Power Bill

[stowaway]

I think i have an extremely high power bill and I cant figure out why.
My bill is normally $700 a quarter. I expect it to be high as i have 5 people living here with lots of appliances but that seems really high (we never use heating/airconditioning)

we have:
1 fermenting frdige (stays around 14degrees)
1 Chest freezer converted to beer fridge
2 Normal Upright fridges
1 Chest Freezer
1 Mediacenter Computer on most of the time
1 Computer On most of the time
46" LCD TV (Seems to be on most of the time)

Thats about it... whats everyone elses average quarterly power bill?

 

[proudscum]

$645 with 2 pcs
2 fridges
2 small children lots of washing and with the amount of rain this spring/winter a fare amount of dryer time.


gas heating hot water and stove top.

life has just got expensive in Australia thats all it is.

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

4 ceiling fans never off
2 wall fans never off
1 tuckerbox freeser
3 beer fridges
1 large food fridge
1 double door fermenting fridge
1 80lt Engel running as fresser
3 laptops never off
1 presure pump for water
small electric oven
usual phone charges ,dvd,settop box ect never off

about $530 a quater ..

just waiting for this latest bill as I have not brewed at all , so no ferm fridge, and 1 less beer fridge , should be interesting ..

cheers

Edit: forgot the washing and dryer..we try to only use the dryer for finishing off after the washing has hung for a day in the brewery...

 

[husky]

$600 a quarter. small house, 2 kids under 2, 2 fridges. Seems to keep going up so we had 1.5kW solar installed. Gives up 10kWh of the average 26kWh we use per day atm(thats a full sun day). Not making much difference to the power bill yet but once the meter is upgraded and we start getting the 66c per kWh we put into the grid it should reduce the bill a bit.

 

[chadjaja]

About $280-300 for two of us

 

[Pennywise]

Holy ****! I thought I had it bad, I have about the same amount of crap as you blokes and my bill is around the 350 mark a quater currently. About 3 years ago it was half that at least, and my power usage since then has not doubled <_<

 

[felten]

I've been thinking about getting one of those power meters for testing the fermenting fridge, those old fridges are power hogs I'm sure, especially when you're trying to CC @ 0c on a hot day.

something like this http://www.latestbuy.com.au/digital-power-meter.html

 

[Shed101]

$264 including 100% green power (would be $200 without).

That's for two people who both work from home.

Likewise we have no heating or cooling:

But only a small fermenting fridge,
a fairly small f/freezer,
old school TV (the most efficient),
washing machine on timesaver 2-3 / week,
low energy light bulbs,
2 Macs which are turned off whenever not in use,

CPUs use a surprisingly large amount of energy even when on sleep mode ... and manufacturers claims are often wrong. In the US companies have been prosecuted for false energy claims ... but over here apparently they're capable of regulating themselves :lol:

 

[Woola]

I've been thinking about getting one of those power meters for testing the fermenting fridge, those old fridges are power hogs I'm sure, especially when you're trying to CC @ 0c on a hot day.

something like this http://www.latestbuy.com.au/digital-power-meter.html

Felton,

i bought one of these at jaycar for $20. The display can be a little hard to read, but it was interesting

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?I...mp;form=KEYWORD

 

[Arghonaut]

Two adults + one toddler,

1x 470L Fridge
1x approx 400 litre chest freezer + temp controller for fermenting
1x computer on 4-5 hours a day
1x laptop on 4-5 hours a day
1x dishwasher, avg one load a day
1x washing machine, avg one load a day
1x 32" LCD tele, 1-2 hours a day
all the usual kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaner etc.
energy efficient lights.

Averages 5kWh a day. Just took care to get efficient appliances across the board, with gas hot water & gas stove.

Run on a stand alone 1.8kW solar system with 750 AH @ 48v battery bank and 3000 watt inverter. Was designed to provide an average of 5kWh a day over a year, gives closer to 6 in reality. I have a back up generator that i have to run 3 -4 times a year, if the batteries get low due to extended bad weather.

