Outragous Electricty Bill

[SJW]

WOW, I have a 60,000 litre pool, a large fridge in the kitchen, a chest freezer (160litre) for serving kegs and a small fermentation/conditioning fridge, all that are going 24/7, ducted air, 4 tv's all in a 55 square house and out electricity bill was only $220, and never much more.
I would be investing in one of those electical usage meters and be testing a few appliances.

Steve

 

[apd]

I have: 46" Samsung LCD, 300Litre 4.5star rating fridge,500Litre Beer fridge,3 Computers, 26" Samsung LCD, Wine Fridge

Why don't you try turning off all those things above (and whatever else you can think of) and see if your meter is still ticking over. Maybe you have an appliance you've forgotten about. Is your hot water service electric or gas? What about your oven/stove top?

From memory, our latest bill was $250. The major appliances we have are 4 fridges, TV, an oven (2-3kw) and a coffee machine (2.5kw).

Andrew

 

[oldbugman]

most folk were hit with big bills this quarter because the two previous quarters were speculative or under estimated figures by the energy providers. This time around they apparently did things differently hence why myself ($500.00) and everyone else got slugged. Or so i read in the paper recently!?

Yeah this is a bit stiff when they carry out estimates and then finally get round to doing a real reading.

in theory it works fine as you'll either have a larger bill or possibly a smaller bill. But it does not take into account a change of rate. As the power could have been used when the rate was lower but your now paying for the underestimates at a higher rate.

 

[Ronin]

most folk were hit with big bills this quarter because the two previous quarters were speculative or under estimated figures by the energy providers. This time around they apparently did things differently hence why myself ($500.00) and everyone else got slugged. Or so i read in the paper recently!?

The same thing happened to us a while ago, although it went the other way. The electricity company just guessed how much a couple should use, and charged us for that amount. My wife and I are quite small energy users, and we went and checked the meter and the reading was off by a long way. We called the company and gave them the actual meter reading and the bill dropped from $600 to $200.

I take it you've actually checked the meter and the reading is correct?

James

 

[Ol'Wobbly]

* Check the seals on all your fridges - it's amazing how much extra you pay with a leaky or cracked & hardened fridge seal
* Check the thermostat settings. As a "very" rough rule of thumb the thermostat should not be more than 1/3 of the way across the dial. Use your brewer's thermometer and test the temp - the temperature inside your main fridge compartment need not be lower than about 4 deg. This is ample for most food (and beer).

 

[staggalee]

well, I just opened mine and it`s the lowest it`s been for 2 years- $177.00!!
And that`s with being away for the last 2 weeks in July.
2 big fridges, big upright freezer, 3 colour tv`s,etc BUT gas stove and oven.

staggalee.

 

[trevc]

$600? wow... how many lights are in your garden?

 

[matti]

I though I'd join the chorus.
$713 :wacko:
My highest yet!

I know prices has gone up but this is ridiculous.
The biggest concern is I've got gas hot water, Heater and stove.
Blow me.

I am turning off the main!

 

[staggalee]

I though I'd join the chorus.
$713 :wacko:
My highest yet!

I know prices has gone up but this is ridiculous.
The biggest concern is I've got gas hot water, Heater and stove.
Blow me.

I am turning off the main!

relax, don`t worry.
Sit down and have a beer,

staggalee.

 

[lobo]

stagga, who was it that taught you how to post pics? i must remenber to thank him again. always gets a laugh from me.

Lobo

 

[MCT]

Well I got a $475 bill, which is doing my head in. Living alone in a townhouse and I am notoriously tight with heating and turning lights etc off....
Bills are normally $200, crazy.

 

[Duff]

Ours will go between $600 - 700 a quarter. I thought it might have been the pool and air-con adding to the cost but maybe not.

 

[schooey]

Maybe I need to look closer at the meter readings. Our last bill was $970, but with the wet weather and using the dryer a fair bit, the split system air con being used as the heater, 4 fridges running, 3 computers, 3 TV's most nights, electric hot water, electric cooktop and oven, I kinda figured that it would be about right... :unsure:

 

[goatherder]

Buy one of these things from jaycar:

Mains Power Meter

Do some tests with it and track down the heavy hitting appliances. You might find it's only a handful of things driving your usage. If you can measure it, you can manage it.

The other thing to watch for is Energy Australia (and probably other retailers) have been rolling out new tariffs based on the time of the day - peak, off peak, shoulder etc. If you run an aircon then you will get killed in summer because peak time is 2pm to 8pm. The cost during peak time is about 3-4 times off peak from memory. If you are on this arrangement then it can really pay to run dryers, dishwashers etc at night during the off peak periods.

 

[matho]

my winter bill is about $700 but that because we have 3.5hp split system for heating and our 250l hotwater system is not off peak.
NSW is keeping the price of electricity down (IPART) on the eastern seaboard. That's why there was a big push to put it in private hands. Hope it doesn't, in the USA in one of the southern states the price of electricity increased by 77% the day after regulation ceased.

ps being a sparky i should change my HW system to off peak just han't got around to it.

pps by the way there is two off peak in sydney rates one that is on between 11pm and 7am and off peak 2 which also comes on about 9am and off around 3pm off peak 2 is billed at a higher rate so if you don't need all that hot water maybe check to see what rate you are on.
a standard hw system has a 4.8 kw element so running that extra 6hr would work out at 4.8*6 = 28.8 KWh a day * 100 days = 2880 KWh a billing period * 10 cents/KWh = $288

cheer's

 

[Doc]

Our winter bill was $762.71
Household of 2 adults, 2 kids.
CRT TV. Projector Hometheatre room. CRT bedroom tv.
Large kitchen fridge,
Kitchen kegorator.
Laundry fridge. Laundry freezer.
2 x shed keg fridges. 1 x shed yeast fridge.
About three laptops continually on.
Dishwasher, Washing machine, HLT Urns for brewing, power tools for building the coolroom.

I think I got away ok.

Doc

 

[brettprevans]

Buy one of these things from jaycar:

Mains Power Meter

Do some tests with it and track down the heavy hitting appliances. You might find it's only a handful of things driving your usage. If you can measure it, you can manage it.

Goats right.
Jaycar has up to 50% off at the moment. these power meteres are cheap as. i just bought 3

 

[InCider]

What else do you do Stow? I live in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and the choppers go past so often they should call this area 'Copperhead Road' :lol:
Where your high electricty bill comes from

 

[Screwtop]

What else do you do Stow? I live in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and the choppers go past so often they should call this area 'Copperhead Road' :lol:
Where your high electricty bill comes from

Bugger increasing costs, if it's not one thing it's another :lol:

 

[Batz]

What else do you do Stow? I live in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and the choppers go past so often they should call this area 'Copperhead Road' :lol:
Where your high electricty bill comes from

We got a problem with them there varmints too Incider

So town decided best way was to get rid of them same as we did the wild dogs,I got myself one this morning!



Batz