A Shocker of an Electric Bill: How and Why and What To Do About It

Electric Meter By Angel Aharum CC-BY-SA-3.0  via Wikimedia Commons

 I got my first electric bill and went immediately into sticker shock, but I know it will go down in months to come, and my houseguest is going to help me pay half of it, so that's a good thing. I've already saved money by getting a smaller garbage container from the city. I can't believe they charge the homeowner for garbage pickup here. In Sarasota county, garbage is paid in your taxes, and it isn't nearly as expensive as here. Of course, I suppose that cost gets passed along in the rent.

Some of the reasons the bill was so high are: 

• Temperatures - It has been extremely hot and humid ever since I have been here. We have had temperatures well into the 90s and heat indexes of over 100 F most days. Keeping an old house cool in those temperatures is expensive.
• Old A/C Units - Two of my window A/C units need to be replaced. One is just decrepit and the other has a broken touchpad, so I can't adjust the temperature upward unless it feel like letting me. When I got here, it was stuck on 72 for days, until I finally got it to change. Then it got stuck on 76 for days. Since this is the hottest room in the house during the day, it stands to reason that a faulty a/c would run up the bill. My landlord says he is going to put in central heat and air by next year, so that is something to look forward to. Still, it's getting cooler, so these old units shouldn't be a problem much longer.
• A Houseguest - I had a houseguest for most of the month of August who kept he opposite hours I did, thus, the power was being used 24/7. Plus, he is a videographer, and his computer sucks up a lot of power. He says he has estimated that it can cost $50 a month to run. He's gone now, and without him here, I hardly use any power at all. In fact, the rooms are bright, so I don't even turn on lights during the day.
• No Small Appliances - For most of the month, I had no microwave, toaster oven or coffee maker, and I discovered a crack in my crockpot so I couldn't use that. Everything had to be cooked on the very old, very inefficient kitchen stove.
• Water Leaks and Faulty Hot Water Heater - My landlord does not want to fix the water leaks and hot water heater that are costing me money. The water part of my bill was around $40, and I know at least part of that was because of the water leaks. Part of the high electric bill was because I have to run straight hot water in the shower, and use almost all of what is in the tank every time I shower. I am trying to capture most of the leaky water and reuse it, but there is one leak that I can't do that with, so it has to be repaired.

These are the changes I intend to make to bring the bill down. Not having but one person in the house will help tremendously.

• Move Into the Back Bedroom - The back bedroom has the only A/C that works properly. It still has a lot of nice light in it, so until it gets cooler, moving in there will allow me to shut off the front bedroom and only use it for storage for the time being, which means one less a/c running 24/7.
• Eat More Raw Food - It's been hard to get up and back to the store in this heat, but it's cooling a little, so walking there every day for fresh fruits and veggies will be my new exercise plan. Not having to cook as much will definitely bring the bill down.
• Buy Small Appliances - As soon as is humanly possible, I am going to get a coffee maker, toaster oven and crockpot. Using the smaller 110 appliances instead of having to turn on the 220 stove and oven when I want to cook something will save considerable energy.
• Get the Water Leaks and Hot Water Heater Fixed - I will likely have to employ the nuclear option again, by mailing my landlord a 7-day notice to repair and withholding my rent monies until the leaks are fixed, but that is my legal right, so that's what I'm going to do. In the meantime, to save hot water, I will just take fewer, shorter showers. My mother had a phobia of showers and was unable to get in and out of the bathtub, so she sponge bathed every morning of her life, and washed her hair in the kitchen sink. She was always so clean and sweet smellling. If I have to do that until I can get my landlord in line, so be it.
• Utilize the Rain Barrel - For my gardening, I have a rain barrel which is providing me with most of the water needed for my plants right now, with all this rain. I want to get one more for the other side of the house at least. I willl eventually have 4 or maybe even more, because there is a lot of rain to be caught, and I'm losing a lot of it out of the overflow. I'm thnking of buying some plain old garbage pails to catch more until I can get proper rain barrels. With the dry season coming up, there is no use in making that large investment now.

So that is the plan to bring the utility bills down. We're going into fall, which is a great time to open the windows and turn off the A/C, so that will help a bit, but then winter comes and the heat goes on. I'm not sure this old heater is going to be good for this house, so I'll have to look into some heating alternatives.

All in all, I still love the house. Some of the very loud neighbors -- not so much -- but the house and yard are great.