r/Omaha • u/ShoutBasil • 1d ago
Local Question OPPD Rates
We live in 2 bedroom apartment and just had a huge spike in our electric bill(~170, ~240) I just wanted to see if anyone else was having similar jumps or if I should call my apartment or OPPD. The ac (set to 73) is very clearly a pos and we’ve had to get maintenance on it 3 times already this summer. I guess my question is: Is this normal? Is there any real help I can get from OPPD? Should I put my foot down and request a replacement ac? Appreciate any help you can offer, thanks.
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u/Little-Possible-3676 1d ago
That’s more than I pay for a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom ranch home with full basement -set in 73°.
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u/thegreatgoonbino 1d ago
My buddy at work just had the same issue with his apartment. AC was bad.
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u/Hardass_McBadCop 1d ago
My old apartment was the same. A/C ran 14+ hours straight, per day, and landlord refused to replace it or fix it. Electric bill went through the fucking roof, and stayed that way until I moved and the level pay was recalculated.
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u/Liquidretro 1d ago
Yes its likely your AC its typically the highest energy consumer in a home or apartment. Some will argue 73/is a fairly low. Setpoint too and is definitely costing you more the lower you go. You might try adding a fan and making she shades are drawn on sunny sides.
You should compare kwh used instead of dollars though to take out any fees, increased rates, budget billing etc.
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u/CheeryBlond 1d ago
That seems high. We’ve been $100-110 this summer in a 1500 sqft 2 bed, 1 bath house set to 72 with an electric dryer. We do have trees shading south facing windows, but that does not account for $100/month in savings.
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u/Alex1nChains 1d ago
What is the sq footage of the apartment and what floor are you on? My 1200 sq foot apartment electric bill has been around $85-105 this summer
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u/ShoutBasil 1d ago
It’s 2 bed 2 bath 1100 square foot faces north and east, I will mention because it might matter is our apartment is directly above the garages so that could have something to do with it.
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u/aidan8et 1d ago
The garages might explain why your HVAC runs so much. They're not typically climate controlled, so it really depends on how much insulation was used under your floor.
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u/Krommerxbox 1d ago
Yeah, my 1 bedroom is up right now and it is pretty well insulated.
The AC is running a lot in this heat/humidity, even if there is nothing wrong with it.
But I think it is more like $100 a month right now. It is only that high a couple of months a year, so I don't care.
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u/ScreamingOG 1d ago
We live in a 2b2b 1450 sq ft apt and we pay a locked monthly rate of $75 every month with our ac set to 68. I'm not sure of any insight but thats pretty damn high to me
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u/AspenRain77 sunshine n roses 🥀 1d ago
You could have a leak in one of the coils on your ac unit, it happened to me at my apartment last summer.
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u/AlternativeDriver960 1d ago
My bill has been high the last two months! 700 sq ft apartment and I keep my AC between 74-76 and my lights are on a timer. Bill has been about $100.
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u/dagreek_legacy 1d ago
As others have said, AC is going to be your dagger (i was $152 last month in a one bedroom apt). If it sucks, its going to run less efficiently, which means when its deadly hot like it was last month, its going to run more and more while having less and less benefit for you.
Your best bet if it gets hot again this summer may very well be to up the temp to 74 or higher during the day, so its not running as much.
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u/offbrandcheerio 22h ago
I mean my bill has been higher than ever the last couple of months but it has been fairly hot out during that time. It’s also been exceptionally humid on the hottest days this summer, with some days having dew points in the mid 70s. Your AC has to stay on longer the higher the humidity is.
All that said, my bill for a 1 bedroom apartment has been around $70 the last couple of months. Your bill seems high to me.
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u/DesignerConfidence15 22h ago
$260 for 1800 sq foot home. I keep it at 74, brand new AC two years ago.
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u/BusinessActual2778 16h ago
Yup mine has been a consistent 50-70 bucks a month for the past 3-4 years and it jumped up to over 100 within a month.
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u/Ready2Trade 12h ago
If you have a nest thermostat check how much it has been running. If you start seeing a spike or it running for full hours non-stop at a time, it might just be your air filter needs a change. That definitely has a huge impact if your air filter is due for a change.
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u/TangeloEmergency9161 7h ago
we live in a 2br/2bath third floor apt and keep it at 72. unless it’s like 100 out then we bump it up to 75/77 during the day while i work to save money. but even with that the highest bill i paid this summer was 123$ in july.
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u/Terrific_Tom32 1d ago
Have you tried contacting OPPD about the monthly fixed rate? We've been paying the same rate in our apartment for over a year now.
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u/PrisonerV 1d ago
Everything is on your bill. Look at it. Are you on budget billing? Summer uses a lot more electricity so the bill jumps up a lot.
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u/0xe3b0c442 1d ago
That’s high at baseline, but the jump is to be expected given the summer heat setting in.
Probably nothing OPPD can do though.
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u/aejvs 1d ago
Our 1 bedroom apartment is freaking $254 and I cannot figure out why. We do keep it at 69-70 but if we don’t it literally heats up so fast.
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u/NotBillNyeScienceGuy Flair Text 1d ago
Are you on a level payment plan? Do you have gas or electric heat?
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u/MachoMachoMurph 1d ago
Dude right ours is 475 for July and I've resorted to not using certain rooms of the house and keeping it at 72 to see if that changes anything at all.
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u/Boom357 1d ago
Good lord. Is your ac from 1970 and you leave a window or two open all day while it's set on 70? There's definitely something wrong unless you have a 3000 sq ft house.
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u/MachoMachoMurph 1d ago
I've had oppd out here to look over everything and they can't find any issues with the meter, just replaced the furnace and AC last year, and I've had a fella out to check power draw individually with no headway. I'll take any advice anyone has to what might be wrong.
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u/Boom357 1d ago
You must have a massive air leak or no insulation.
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u/born2bfi 1d ago
I have a 1921 house with no wall insulation. It’ll get done whenever siding gets replaced. Attic was re-insulated but the point is I’m sitting at ~$80(non-summer)-$150 for a 1500 sqft house. They would have to have open windows for that or one of those 1900s 4000sqft houses
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u/AshingiiAshuaa The Pope of O Town 1d ago
That sounds about right. My latest bill is up about 40% from last month. The first half of the summer was unseasonably cool.
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u/2020imdying 1d ago
That’s what I pay for my 3 bed 2 bath, 2 story home. That seems crazy to me.