Have you ever looked at your utility bill and said “My bill is too high!”? Maybe you thought your meter wasn’t working correctly or there was no way you used that much electricity. When you call us we look at several areas before we can decide if something is wrong.
If your meter is not working properly, it usually is going to rotate slower rather than faster. Most of the time we discover the problem to be when a customer does not get a meter reading to us in time for their billing the month before. If a meter reading is called in the next month there is a good chance that the usage will be higher for that month than the previous month when it was estimated.
Knowing how much electricity your appliances use will help you understand how much your usage should be in a typical month. Go to the “electrical usage in the home” link to find out how much electricity the appliances in your home use. In general, a family of four can use between 70 and 80 kilowatt hours a day. If you have electric heat, you could use quite a bit more. This may vary depending on your lifestyle, home type, home size, insulation value, and outside weather conditions.
Have you gone on vacation and thought you would save money on your electric bill that month, only to be surprised when you get your next statement? Many of the appliances we have in our house continue to run as normal when we are not home.
If you have an automatic thermostat, which does save you money, don’t forget to reprogram it before you leave otherwise your system will operate as normal.
Your water heater will run just to keep the water at the temperature you want. If you turn the breaker off on your electric water heater when on vacation, this will save you money.
Most households have several electronic devices these days. One device by itself doesn’t use much electricity, but if you have several it can begin to add up. As long as they are plugged in to a receptacle they will be using electricity, and it can be surprising how much.