 

[QldKev]

I've been thinking about getting one of those power meters for testing the fermenting fridge, those old fridges are power hogs I'm sure, especially when you're trying to CC @ 0c on a hot day.

something like this http://www.latestbuy.com.au/digital-power-meter.html

Looks like one of these, but a few $ different :lol:

QldKev

edit: doh!, I should have read to the end of the topic, already posted

 

[yardy]

ours is average 600 a qtr, running 2 fridges, 1 kegerator, ******* pool that no-one uses, bore pump that gets a flogging and the shed that i constantly leave the lights on all the time so the cane toads can get around OK.

Dave

 

[Bribie G]

Kitchen Fridge
big old upside down fridge freezer in garage
wee bar fridge dedicated to lager brewing
Keg mate kegerator
2 urns weekly brew

All electric kitchen
desktop computer on all day
42 inch LCD on most of the day

All lights modern curly variety or flouros
Rarely use heating or cooling.

2 people, Hot water on offpeak.

Around $320 p.q. and the last bill covered the competition circuit brewing frenzy - oops should have noted I get the old farts rebate and don't pay the ambulance levy so would be maybe $400 gross.

 

[seemax]

Latest was $450... 2 adults and 2 kids

Mac + Tivo and assortment of network gear on 24/7
50" Plasma on too much
3 x fridges + 1 x fermenting
Dryer/washer
Too many downlights that no one else but me turns off!
20A A/C unit used for heating and cooling

Can't complain too much, even the gas bill was only $200 (water + stove)!!

 

[white.grant]

Electricity looks to be a hell of a lot cheaper in Queensland and Victoria than it is in NSW. My bill went up last quarter by about $150 while the daily household usage went down. Thank you IPART, thank you very much.

Since that bill we have been very conscious about trying to save a few more Kwh - turning off the puters overnight, switching the TVs off at the wall and generally tight wadding on lights. Next step will be solar hot water and possibly a solar panel or 14.

cheers

grant

 

[djneli]

800 per qtr:

Pool filter
2 food fridges
2 beer fridges
1 fermenting fridge
All electric brewery
2 computers
2 plasma TVs
3 people

 

[TidalPete]

1 x 300 litre kitchen fridge
1 x 220 litre kitchen chestie
Electric stove, microwave, dishwasher, etc
2 x fermentation fridges (1 large, 1 small)
1 x 250 litre chestie
1 x 500 litre kegerator (chestie)
HERMS brewing away almost every 2nd week
Computer on most of the day
Bore pump doing something for hours most days
2 x Plasma TV's get a lot of use
Normal lighting usage
Washing machine on most mornings
Ceiling fans going like the clappers all summer

1 x 3.6Kh new solar system that has brought our electricity bills down to SFA. :super:

TP

 

[MarkBastard]

About $250 a quarter. Cooking and hot water is gas.

I run a lot of electronic stuff too.

To be specific, this is what I have running.

1 - Large family fridge
2 - Converted chest freezer (275L)
3 - Two bar fridges running at fermenting or lagering temps 24/7
4 - A NAS (like a PC) 24/7
5 - Laptop acting as server 24/7
6 - Media Centre PC 24/7
7 - Three LCD TV's though rarely more than one on at the same time
8 - 4 fans and 4 air cons though not often used
9 - Laptops, chargers, ipod docks and stuff like that used fairly regularly
10 - Urn with 2400 watt element used every couple of weeks for a few hours
11 - Oven, microwave, toaster, dishwasher, washing machine
12 - Clothes dryer used for drying clothes. Don't have a clothes line.

I can't understand how it's even possible to have a $600 electricity bill.

Hmm forgot modems, routers, the fact I have those wasteful 12v downlights and the wife likes leaving lights on!!! Automatic garage door! The list goes on.

 

[goomboogo]

TidalPete, if you don't mind me asking, how much was the 3.6kw system?

 

[TidalPete]

TidalPete, if you don't mind me asking, how much was the 3.6kw system?

With government subsidies & a big discount from Solar Shop just under $16000.
Just hoping I live long enough to get my money back.
A good place to get info on a decent solar system is the Whirlpool Forums.

TP