada) but they seem to get and stay warm enough. I've never seen anything like that before.

ETA - I realized that the dollar figures might not paint a very clear picture, so I looked up my usage history.
April 576 kwh
May 480 kwh
June 332 kwh
July 242 kwh
August 218 kwh

[Sam_2.0]

What have you been doing to conserve each month? I work for an electric utility - this looks like an acceptable usage pattern except I would think Aug and July would ge a bit higher.

I would call and ask for a verification read. Depending on how that goes, then ask for a meter test. Most won't test until the check read is done. Also, ask for a 24-month usage history for your premise. That helps you to see what's normal for your place. Even with different tenants and usage habits, apartments still tend to have a basic pattern.

Another thing that can happen when your usage winds down like this is a slow meter failure. The meter test would rule that out. While its rare, it would result in you being back billed for your usage. Basically power still flows through, but the meter only registers part of the usage. It registers less each month until it just stops. Almost like an old wind up clock. So you won't notice a difference in .power supply, but your bills keep getting lower like this.

[sapphire12]

Reenee -- Aug and June were/are extremely hot and/or humid. I have about 2200 sq. I only use electric for air and lights; no heat. My thermostat is set at 79. When it's very hot and humid, I sometimes have to dial it down a notch or two. At times, during June, it was so humid, I had to turn it down to 75, which is low for me and this was in the middle of the night so I could breathe. My experience is that only New Orleans can rival DC with humidity. Both reside in a swamp.

My KWH usage
Aug - 693
Jul - 330
June - 461
May - 203
Apr - 296

[Peace77]

Did your first bill include a deposit or another fee separate from usage?

[reeneejune]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. It's been almost 4 years since I was last responsible for my own utility bills, and I wasn't very savvy the first time around. It's certainly a learning experience.

Sam – thank you for your insight. As far as conservation goes, I haven't really done anything conscious to reduce use. Just the normal making-sure-I-turn-off-the-lights habits. I wasn't aware that I could request a 24 month history for my apartment, that's extremely helpful. I'll have to poke around a bit and figure out where on the building my meter is. I'd feel a little silly calling for a verification read if I wasn't sure that I needed it.

Sapphire – It's interesting to see how much the usage can jump around. I should clarify though that I don't have AC. It's not common here to have central air, and I can't currently afford a window unit. Just me and my box fan against the summer heat.

sroo – I don't have that initial bill in front of me, so I don't know if it was an estimate or not. I do know that the regular read date for the meters in the complex is around the 20th, and I called about a week in advance of moving in to schedule the transfer of service. So I'd be a little annoyed if they didn't bother to do a read on the day of.

Peace – yes, there were additional fees, however the amounts I posted were for usage and delivery charges only.

[startsmart]

Did you expend a lot of energy during move in? Typically there's a lot of lights on, doors left open and long nights unpacking. I doubt that would account for double the rate but it's probably a contributing factor. And if they started your month early it may include lots of time the landlord spent showing and cleaning the space.

[reeneejune]

startsmart - I'm the only one they showed the apartment to. I was one of two applicants for the one bedroom they had available at the time, and this one opened up unexpectedly, so they gave me first dibs on it. I wouldn't be surprised though if I ended up getting billed for the last bit of the last tenant's use plus the maintenance crew's use.

[Clever Username]

Raising and lowering the temperature requires a large amount of power.
The bills you've listed perfectly follow the seasons.
My gas and electric both graph the last 13 months.
Perfect bell curves on each.

[Sam_2.0]

For move in/out, most utilities are not allowed to estimate. Your meter should have been read (either remotely if they are capable, or physically if not). The company will have some leeway on the date due to workload, holidays, and weekends. Usually +/- 3 days is the norm. So if you moved in on the 20th or requested to start on the 20th, they could have read the meter any time between the 17th-23rd. Most of the time they get the date you request, but sometimes it has to flex a bit. Honestly, 2-3 days of usage in an unoccupied apartment, even if they were cleaning, should be fairly minimal. Maybe 5-10% of that bill as a whole.

Clever is right, usage follows a curve-pattern. They should be able to give you the usage pattern from previous tenants so you can see how it goes (you might not get actual usage & dollar amounts due to privacy issues, but they should be able to give you the rough pattern). In April you were also still using the heating units (which some of that probably carried into the May bill as well).

[mizbear]

This message has been deleted.
Wrong thread. Sorry. May brain is wet already.

[reeneejune]

Thank you again for all of the thoughtful responses. I knew that my usage would drop during certain times of the year and be higher in others. I guess I just didn't realize just how much of a fluctuation it is. It will be interesting to see how it changes as we go into the cooler months.

pat - you make me thankful that I'm a single woman/no kids and thankful that I don't have cable! LOL. I think I'd faint dead away if I had a $260 power bill.

[startsmart]

Reenee- mine fluctuates between $30-70 each month. I think I budget for $75 so there's always a little left over. Of course paying $33 in the heat of summer is reward in itself! I may use some of that rollover money to buy 2 more shade trees for the side yard. Because I have a halfplex I only get a lot of sun in the morning but adding two more trees would make the east side of the house much nicer.

[zibazinski]

Uh, you shouldn't have paid any uiltities for carpet cleaning, that is the landlord or the previous tenant's responsibility, depending on the lease. Oregon is cold and damp in the winter and from what my Mom has said, it has been unusually hot and humid this summer. Make sure, if you have west facing windows to get some heavy draping on them and it will also help you come winter.

[reeneejune]

zib - I know I shouldn't have paid for the utilities for the carpet cleaning, however I was taking possession of the apartment on a Friday afternoon and they informed me ahead of time that they wouldn't be able to clean the carpets until early that morning. I needed to move out of my prior situation rather quickly, and they gave me a very steep discount on the first month's rent and move in costs.
Not sure what part of Oregon you're talking about... it's been muggy around here occasionally, but we've only had hot weather for about a week. July was downright cold compared to normal.

[zibazinski]

I know, I was there in July for my Mom's birthday. But Oregon is normally damp and cold in the winter so plan for it.

[TD2K]

I live in the PNW and as said, my electricity bill goes up in the winter and down in the summer. I have NG for heating and hot water so electricity is for lighting and applicances only. In Nov/Dec/Jan, I use about 25 to 26 kWh per day on an average basis. In Jun/July/Aug, it's down to 16 to 17 kWh average per day.

I've got a big screen TV which is a bit of an energy hog and a freezer. Other than that, pretty much just the standard appliances. My drier is also electric. Your electrical consumption is pretty good IMO.

Electricity charges are a bunch of factors including some credits. Basic monthly charge is $7.25 a month. The first 600 kWh is 8.6 cents per kWh, anything over that is 10.4 cents per kWh. If there is a higher tier, I've never hit it.

This month was about $60. In winter, it will be about $80 or thereabouts.

[bring in the new year]

In DC, the bill goes down in the winter and up in the summer.

That's because most of us are on oil or natural gas for heat and electric for air conditioning.

If you're trying to gauge your usage, the historic look should help but remember you don't know what the previous tenant was running - or not running.

Most useful thing I've found is power strips for tv & computers. You'd be surprised at the electricity you waste for the little blinking lights.

[TD2K]

Most useful thing I've found is power strips for tv & computers. You'd be surprised at the electricity you waste for the little blinking lights.

I bought a Kill-a-Watt meter and tested a bunch of things in my house. Most things in standby used very little electricity. One exception was my Kenwood stereo, that thing was pulling about 50W with everything turned off, it's now unplugged.

The news articles I've seen about huge percentages of your household being consumed by vampire power users is mis-leading at best I think.