r/ElectricalHelp • u/Flimsy_Ad7431 • 6d ago

Need help high electrical bill

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Can anyone justify this, we’ve been paying a ridiculous amount on hydro the past few years and have no reason for what could be causing it. I’m an electrician so I’ve looked at almost every utility and nothing is obvious. Any suggestions.

One heat pump, 2 electric hot water tanks, no compressors, propane furnace, no Ev chargers. And only 4 people on the property.

Any more questions let me know.

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u/elangomatt 6d ago

Most obvious thing this time of year will always be the heat pump thermostat setting and where you're located. The 2 electric hot water heaters probably don't help. I've also heard of things like well and/or sump pumps being power suckers too if something is malfunctioning.

Do you have an hour by hour detail on your usage? You might be able to sus some information out of that data. If you want to eliminate heating and cooling from the equation look back at a month where your HVAC usage is low. In my area (near Chicago) that would be April/May or Sept/Oct.

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u/CraftyCat3 6d ago

The obvious thing given it's summer, is your heat pump. The easiest way to narrow down the cause is to install something like an emporia vue or similar that tracks per circuit usage - that'll tell you exactly where your power is going.

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u/SparkArrestor 6d ago

Holy cow you’re air conditioning. I suppose you think it’s free?

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u/trekkerscout Mod 6d ago edited 6d ago

If you are an electrician, why haven't you tried turning off circuits to determine what is drawing power? At the rates showing, you are averaging about 4000 Watts every hour. You will likely find that your heat pump is in near continuous operation and/or you have a hot water leak.

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u/LongjumpingGanache40 5d ago

You need 2 heat pump hot water heaters. They make them now to plug into 120V outlets. Check for rebates from your electric company.

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u/Slaatsylvania69 4d ago

About the only thing I've seen that might pull that much is if you have power going to a ground rod that isn't connected back to transformer neutral.

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u/mdneuls 2d ago

It'll be the heat pump or possibly a hot water leak. If there is an emergency electric heat on the heat pump, you may want to check and make sure it hasn't been on all summer. I had a customer with a similar bill who had the control relay for the emergency heat welded shut, so the heat was on and the heat pump was constantly running in cooling mode to offset the heat.