HUGE electricity increase - help!

 

(sorry, this will probably be rambling...)

I opened my electrical bill to find a HUGE jump last month in electricity
useage.

To be more specific, 3 months ago I was averaging 65 KWH per day, 2 months
ago I was averaging 55 KWH per day. Last month I averaged 145.5 KWH per day.

Total useage for last month was 4511 KWH.

I was obviously shocked. Nothing major has changed at the house (as a matter
of fact we've been switching to energy saving light bulbs!!).

One major thing did occur, though - we had a few days of heavy winds and
extreme cold weather. At one point, I noticed the hot tub cover had blown
off our hot tub because someone failed to lock it down. I can't be certain,
but I think it could have been off for as little as 8 hours to as much as a
couple of days.

The hot tub is a fairly large 6 or 7 seater. I'm sure the heater and pump 1
for circulation were on during this time, trying to fight the cold weather.

I expected a lot of wasted electricity because of this, but 2500+ additional
KWH shocked me.

I ran the numbers with some people on an electricity forum, and there's no
way it would have jumped my bill that much.

So why the heck did my bill jump so dramatically? It doesn't make any sense
to me...

I called the electric company to complain, and they say they'll send someone
out to check the meter, but I'm sure they're just going to blow me off. They
originally claimed that they have been estimating the electricity for the
past few months because they were having problems reading the meter, but I
challenged that and she backed off saying that wasn't the case (do they just
say that when anyone calls with an issue??).

Here are how my bills break down.

2/11/06 - 3/14/06 (31 days) = 4511 KWH = $685.19
1/13/06 - 2/11/06 (29 days) = 1589 KWH = $245.36
12/13/05 - 1/13/06 (31 days) = 2031 KWH = $312.01
11/08/05 - 12/13/05 (35 days) = 2248 KWH = $344.71
10/10/05 - 11/08/05 (29 days) = 1725 KWH = $222.08 (this is before a rate
increase)

We are in a 1 year old house. We have:

- electric oven/range
- electric dryer
- microwave
- toaster oven
- Foreman grill
- iron
- dishwasher
- refrigerator
- 11 rooms (including 2.5 baths, finished basement) - about 3600 sq feet
total
- sewer pump (we have town sewer, but are below street level)
- hot tub
- flat iron (hair straightener)
- heat is forced hot air
- hot water heater

We also have a bunch of computers (that's what I do for work), but the #
hasn't really increased at all.

The ridiculous jump just doesn't make sense to me.

As a matter of fact, we've spent the last 1.5 - 2 months replacing our light
bulbs with energy saving CFL bulbs (which is why I thought we saw the drop 2
months ago).

We haven't added anything new, as a matter of fact we got rid of a small
refrigerator.

We are a 3 person household (2 adults, 1 6 year old).

Any suggestions on trying to figure this out??

Thanks!

 

have you checked the meter reading?
i got a bill a couple of months for over $1000, the meter had been misread
and they charged me for 10000kWh  of off peek ele. i havent used off peak
ele for over 10 years, you couldnt pull 10000kWh through the meter in the
number of days the bill was for, and it was exactly 10000kWh.... how stupid
is there billing system??????(also rambling)
but as you have a new house i guess it would have a digital meter


certain,

weather.

additional

someone

 



Finding a problem in the past can be nearly impossible.  What is
important is to verify that the problem is not continuing.  Frankly,
your usage looks high even in the slow months for the items you are
listing, but a lot of that may be the hot tub.  I'm guessing that the
6yo isn't sneaking showers in the middle of the night or leaving water
running?

The first item I would check would be the sewage pump.  If the
pressure switch got stuck, it could run continuously.  You can usually
hear the pump run, especially if it is sucking air. The same goes for
any other pumps, like the hot tub pump.  The next thing I would check
for is a leak in a hot water line or the TP valve on the top of the
water heater.  Since the overflow from that valve is commonly piped to
a drain, it can leak without your ever seeing the water.

If you don't find the problem after completing those checks, find your
meter and read it, note the speed of rotation, then power off all of
the breakers.  That should completely stop the meter rotation.  If it
doesn't, call an electrician pronto.

Flip on each breaker individually, noting if the breaker feels warm,
(all warm breakers are suspect) and then check on the meter to see the
relative speed of rotation.  Feel the meter box and circuit breaker
box.  If either feels excessively warm, get an electrician pronto.
Loose connections heat up, and can end up as a fire, or as a killer
circuit if the insulation gets burned off.  

If none of the breakers or panels is overly warm, then continue and
note each circuit and guesstimate if that speed of rotation is in line
with what you expect.  Inspect any outlets or appliances connected to
the circuits using more power.   Touch each outlet, cord, and
appliance to note any unusual heat.  In a home, wasted electricity
ultimately expresses as heat.  Also, check any outdoor outlets that
might still have landscape or christmas lights connected.  A short in
a 12vt landscape lighting circuit might not trip a breaker, but still
wastes power.

Next, do a time of day analysis, by reading your meter once an hour
for the day, noting the usage and seeing if it matches with your
expectation of use.  At the end of the day, after you've used your
last hot water, turn off the circuit to the hot water tank and leave
it off overnight.  If you wake up to a cold shower, you have found
your problem.  Leave the tank off until the water runs cold to
estimate your usage and compare with the capacity of the tank.

Finally, do a day by day analysis for a few days, while keeping a log
of length of showers, cooking, etc.  You should be able to target your
usage quite accurately.  BTW, no tv?

All the above can be done without buying anything.  If, after doing
that, you still want to home in on usage, purchase a Kill-a-watt meter
to insert between an individual appliance and the wall socket.

Let us know what you find out.

 

Thanks for the long reply.  I will go through all of the suggestions you
have made.

My sewage pump is underground - should I still be able to hear that somehow?

I do have several TVs, but rarely are several on at the same time.

My meter reading yesterday was 29,348 at 3:00pm.  At 6:00pm, it was 29,360
and we were in the middle of drying clothes and cooking dinner.

This AM it was at 29,406 at 7:30am.

That's 46 KWH overnight, which seems high to me...

 



Maybe.  If it is away from the house, you may not.  If you can find
the main sanitary drain line, take a metal dowel or other rod and
press it against the pipe, with the other end pressed to your ear.  If
the pump is running, there is usually a humming vibration you can
hear.  There are other ways to test, like a clamp-on meter on one of
the power legs, but that is best left to someone familiar with working
with electricity.


You didn't mention an electric clothes dryer.  A clogged lint filter
or vent pipe could keep it running longer than normal, increasing your
costs.


You are correct.  Even if the hot water tank was recovering, and a
furnace cycling, it shouldn't be nearly that high.  Is there an
electric space heater somewhere?  

Another thought.  If ground water is getting into your sump for the
sanitary pump, or the check valve to the main sewer is stuck open, the
excess liquid could be forcing it to run.