# how am i doing



## mike3367 (Dec 15, 2004)

just checked the new bill i used 754 kwh for 33 days. i am not sure it that is good or not. i already turn the water heater off when i rember it also all lights are cfl bulbs. this is and all electic house so just wanting to know if that a good number or not


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Just got my electric bill. Last month I used 382 kwh, up just a little bit from last year.


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

Hard to compare kwh usages in different homes, It's best to compare it to your last years bill at this time. My KWH for mid sept to mid oct was 2622, for 29 days up from 1610 for 31 days last year at this time.


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## mike3367 (Dec 15, 2004)

it is down about 700 kwh from last year, the bill had 819 kwh on it last month


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi Mike,

The US average is about 1000 KWH per month, but lots of variation.

We took ours down from about 1100 to about 600, but I think we can do better. The people who owned the house before us used much more.

This is what we did -- maybe some ideas you can use:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Half/ProjectsConservation.htm

I got a note from someone today saying they put all of their battery tool chargers on a power strip and plug the power strip into a timer that only turns it on for an hour a day -- seems like a good idea.

Getting a Kill-A-Watt to find out what's using power really helps.

Gary


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Ours is usually 100 to 150 kw-hrs per month, but we also generate about 200 to 250 a month with wind and solar, with our total usage usaully around 300 to 350 per month. We have our own well, forced air wood furnace, 2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, shop with lots of tools, etc.

I never could understand how someone could use 3 or 4 times what we use, or even more, unless they have some kind of wasteful habits that I am not aware of.


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## vallyfarm (Oct 24, 2006)

Mine runs at around 350 a month. All Energy Star appliances and almost all CFL's. Mike


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

SolarGary said:


> Hi Mike,
> 
> The US average is about 1000 KWH per month, but lots of variation.
> 
> ...



Thanks for all of the great tips on your site. I've got a question about the cfl bulbs. Is there one bulb brand you would recommend over another? I bought a bunch of the ones at the local walmart or sams and I had some that lasted just a few months. Then I tried to call the number for warranty and as I recall it was more time consuming than the bulb was worth. Just wondering if there are higher quality bulbs available out there?


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

WisJim said:


> Ours is usually 100 to 150 kw-hrs per month, but we also generate about 200 to 250 a month with wind and solar, with our total usage usaully around 300 to 350 per month. We have our own well, forced air wood furnace, 2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, shop with lots of tools, etc.
> 
> I never could understand how someone could use 3 or 4 times what we use, or even more, unless they have some kind of wasteful habits that I am not aware of.


Is it just you and your wife consuming 350 kwh/month? To explain my 2200 kwh/month, 2200 square ft house with five kids, 4 computers, 3 for homeschooling, 2 fridge, 2 freezers, heat pump/air conditioner with circulating fan running 24/7 during the cooling season, milking equiptment in the barn including a chiller, used twice a day for ten months. If wife worked outside the home, and kids hauled off to school, and we had no animals to milk, I think I could easily cut ours to 350 kwh. Thanks to Solar Gary's info, I am going to see where I can save, and it would be great to run the barn on solar power, but that's another project for the future.


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## mike3367 (Dec 15, 2004)

i got all new appliances and all cfl's i guess cooking on the stove and water heater and the 2 computers on 6 hours a day must be the draw. im not sure how to cut anything else down. i already got 15 inches on blow insulation in the attic, i turn every thing off with the power strips or unplug them, turn on the water heater at 7 or so pm and turn it off around 10:30. at night the front porch lite is on it a cfl 13 watter and i have a fan that i have to have for the noise on. im not sure what else i can do to conserve eneregy at this point. i do wash on the weekend though i guessing that where most my power goes the washer dryer are older and probably use up most the kwh im seeing


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

mdharris68 said:


> Thanks for all of the great tips on your site. I've got a question about the cfl bulbs. Is there one bulb brand you would recommend over another? I bought a bunch of the ones at the local walmart or sams and I had some that lasted just a few months. Then I tried to call the number for warranty and as I recall it was more time consuming than the bulb was worth. Just wondering if there are higher quality bulbs available out there?


We have been buying ours a Costco (similar to Sam's I think) -- they seem to have their own brand of CFLs.
The price has been very good.
The performance has been fine from a light quality and startup time point of view, but we had a couple early failures as well.
Costco is pretty much no questions asked on returns -- so, I think they would be OK with returns where you don't have receipts etc.

