• Screwthehole@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I got blasted with a $700 electric bill this month, and we didn’t really do anything new or different. So this doesn’t surprise me really.

    If electricity is going to cost this much, I guess the only way electric gets “cheaper” than gas is by hiking gas prices until its cheaper to charge. Consumers are never going to win though.

    • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Why was your bill $700 though?
      Is that all new charges for the previous month, is there an unpaid amount from last months bill? If you owed $650 on the last bill and didn’t pay it while the new month generated $50 in new charges then yeah your bill will be for $700. Just as an example.

      Just saying a number doesn’t mean anything. How did you manage to get charged $700.00 for your electric last month?

      Edit: dude posted his bill below. His charge for one month is $350

        • kiddblur@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Jesus, what’s your utilization or price per kWh? I use a shitload of electricity (around 2000kWh per month and my utility provider says average is more like 800) and my bill has never exceeded $300, even with an EV that I drive 1200 miles a month

          • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            He just posted a picture of his bill in a reply to me if you want to take a look at it.

          • Screwthehole@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            For reasons I’m not sure about, I posted a screenshot of my bill below in answer to the quack telling me I don’t know what my bill was.

            We live in the upper, larger portion of the house and there is a suite downstairs. I’m not sure what they get up to, but the cost is high. We have led lights, central ac which we only use conservatively. Other power sucks would be the extra fridge in garage I guess, so the household (with the suite) runs 3 fridges, 2 sets of laundry machines and 2 dishwashers. Our range is gas.

            I have no idea how the bill is so high. I can only imagine how much higher it would be if I charged a vehicle on top - though I do understand that would eliminate the $120/week I spend on gasoline

        • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I’m sorry but I simply do not believe your new charges were $700, especially if you “didn’t do anything different”. Did you host a rock festival in your backyard or something? Did you plug in a 12 foot pile of air conditioners on high the entire month on your driveway?

          What state are you in and how many electric heaters are you using this summer?

          • Screwthehole@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Lol. I just told you I didn’t do anything different.

            I didn’t do anything odd. We have central ac and ran it conservatively, and had it off for 2 weeks during vacation also.

            We are on 2 month billing cycles, so this is for 60 days. But I said I got blasted with the bill this month, which is in fact the case.

            • Goronmon@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              So, its not a $700 monthly bill, it’s $350, which is a pretty important detail to leave out.

              2500 kWh is pretty massive though. We have a smaller house but with multiple air window conditioners running we only use roughly 1k a month.

              You’re electricity is actually significantly cheaper than mine, Our base price is the $0.14 kWh, which is lower than the standard rate from the utility company which last I remember was something like $0.23.

            • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Holy crap, that’s crazy. I stand corrected. There’s got to be an error with this. Have you called the utility? That’s just nuts.

              Nevermind. This is for two months, and it’s CAD. That’s completely different than OMG my bill is $700!!

              • Screwthehole@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                With my job I get other people’s hydro bills to split between upper and lower tenants and I see their bills too. While I find this bill exceptionally high, it’s not really out of whack. This is just what we pay for electricity here (in BC Canada)

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What was your bill the month before? How much more or less did you run the AC this month? Did you take any road trips?

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You can make your own electricity at home if you have the room, by installing solar panels.

      IMO everyone should invest in off-grid solar if you can manage it. I have electricity on tap no matter what the power company or their wires are doing.

      Or if gas is actually cheaper than electricity, just install a trailer hitch and a hitch cargo carrier, then mount an inverter generator on your cargo carrier and charge the EV on the go with gas.

      • kiddblur@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I can’t wait to get solar. Personally I don’t have the cash on hand to pay the $40K quote I got for a 16kW system, and I’m not comfortable taking out that big of a loan with the economy being such a huge question mark, but in a year or two I’m really looking forward to it

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Just get yourself self-smarted on the learnins you need to DIY the solar install. 40k would buy an enormous shit-ton of solar power components, way more than you need. Mine was under 10k

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Are you somewhere that is a lot hotter than normal and working the AC? Did your kwh rates change?

      There should be something that lets you know why it is higher if you didn’t really really do anything different.