Read your electric bill to save money - 04/23/12 11:56 PM
Each month I actually eagerly await my electric bill, since each month I experiment with ways to use less and less watts.
I did have two people living here but now it's just one, so next month it will be interesting to see what the difference will be. I also moved all my appliances onto power strips to prevent ghost energy/standby power drain, have only compact florescent bulbs in the house, and line dry all my clothes.
I turned off the electricity running to the RV as well, and am changing out several of my household appliances to be Energy Star types, or at least ones with less watts overall. (for example, a 4 pot coffeemaker uses only 600 watts, whereas the 10 cup model uses 1200-1500 watts!)
I am also trying to see how long I can prevent starting the AC unit, which will be the single largest AC expense of the year here in AZ.
My March-April bill is for $41.64. That's for two people with very light sporadic space heater use. The actual bill for electricity is only $19.81...which means that MORE THAN HALF of my bill is for fees and taxes through the electrical company.
I called the company (APS) today and asked how this works. The taxes and fees slide along a percentage scale. I was told the best case scenario, price wise, was to pay only $10 a month and use no watts at all.
In other words, if i turned off the circuit breaker and used zero electricity, I'd still be owing $10 just for the privilege of being on the grid.
For reference, this total bill of $41 applies for my use of 457 kWh (kilo watt hours). This is a decrease from my 561 kWh use last month (feb-march).
By looking at my actual bill, I can see exactly what the differences are from month to month in my electric use. Small changes can be actually measured! There is a graph in each bill showing how much electric was used for the same month in each year prior, for a better test case depending on what is going on with the climate at the time.
Isn't this interesting? Have you ever sat down and read your electric bill?
I am so excited to see what my bill is for April-May with just me here!
I did have two people living here but now it's just one, so next month it will be interesting to see what the difference will be. I also moved all my appliances onto power strips to prevent ghost energy/standby power drain, have only compact florescent bulbs in the house, and line dry all my clothes.
I turned off the electricity running to the RV as well, and am changing out several of my household appliances to be Energy Star types, or at least ones with less watts overall. (for example, a 4 pot coffeemaker uses only 600 watts, whereas the 10 cup model uses 1200-1500 watts!)
I am also trying to see how long I can prevent starting the AC unit, which will be the single largest AC expense of the year here in AZ.
My March-April bill is for $41.64. That's for two people with very light sporadic space heater use. The actual bill for electricity is only $19.81...which means that MORE THAN HALF of my bill is for fees and taxes through the electrical company.
I called the company (APS) today and asked how this works. The taxes and fees slide along a percentage scale. I was told the best case scenario, price wise, was to pay only $10 a month and use no watts at all.
In other words, if i turned off the circuit breaker and used zero electricity, I'd still be owing $10 just for the privilege of being on the grid.
For reference, this total bill of $41 applies for my use of 457 kWh (kilo watt hours). This is a decrease from my 561 kWh use last month (feb-march).
By looking at my actual bill, I can see exactly what the differences are from month to month in my electric use. Small changes can be actually measured! There is a graph in each bill showing how much electric was used for the same month in each year prior, for a better test case depending on what is going on with the climate at the time.
Isn't this interesting? Have you ever sat down and read your electric bill?
I am so excited to see what my bill is for April-May with just me here!