Gary


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

The biggest problem I've had with CFLs is them being broken in the box. Some packs you can see each bulb - but some are just a brick of individual cardboard boxs - which are the worst. If you're buying them in a box, give them a light shake and listen for broken glass.


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

mdharris68 said:


> Thanks for all of the great tips on your site. I've got a question about the cfl bulbs. Is there one bulb brand you would recommend over another? I bought a bunch of the ones at the local walmart or sams and I had some that lasted just a few months. Then I tried to call the number for warranty and as I recall it was more time consuming than the bulb was worth. Just wondering if there are higher quality bulbs available out there?



We were just down at Costco, and they are doing a $13.50 immediate rebate on their $18 6 packs of CFL spotlight bulbs. Works out to 73 cents a bulb.
These spots are the type usually used in the recessed can type fixtures.
What a deal 

Gary


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

mdharris68 said:


> Is it just you and your wife consuming 350 kwh/month? QUOTE]
> 
> There are 3 to 6 adults living in our house. We feel that insulation and shade replace airconditioning, and our sons grew up using less electricity than we use now, back when they were all home as they were all homeschooled, too. One son has moved back home, and the other 2 spend a lot of time here, along with other family and friends. I checked our actual consumption for last month, and it is less than I had remembered, so 350kw-hrs is a high consumption month for us.
> 
> We have made conscious choices over the last 30+ years to use less energy, in appliances, tool choices, methods of working, house design, construction and remodeling, and in most things that we spend money on or spend time doing. It does take a lot of time and effort to figure out what really works, and how to do things to use less energy.


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

WisJim said:


> mdharris68 said:
> 
> 
> > Is it just you and your wife consuming 350 kwh/month? QUOTE]
> ...


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## Kevingr (Mar 10, 2006)

We typically use around 1200kwh/mo. Electric dryer, 2 computers used 8+ hours/day and 1 that never shuts down, outside security lighting, in the summer two air conditioners, in the winter water heaters for horse, chickens and rabbits, summer time there's the pump for the pool, well pump year 'round, pump on the boiler in the winter, kids home all day with multiple T.V.'s, VCR's DVD players, play stations, FAX machine on all the time, printer and it goes on and on. I love it when the power goes out, I know I'm saving money then!


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

Well, Mike, in Hawaii your electric bill would have been $294.06 last month and Kevin's would be around $468. Electricity runs about .39 cents a KWH around here and the electric company got another price increase approved but it isn't in place yet. We are completely off the grid yet invested in the electric company so they pay us rather nice dividends.  

I haven't a clue what our KWH usage is, though. The lights are all CFLs and the refrigerator is electric. There is the aquarium pump on all the time, loads of computer usage, the washing machine (we hang the laundry to dry), assorted power tools but no electric water heating and no electric heating devices at all. No A/C and no house heat though.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

My last bill for electricity show that I used 178 KWH for 29 days. I have several standby ghost loads that could be eliminated such as television, VCR, DVD player, and stereo amplifier that could be shut off to save even more. I also have a dusk to dawn outdoor yard light. I noticed the other evening that I have been lax in the defrosting department and my refrigerator needs it. 

While my usage is lower than yours it doesn't mean that yous isn't already as low as it could be for the number in the household and the various loads you have.


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## crafty2002 (Aug 23, 2006)

mike3367 said:


> i got all new appliances and all cfl's i guess cooking on the stove and water heater and the 2 computers on 6 hours a day must be the draw. im not sure how to cut anything else down. i already got 15 inches on blow insulation in the attic, i turn every thing off with the power strips or unplug them, turn on the water heater at 7 or so pm and turn it off around 10:30. at night the front porch lite is on it a cfl 13 watter and i have a fan that i have to have for the noise on. im not sure what else i can do to conserve eneregy at this point. i do wash on the weekend though i guessing that where most my power goes the washer dryer are older and probably use up most the kwh im seeing


Mike you can save more by putting a water heater jacket on the hat water heater and turning the thermostat down 10 or 15* and leaving it on 24/7. In most cased it cost more to re heat the water than it does just to keep it heated. IMHO
Dennis


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