Winter is here :(

[Deleted]

By how much does gas/electric bill increase during winte time?

Mine went from an average of $225/bimonthly (we get billed every 2 months by central hudson) to our last bill which was $431.54

[thyme4change]

We pay $35 in the summer for gas, and about $75 in the winter.

But, we pay less than $100 for electricity in the winter and $300 in the summer.

[Jake 48]

Budget plan for 10 months, 300.00/month, 11th month is catchup if there is a deficit, 12th month whatever it is. Jan. 2011 actual bill for gas and electric combined 470.00. house is 2000-2200 sq ft. , insulated, double pane windows etc. Set the t'stats back at night and if we are out for the day

[Deleted]

Gas and electric last month was around $500 for a 2400 sq ft house and a shop that's larger than a two car garage. We have a heat pump and dual pane windows. Can't wait for better weather.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2011 17:28:24 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

By how much does gas/electric bill increase during winte time?

Ours went up about $300 a month for Dec., Jan., and anticipating the same for Feb. This winter has been really cold though.

[soon2bmomof3]

Gas double from last month/billing period, from $37 to $74.

Electric is holding steady at right under $100 ($92 last month, $98 this month).

Heating a pretty large, but energy efficient home.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Our highest power bills here occur during the 6+ months of summer (June-July-August for sure!)

[The J]

How warm are you keeping your place? I'm in a slightly more expensive area of NY than you, am 100% electric with a 1300+ sqft place, and my electric doesn't approach that.

[souldoubt]

We don't even run the AC or heat in my place and our electric bill was about $250 last month. Last time I ever live in a place that is 100% electric.

[midjd]

We are currently living in an 800sf rental house with gas heat and our bill for the month will be at least $150 (hopefully not much more). On Saturday we're moving to the house we just bought... it's 3500sf with propane heat but the seller said she'd never spent more than $125 per month on heat. I think it's a combination of brand-new windows in the new place and a really inefficient gas heater in the old place.

[Cookies Galore]

We moved into an apartment in September where heat is covered. Last electric bill was $22 and no oil bill, woo!

[wvugurl26]

Uh J just a guess but I doubt caiwau's wife is going to set the heat at 55. This is the woman who doesn't understand delayed gratification so I doubt being cold is something she tolerates.
October's combined gas/electric was $66. November's combined gas/electric was $65. December's combined gas/electric was $146. I still think they did something screwy especially for my electric usage to go up so much when I was gone half of December for work travel and holidays. Heat is gas. Oh and they screwed the city all the way around on the gas part. Commodity charge went up, delivery charge up, and the formula used to convert meter reading number to therms used changed and not to our benefit. Oh and distribution charge on electric went up 2x during billing period.
Makes budgeting damn hard when they change the rates they charge every month. Haven't seen January's yet. Meter should have been read 1/27 assuming they can find them in all this snow. I have no idea where the meters are here.

[The J]

Feb 1, 2011 20:53:50 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Uh J just a guess but I doubt caiwau's wife is going to set the heat at 55. This is the woman who doesn't understand delayed gratification so I doubt being cold is something she tolerates.
October's combined gas/electric was $66. November's combined gas/electric was $65. December's combined gas/electric was $146. I still think they did something screwy especially for my electric usage to go up so much when I was gone half of December for work travel and holidays. Heat is gas. Oh and they screwed the city all the way around on the gas part. Commodity charge went up, delivery charge up, and the formula used to convert meter reading number to therms used changed and not to our benefit. Oh and distribution charge on electric went up 2x during billing period.
Makes budgeting damn hard when they change the rates they charge every month. Haven't seen January's yet. Meter should have been read 1/27 assuming they can find them in all this snow. I have no idea where the meters are here.

I know that, but even last month when I was using the heat quite a bit (and it's all electric -- gas is cheaper here), my bill was half his.

