Electric Bill Nightmares Here!!!!!!

[annunaki]

Nuclear power would help us all out. In Wisconsin, we have two nuclear power plants that supply 20% of of the whole state's electricity. The plant in Kewaunee only runs one reactor to boot. If it ran both (reactors), it could probably supply 20% of the state on it's own.

This is one instance where we should follow France's lead. I think over 80% or more of their electricity is nuclear generated.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

My utilities stay fairly even year round.

In the summer my electric runs around $250-300 and the gas is <$50. In the winter the gas is $150-200'ish and the electric drops to around $100.

 

[trnqk7]

If that is an electric heater, get a gas in the next house. The energy cost of electricity is very high compared to the energy cost of gas.
Turn off your computer when not in use. It eats about 150 watts/hr, 24hr/day, etc.

Before you make that statement, you would have to research the cost of gas vs. the cost of electric service. Also, find out whether or not the electric rate is "tiered" for different usage levels...a lot of places have one price for the first several hundred kWh and then a different price (either lower or higher) or the next however many kWh. You would have to do some research to make that statement...and most likely, it would come close to being equal, regardless of which way you went. Around here it doesn't matter-the utility you pay your electric bill supplies the gas too...just depends which you'd rather pay for I guess

And although I agree about the computer thing as a personal thing-it's really only about $11 you are saving if you have a 10cent per kWh charge...anything helps though.

 

[trnqk7]

My utilities stay fairly even year round.

In the summer my electric runs around $250-300 and the gas is <$50. In the winter the gas is $150-200'ish and the electric drops to around $100.

I would suggest this is often (but not always) the case!

 

[mtrycrafts]

Before you make that statement, you would have to research the cost of gas vs. the cost of electric service. Also, find out whether or not the electric rate is "tiered" for different usage levels...a lot of places have one price for the first several hundred kWh and then a different price (either lower or higher) or the next however many kWh. You would have to do some research to make that statement...and most likely, it would come close to being equal, regardless of which way you went. Around here it doesn't matter-the utility you pay your electric bill supplies the gas too...just depends which you'd rather pay for I guess

And although I agree about the computer thing as a personal thing-it's really only about $11 you are saving if you have a 10cent per kWh charge...anything helps though.

I calculate that a therm of gas as it is billed to me= 100,000BTU of energy. That equates to 29.3kwatts.
So it is easy to figure what the cost differences are per therm and per 29.4x kw rates.
It works out about 3.5 factor for me at the lowest tear and am past that.
And, I get the gas and electricity from the same company here too and still the huge difference, 3.5X or much more when higher tears are reached.
Yes, $11/mo here for just one item, pretty soon it matters a lot. While that is for one person, it adds up in a hurry when talking large numbers of computers running for nothing.
I doubt many are paying the same for each energy amount. Maybe some hydro places?

 

[Jack Hammer]

If you're not using them, try replacing your light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs. They use quite a bit less energy (~1/4 that of comparable incandescants), and they last much longer (~5-7x). You can get 8 of the 60w equivalents for about $10 at Home Depot, Costco carries them too. Try a test room first for a few days, some people say they don't like the type of light they put out, others don't really notice any difference.

Stay away from the "daylight" ones at first. Some people find the light to be too "white."

Jack

 

[MDS]

If you're not using them, try replacing your light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs. They use quite a bit less energy (~1/4 that of comparable incandescants), and they last much longer (~5-7x). You can get 8 of the 60w equivalents for about $10 at Home Depot, Costco carries them too. Try a test room first for a few days, some people say they don't like the type of light they put out, others don't really notice any difference.

Stay away from the "daylight" ones at first. Some people find the light to be too "white."

Jack

They're a mixed bag but I generally like them now that I found the brand that works the best for me (can't think of the name off hand but I get them at Lowes - NLight maybe?).

I have 6 BR30 floodlights in the kitchen and they turn on immediately but take a full 2-3 minutes to reach full brightness. 6 x 14w is a whole lot less than 6 x 65w so I can deal with the slow warm up.

The regular size bulbs in the bathroom turn on instantly and I use the bright white instead of soft white. The same size in my office is the Bright Effects brand from Home Depot and they take one full second to turn on when they are cold.

The day light bulbs are too blue. I bought one at first because I thought it would be brighter than bright white but it is definitely blue and casts an eery kind of light. It's in the laundry room now because that room doesn't get as much use.

 

[majorloser]

Almost my whole house is either fluorescent or LED. I only have a few halogen lights that I'm slowly changing over either fluorescent spots of 12V LED's.

Here's a couple places I've been using for LED's:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/
http://www.theledlight.com/index.html

The only problem I've seen with LED's is the color. They come in either warm white or cool white. You'll need to compare the temperatures to verify how close they are to incandescent lights. But they do run a heck of a lot cooler than halogen. I've been using them on my low voltage under the counter lights and for my low voltage track lights. The nice thing is they are dimmable and you can a lot more heads on the same system and still use a tenth of the power.

They are also making dimmable compact fluorescent bulb. The spot light versions work great for "high hat" ceiling lights.

 

[Audioholics]

I've been wondering about LEDs... and why those aren't being pushed more for lighting over CF. My biggest issue is color temperature. I want 6500K (the sun) in my house, not 14,000K which comes out of most CF bulbs.

 

[majorloser]

I've been wondering about LEDs... and why those aren't being pushed more for lighting over CF. My biggest issue is color temperature. I want 6500K (the sun) in my house, not 14,000K which comes out of most CF bulbs.

Look at the prices, than you'll understand.

I recently purchased a few of the MR16-xW4 White Nichia LED reflector lamps to replace some of my halogen lamps (5,250K). They're $38.95 each
But I can add a lot more light to my theater and remove a LOT of heat from the room.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/MR16-W4.htm

Then I use these attached to fine wires hanging from my cable track light system. They look light bright stars and direct light straight down:
http://ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=296

I've also switched out the halogens in my under the counter "puck" lights to LED's. The cool white lamps are 7,000K :
http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/G4-W6HP.htm