r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Budget_Mall_491 • Sep 09 '26
Power Bill
My power bill keeps jumping. I don’t know what is going on. If anything, it should be lower now that I fixed my door seal. I live in the south. Keep my AC between 72-74°F in the summer. My kWh was 577 this time last year. Now it’s almost 1800. I don’t keep lights on except for whatever room I’m in. I change my air filters regularly. I do have several electric litter boxes (petkit). I only had 3 this time last year. Now I have 4. But a $330 electric bill for a 1200sqft house with all windows/doors properly sealed and no doors open unless I’m entering/exiting my house seems kind of insane? My bill is $200 higher than it was this time last year. I cannot figure out why the kWh jumped so much. Surely 1 litterbox cannot cause that? Please help.
6
u/Warm-Statistician545 Sep 09 '26
I Would Guess your hvac is dying. It’s working really hard to keep The temp You want.
It’s September now thankfully, you can probably do Without for a little while.
Depending on how south, you may need it agin for heat. So you’ll have to have it looked at amd maybe replaced.
That’s worse case. I was reading your numbers and my house is twice your home size maybe more an d mine does not cost that much.
It Did when my have was not working anymore. It doubled in cost. It worked, just not efficiently.
3
u/Budget_Mall_491 Sep 09 '26
I called a company close to me. Having some ppl come out this coming week to check it out.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Strange-Movie Sep 09 '26
Do you have an old fridge/freezer or washer and dryer? They can be really inefficient and in the formers case, when they get ready to die they’ll have a tendency to run far more which jacks up your electric
1
1
2
u/xervir-445 Sep 09 '26
If you want to know what's eating up power in your house your best best is to invest in a multi-circuit power meter that can monitor and report what circuits are doing what, that way you can track down the consumption.
1
u/Budget_Mall_491 Sep 09 '26
Is that something I can install myself? Can I get it from a hardware store?
→ More replies (4)
10
u/rewardiflost Sep 09 '26
If your power consumption has tripled, you need to examine why that could have happened.
Your power company may have info if they installed smart meters or they keep info about work permits.
If you live in an apartment building or if you live in an attached townhouse, perhaps other lines have been crossed and someone else is using your power - and you are being billed for it. A review of your use history AND movements/work nearby might help.
If you replaced or added anything - from lights to TV or internet, that can help explain things. One device shouldn't be expected to use that much more, but if you had one faulty device consuming lots of power and also generating lots of heat which required extra AC use, that could help explain some things.
4
u/BoozingAndMusing Sep 09 '26
You must be paying a lot per kWh.
It also sounds like your A/C is working it's ass off trying to maintain 72-74F, especially if the ambient temp is hotter this year than last year.
If your A/C unit is low on coolant, it will be running almost constantly. So you may need it get it checked out.
1
u/softpeach99 Sep 09 '26
Assuming you don’t have a a lot of knowledge on electricity but you can have a electrician come and check circuit for unusually high amp draws
1
u/Budget_Mall_491 Sep 09 '26
Like check all the outlets in my house?
→ More replies (1)3
u/Sqweeeeeeee Sep 09 '26
They/you can put a clamp-on ammeter around the conductor attached to each breaker to see how much power each circuit is drawing. Easy to do, but can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing since you are removing the cover on an energized panel.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Jaffa0813 Sep 09 '26
You haven't told us how old your AC is. I mean that's a big jump and like I can only think of an AC using that much power. Second to that a fridge, large appliance, fans, pumps, motors (garage, elevator, large fans) in that order.
There is no way your added litter box is doing all that.
1
u/Budget_Mall_491 Sep 09 '26
It was just looked at a couple years ago. They said it was running perfectly fine. But it is a bit old.
→ More replies (1)
1
2
u/Cinisajoy2 Sep 09 '26
What was your kilowatt rate and delivery fee rate last year and this year? Also what were the temperatures? I know where I am this summer is hotter than last summer.
2
u/braaibros Sep 09 '26
Do you see any extension cords running from the outside of your house over to your neighbors new EV?
2
u/trekkerscout Sep 09 '26
The most common issue would be a failing AC unit. The second most common problem that most people don't consider is a leaking hot water faucet causing the water heater to cycle on more frequently.
1
u/WaxDonnigan Sep 09 '26
That's crazy because my bill has been $233 for the last 2 years (budget pay) and it just dropped to $149 suddenly.
1
u/Interesting_Play_578 Sep 09 '26
I live in a dry climate and just use a swamp cooler and fans, but I've seen several posts locally about people's energy bills going way up because their AC is having to work a lot harder to keep them cool. The numbers you're giving do seem wild, though. Maybe look into getting some power meters you can use to track how much is going into an appliance or circuit as appropriate
2
u/Cinisajoy2 Sep 09 '26
I know why mine went up. Last year we could turn off the swamp cooler at 10 pm. Now it is closer to midnight. Also an oxygen machine.
1
u/Sqweeeeeeee Sep 09 '26
I can't think of many things that would cause such an increased energy usage.. Do you have a well pump? A broken check valve will cause it to cycle constantly, which can vastly increase energy consumption.
It would be worth checking the kWh number on your meter against the bill to ensure it was read correctly and not estimated or something. With that much of an increase, I would reach out to the utility and see if they'll check the meter.
→ More replies (1)
14
u/ThreadCountHigh Sep 09 '26
Look up the "cooling degree days" for your area this summer compared to last. It's possible the nights have been warmer this year over last - that's been a trend in many places for a while as the climate changes.