[wvugurl26]

Maybe his rates are higher who knows? Maybe they leave every light in the house on? Mine was as much as yours for what is undoubtedly a much smaller space. One difference being a 15 degree difference in temperature. With there being about 10 different formulas to come up with the bill, rate comparison might be difficult. And I officially miss my redneck state with regulated utilities where you know when increases are coming.
I just tried to see if I could set up online access. The site's updated to say crews are coming in to handle potential outages from the coming ice storm but the link to set up a new online account doesn't work.

[The J]

Feb 1, 2011 21:03:54 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Maybe his rates are higher who knows? Maybe they leave every light in the house on? Mine was as much as yours for what is undoubtedly a much smaller space. One difference being a 15 degree difference in temperature. With there being about 10 different formulas to come up with the bill, rate comparison might be difficult. And I officially miss my redneck state with regulated utilities where you know when increases are coming.
I just tried to see if I could set up online access. The site's updated to say crews are coming in to handle potential outages from the coming ice storm but the link to set up a new online account doesn't work.

I know his area well -- the rates are actually a little lower than mine. And in december, we routinely kept the heat around 65 when either my roommate or i was home.

[wvugurl26]

Well my annoyance with the December bill was I was gone 20 of the 34 days in the billing period! Between work travel and a few trips home for pre Christmas stuff, hair appt, funeral, and finally holidays I was hardly here. All I know is I've been freezing so this January bill better be cheaper!
I'm starting to think they are right about this damn place costing more than NYC or LA. I think the only thing slightly cheaper is housing. Everything else seems to cost a hell of a lot more.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2011 19:31:05 GMT -5 The J said:

How warm are you keeping your place? I'm in a slightly more expensive area of NY than you, am 100% electric with a 1300+ sqft place, and my electric doesn't approach that.

We had a talk about that actually after I got the bill.
My wife is seems to always be hot and always leaving the heat on during the day when she is not home because she doesn't want our dog to be cold.


Usually she has it at 70-80 and I always have to go back and lower to 55-60 when I get home or in the middle of the night when I am so hot I feel I cannot breathe.

[The J]

Feb 1, 2011 21:17:07 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 1, 2011 19:31:05 GMT -5 The J said:

How warm are you keeping your place? I'm in a slightly more expensive area of NY than you, am 100% electric with a 1300+ sqft place, and my electric doesn't approach that.

We had a talk about that actually after I got the bill.
My wife is seems to always be hot and always leaving the heat on during the day when she is not home because she doesn't want our dog to be cold.


Usually she has it at 70-80 and I always have to go back and lower to 55-60 when I get home or in the middle of the night when I am so hot I feel I cannot breathe.

That's what I thought. My dad's near you, but his place is much bigger and his bill is around your's,

[wvugurl26]

Ok 70 I understand and I liked it at 70 when I was home and awake. Then I got a bill I didn't like. So it got pushed down. I didn't sleep with it at 70 and lately I can't sleep with it at 67. Although after doing some reading today I'm not sure if my recent sleep problems haven't been brought on by this stupid asthma I've developed. Even I couldn't stand it being 80 and I'm the queen of freezing, purple fingernails, swear I'm never going to get warm again.
Or maybe I should take DQ's advice and stay off WebMD. But it didn't tell me I have a tumor and that I'm going to die Wonder what the allergy gods website says about asthma.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I was just thinking yesterday I might start this post.

We moved over the summer, have about 1300 sf.
The summer months' electric (no gas heat) was about $75, November was up to $150, December $187, and January $283.

After scrutinizing the bill, I did figure out the January bill covered 34 days, so hopefully the February bill will cover fewer days and I'll pay less because of that.

I think I'll start the balance pay after April. I want to make sure I'm ahead of the bill, not behind it. When we moved over the summer, I had to pay $500 to the natural gas company because I was still catching up on the balance pay from the winter time.

[notasbadasithought]

WY here -- Electric runs $65-$100 per month, natural gas heat $42 per month on the budget plan. House is small, around 1600 sq. feet.

[dancinmama]

I live in a 2600 sq. ft energy efficient home.

Gas: $118.05

Electricity: $133.89

This is the LARGEST PG&E bill that I have ever gotten.

