Can y'all please take up a love fund for me? Challenge!

[DrakeMaiden]

There is never more than 1 light on at a time

Yep, that is how it is at our house . . . well, unless the bathroom light is also on.

 

[big brown horse]

This was from one of my previous posts, if I had utility gas for hot water or heat it would be much lower as an electric water heater can easily cost $20-$50 a month, gas is less than half that. It would also be lower if I didn't have to boil weekly mashes on the stove for 8 straight hours.
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My last 13 months of electrical usage, 3 bedroom 1200 sq.ft. All new windows, doors, and attic insulation. 100% entire electrical house.

Month kWh
JUN 445
MAY 329
APR 370
MAR 352
FEB 391
JAN 306
DEC 386
NOV 301
OCT 300
SEP 362
AUG 171
JUL 449
JUN 262

4424 kWh for the last 13 months = 340 kWh average or about $35 monthly

If anyone can beat this, I'll send you some homemade preserves, could be blueberry-lime or plum butter, not sure yet.

We will need proof though. I've got my eye on all you ss-rs.

Xpc, if nobody can beat you I'll send you the preserves, no beans attached.

 

[xpc]

That's not fair if I had known there were a contest for delicious non-bean plum butter or other elfin magic I would have cut back on the navy grog cooking months ago.

 

[MsPony]

Thank goodness we rent, would hate to see what our bill is!! We have reptiles, AND I have to sleep cold or else I cant sleep. And I have chickies brooding right now...

 

[Beekissed]

Give me a little time....my boys just moved out! I bet I can get down to the $30s again before long!

 

[mrbstephens]

I may have an unfair advantage by ruling with an absolute dictatorship (dogs have no say). There is never more than 1 light on at a time, I keep my water heater at 95F, only wash my clothes 6 times a year and with cold water too, always line dried. I only air condition my bedroom or only heat the bathroom (seasonal).

Ew. You must be stinky.

 

[Wifezilla]

I would have to sell Max to the circus in order to even attempt to compete. With his autism, he seems to think that lights need to be on in every room at all times. Also all electronics must be on and running in some form 24/7. If you go in his room and turn off his light while he is sleeping, he immediately wakes up, gives you a dirty look and turns it back on again.

The only thing he turns off is the cooling fans...usually during the highest temps. The whole summer is some bizarre ritual of me turning off lights and turning on fans while he turns all lights on, closes all the windows and turns fans off. We drive hubby nuts.

 

[Farmfresh]

$300-$400!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How does one afford that? How could anyone EVER afford that on a regular basis? My rent is only $375!!!

This house stays remarkably cool in the summer and warm in the winter for an old farm house. I've heard there is sawdust in the walls for insulation.

Everything here is electric also and my water pump kicks on if the toilet leaks...and it does. I don't use an air conditioner and we heat with wood, so this probably keeps everything pretty low.

We also have most things on power bar strips and use CFLs for all the lights. Everything that draws phantom loads is turned off via the power strip.

I used to live where all the utilities were very high and it didn't occur to me to do something about it but since I moved here, I actively looked for a place that would keep utilities down...where I could heat with wood, cool off with a fan, NOT be on city water and sewage.

Man....I can see where you are dancing in the aisles, Sally, at that low of a bill after what you are used to paying!!!

My sisters is often as high as $400!! Some people live in big houses, use all electric, keep it COLD inside and are wasteful.

 

[big brown horse]

I wish I had the luxury of having a nice cool house back then. You are right, some folks kept thier homes iceberg cold, however the folks I knew did not.

It was a modest house, though it was built in the 20's and probably had sucky insulation. We were at school and/or work during the day and kept the ac at 78-80 when we were home. We never felt cool in that house. Just "not hot" was the goal. We had ceiling fans too. We never had to use too many lights b/c of the nice natural light; I prefer natural light anyway, so I'm not complaining. The house was also surrounded by large trees...that helped. (It used gas and electric btw.) We tried everything to cut corners on the bill. I did a ton of ebaying on the side during the summers to help out.

It was an old ac unit and electricity was expensive, bottom line. That is the problem most people have in S. TX. Hot, hot, sticky-hot and extremely humid, ugh, and no break from the sun. I'm so glad to be away from that climate! Oh, and if you wanted to try to cool off at the lake or the beach, well you couldnt, it was bath water warm and you'd get stung or bit by something.

To add insult to injury, even when hurricane Ike took 11 days of my power away from me, I still got hit with a whopper of a bill, not much different from the month before, which is typically the hottest month of the year.

Every summer you hear of the people who died from over heating right in their own houses, usually the elderly who were on very tight budgets. Kind folks donated fans etc, but they couldnt afford to run them. (My own brother suffered from a heat stroke (yes stroke) when he was working up in my mother's attic. Also my coach from my old high school suffered a heat stroke. Neither one will ever be the same. This has nothing to do with e-bills, just letting you know how hot it gets. Omg, and the countless babies left in cars... )


So yes, $83.00 for the month of July for an all electric house with crappy insulation is a Godsend, after what I've been through. Even when I lived alone in a tiny apartment years ago, I never got my bill down that low in TX.

I'm still in shock over my own bill, but to hear that there are others with such low bills is baffeling coming from "high-e-bills-are-the-norm-TX". I had no idea!

to y'all for trying to keep low e-bills. (And for anyone in TX, I might send you a boobie prize b/c I sure do feel for ya. )

 

[PunkinPeep]

I still live in Texas (and don't plan to leave), and our July bill was $263 and some change. What's ironic is that this is the highest bill we've had in this house, and our bills in this house have been substantially lower than what we've paid in the past.

Our house was built in 1980 and is under 800 square feet.

I think we're going to invest in a newer/more energy efficient a/c this winter when the prices are low. I'm pretty sure ours is as old as the house.

Even during the part of the year when the a/c is off, we get really happy about a bill under $100. I guess we need to start replacing appliances. We don't have a dryer, but we do have an upright deep freeze and an electric water heater.

BBH, i totally understand your delight. I don't relate , but i understand why you're so excited. I would be too. I'm pretty sure i would hyperventilate.