Ouchie! Electric bill...

[Duffer]

Probably been discussed somewhere here before, but dang!

Wifee takes care of the bills so I don't know much until she notes to me a jump like this latest one. 2 months @ roughly $450! That's quite high for us for Oct - Nov. Next bill will have Christmas lights on it!!! (We are all electric btw) Biggest bill ever, I believe.

So of course I start assessing in my mind: House is less than 10 yrs old so decent insulation/windows and not all rooms heated. Furnace mostly at 62 degrees / 68 when we are home. Hot tub shut down in Sept. Small heater running real low in travel trailer. Same computers. 1 less TV. It's been flippin COLD this winter! No more showers than normal but some more washer/dryer time due to intermittant visitors. Went from one MH & 4 VHOs on the 50 cube to 2 LED fixtures on the 180. From 2 pumps/2 powerheads/heater/skimmer/1 reactor to 2 bigger pumps/3 bigger powerheads/bigger heater/bigger skimmer/2 reactors PLUS 1 more powerhead/2 more heaters in the water shed. Plus plus now the lil' quarantine tank/heater/skimmer.

Garage lights off but I have a room out there with one small in-wall heater that I've noticed even when turned all the way down STILL comes on if it gets really, really cold! Garage also has a couple box fans running on low all the time because of recent moisture/mold issues.

oh yeah.... AND winter rates!

phew!

 

[Holygral]

small electric heaters still use a ton of electric, get a $20 kill a watt and take a look at all your appliances and what watts and more important the amperage they are using. I use to use 2x250 mh over a 125g with six power heads and a large return pump, and I say it cost me around $25-$35 extra a month. But everything is dependent on your kilowatt prices

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Add insulation and seal leaks, apply window film, turn off unused gadgets, LED upgrades in tank and throughout home, use smallest power demand pumps possible. When it comes to electricity, I am very green (cheap)

 

[Duffer]

Yup! This just got my attention!

 

[NanaReefer]

No where near what your paying but my $80 bill definitely got my attention. 40yr old trailer in the U.P. Means a space heater in almost every room


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

 

[DriftReef]

I ran my tank for 60 dollars. 240watt led and 120 watt led and 3 power head one 250watt heater remora Skimmer and a pump from the sump to the tank.

 

[seedlessinseattle]

Wow at least o won't be crying by myself lol, I have a super small little house shy of 800 sf,and my electric bill was insanely high, 310 dollars are you fragging kidding me, I know I have a bigger tank now, from 75 to 180 but common with these high KW hr rates im thinking about one shower every week is more than enough he he he

 

[Duffer]

Should have an update soon when latest bill comes

 

[afishyguy]

Out here in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. central Texas plains) electricity "ain't cheap." The average electric bill here runs between $250-$300/month. (There is no natural gas supplied to houses here. No, I don't understand it either.) If we can get electricity at $0.17/kwh we are lucky. I am not sure how much it is in the Seattle area but when I left there it usually ran about 1/2 that amount per kwh. A few years back I changed out all of the pumps and the lighting in the 8' tank. I replaced the MH lights with LED's. I replaced the dinosaur pumps with Water Blaster and Bubble Blaster pumps. Both of those use a lot less juice than the Rio's ever thought of using. And, I have not had any issues with them. One was damaged in shipment and was immediately replaced. I replaced the powerbeads with Hydor Evolutions. The great thing about the change is that the chiller runs a lot less than before. YAY! The electric bill dropped almost $40/month. Significant? Not in the grand scheme of things, but it has helped. And, I enjoy the quieter pumps and the loss of heat from the pumps and lights. Well, the heat might be nice this morning. It is 26° and snowing at the moment.

 

[trido]

I pay .09/kwh and my last bill for Dec/Jan was $735. It has been as high as $1000 when I ran 7000 Christmas lights outside one winter. My tank only cost about $50 a month down from $100 to run. The rest is kids, heat, TV's and the list goes on. I switched over half of my house to LED bulbs and went from 1500 down to 325 watts for lighting. I'm curious to see what kind of savings I might end up with from the change.

 

[Duffer]

Quick follow-up

With temps warming some in Jan-Feb, my unplugging the portable heater in the travel trailer and fiddling with the in-wall heater in the garage that wouldn't turn completely OFF (if it got into the 30s the heater would kick on) our 2-month bill went down $50

Guess I'll have to wait for summer weather to really assess our power consumption. It's amazing all the stuff we have 'plugged in'

Besides all of the reef equipment.... the computers, chargers, heating sources, lights, TVs, water heater, fans, and on and on :shock:

 

[kpiotrowski]

I pay .09/kwh and my last bill for Dec/Jan was $735. It has been as high as $1000 when I ran 7000 Christmas lights outside one winter. My tank only cost about $50 a month down from $100 to run. The rest is kids, heat, TV's and the list goes on. I switched over half of my house to LED bulbs and went from 1500 down to 325 watts for lighting. I'm curious to see what kind of savings I might end up with from the change.

Thats alot of beer!

 

[mfinn]

I try and not pay attention to what my tanks add to the monthly electric bill.
But a few months ago after converting my tanks to all leds and removing my chiller, my wife told me the electric bill went down $60 per month.