In the summer, my bill is between $80 and $90, but the water bill more than makes up for it.

[wvugurl26]

January bill came in today. Only $10 cheaper. Electric usage was about the same, I cut the gas usage some by lowering thermostat. Didn't matter much bc they jacked the rates up again. Somehow every other freaking natural gas company I've had can charge one rate throughout the year and make a profit but these people have to jack the rate up every month.
$136 total and $45 of that was electric. Guess I will try turning down thermostat more. I'm sure sitting around my apt being cold is going to make me better real quick. Oh and not cooking since my stove's gas. I'd hate to imagine the gas bill if you had an actual house. My apt is tiny maybe 700-800 sq feet if that.

[reader79]

I don't know about gas/electric, but I just chipped in to pay for part of the $780 oil bill my mother just paid. We have an ancient furnace, and drafty windows, so 250 gallons lasts about a month or so.

[resolution]

So far we have used a tank and a half of heating oil, so about $750. We spent $1500 on heating oil last winter so this summer we put in a lot of work to insulate the house. We have an old house that was built with no insulation, so we had to drill holes a foot apart in every wall and blow in the insulation, mud over the hole, sand and repaint. I was hoping to see a bigger difference in the heating oil usage but at least there is some improvement, we had gone through two full tanks at this time last year.

wvu if you are sick I would recommend to pay the extra to keep your place warm and just cut some discretionary spending for the month to cover it. It stinks to be sick and cold.

[Deleted]

Poor circulation is why a lot of people put the heat higher. It doesn't bother me to be chilly. I'll slip on a jacket, etc. But it really bothers my husband, whose hands will start hurting.

Still we had to compromise, and the $250 Dec. gas bill of last year was $176 this year with colder weather. He lets me turn it down to 66 for sleeping purposes, and he wears his silk long johns (present from me!) during the day. It really has helped.

He still has to turn it to 74 to take a shower. I don't understand that because the shower would make me warm, but I don't argue the point.

[kimber45]

Our electric bill averages $150/month year round. We hear with fuel oil, so far I have filled twice and have spent about $1,000. I am anticipating one more fill before the end of the heating season (probably around $600)

[hawkeyes2001]

We live in WI in a 1400sq foot ranch. Gas/electric bill is combined. The biggest bills are for December and January; usually about $215. The smallest is usually May/June (no heat, no air); usually about $60-70. We are on budget billing and pay $120 a month.

[cronewitch]

I paid 273 this month for gas to heat the house it has never been so high. We both had colds and were freezing so the heat was turned up.

[Angel!]

Feb 1, 2011 21:17:07 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

My wife is seems to always be hot and always leaving the heat on during the day when she is not home because she doesn't want our dog to be cold.


Usually she has it at 70-80 and I always have to go back and lower to 55-60 when I get home or in the middle of the night when I am so hot I feel I cannot breathe.

.

70 degrees I understand, even 72 degrees I get. But, if you are keeping your house at 75+, that is riduculous. And I can't imagine the dog needs it nearly that warm. My dogs are pretty big, but they get hot inside if it is over 70. One would rather sleep outside in 35 degree weather than inside with the heat set at 72.

Last month my gas bill was $100 with the heat set at 70-72 when I'm home (even through the night) & 62 when I'm at work.

Some things to look at - if your hot water heater is gas, then try turning it down. DH turned ours really high one month last year & the bill jumped by almost $50. Also try putting that plastic stuff on your windows, especially if they are aluminum or aren't double-paned (or if they are just drafty). Heavy curtains or blankets over doors & windows also helps a lot.

I am curious how much gas people are using, because I am guessing a lot of this has to do with gas rates being high in some areas. I used 159 CCFs last month. With a 30 year old furnace in a cold climate (mean temperature for this bill was around 32 degrees), with 30 year old aluminum framed windows that allow huge drafts & an aluminum sliding door that also has huge drafts, a gas hot water heater, & keeping my house at above 70 when I am home - I can't imagine that I am using significantly less gas than other people with much higher bills.