Electricity Bill?

[jenr]

Hi girls
Nicoles power bill is $250 for 3 months? There are 2 of them in a small 2 bedroom unit the last 3 months hardly used the AC they use washing machine a fair bit but do you think that is expensive I tried to compare with mine but we have a lot more appliances?

[Stormy]

Have they opted to use a % of green power?? Our company has done it free for the past 3 months but after another 3 months, we will pay a surcharge. :yes:

I go by kilowatt hours rather than the actual price....do you know what their usage was? Also a huge surge in a power bill might indicate a problem with the hot water system heating up if you have not changed your pattern of usage from the previous bill. :dk:

[Mad Old Cow]

Jen i really think thats reasonable my DD lives on her own with her DS every second week & hers is much more then Nicoles DH daughter has a bill or around $600 + but she has 4 liitle kids & DS has 2 kids & theirs is up around the $500

[zen]

there's only two of us here as well, altho it's a house, not a flat... we think $250 is a low bill... :D

do they have an old fridge? that can take a fair bit.. do they have long showers? :) do they use a dryer? is it an old one?

[ezmay]

It seems a little high to me as we pay between $100 and $180 depending on the seasons etc. If its unusually high call the company and ask them about it. They will be able to tell you if its anything to worry about and maybe suggest thing that might be the reason for the sudden hike.

[jenr]

OI Nicole!
I told you there will be some advice for you here!LMAO
Ring Ergon and see what they say compare your kilowatts used to last bill and see if they are higher or lower?

[kezabelle]

You girls have made me feel much better - ours is always around the $500-600 mark, but I blame the pool, especially considering I go out of my way to turn things off and not use power if I don't have to. Problem is the weather and a house of 6... need to use the dryer far more than I'd like :)

[~Sundance~]

Our last one was $555. I have just put in to change over to Origin at my next meter reading, who my sister said has near halved her bill!

kezabelle, that is a fantastic bill for having a pool! If I'm correct, a pool makes up about 1/2 of a leco bill.

[Alexa]

Gee mine is only $113.00 for 3 months worth and I thought that was high. I don't have a pool or air con but I do have hot showers and my dryer. :headh:

[Stormy]

Just had a look at our average and it is about $225 and that is just for the two of us. We don't use electricity for hot water either (solar power only) so I would think that a lot of it is chewed up by our computers. :blush:

[miss kiki]

i too think it's reasonable and fairly cheap. i think we pay more than that for 3 months! :yes:

[kezabelle]

Really sundance? that's good to know. on the farm we paid a rural rate and our bills wer $600-700 which really annoyed me as we didn't use a dryer, had gas heating and fire places and again, i always switched things off. I wouldn't have minded a fee for being out of town, but to have a higher rate... and everyone in town with dryers and heaters were between $100 and $200.

Does anyone know what is considered average usage?

[~Sundance~]

Yep it's funny isn't it... you live rural (in my case I was out in the bush) have open fires & use them to dry clothes, yet the leco bill always went up in winter! :blink: Yet when I lived in the burbs, I used the dryer all the time, and the highest leco bill we had with three babies was $200! Makes you wonder.

[Rachel]

Our last electricity bill was $103 for 2 months, I refuse to use a dryer (because I don't want to become reliant on it :hehe: ) we run 2 fridges though but have all energy saving lightbulbs and our hot water and heating is gas.

[kezabelle]

I refuse to use a dryer (because I don't want to become reliant on it :hehe: )

I wish I could become reliant on it! LMAO Can't justify it though - far too much washing...

[Rachel]

I have been offered 2 dryers as we don't have one and I politely declined both offers... We don't get that much rain that I can warrant having one and we have a wonderful old hills hoist in my back yard.. I know I would end up using it too much if I had one! :hehe:

[Patricia]

We are rural and our average bill is around $280-$300 every 3 months. We have everything electric, no gas at all. We use the air conditioner every day and night in summer due to Cal's health problems but very rarely do we turn the heater on.

I could count on one hand the amount of times in the last 5 years that I have turned the dryer on but I do use my electric blanket almost every single night of the year for pain relief.

[lucyloo]

Our electricity bill for the last 3 months was $700. We are a family of 5, we have a pool and spa, a waterbed, dryer, dishwasher, air conditioning, fish tank and 2 computers. Our hot water is on off peak. It fluctuates over the year, this is probably the dearest it gets and goes down to around $300 around the spring months...

[Night Crawler]

Oh my, some of you are more lucky than you realize. Ours is $153.00 per month on an equal payment plan (total cost divided by 12) and that's for two people, 4 pets, electric heat and a small townhouse with zero A/C (well, fans in summer)! Add that to our outrageous rent and it's a wonder we can still by food!

[kezabelle]

yet another reason to move to Queensland girls - seems everything is cheaper there... :)

[susiq]

Mine is about $500 a quarter. There are 4 of us and we have a pool, plus air-con. I try not to use the dryer but when the weather just won't let up, I give in!

I get sick of the house looking like a Chinese laundry too!

[Di Nana]

Our power is about $200,00 a month in NZ in the peak of winter it is nothing for ones to have a $400.00 a month bill ,
but we don't have to pay for water (YET)

[Stormy]

My house always looks like a chinese laundry with the two clothes airers out most of the time. They tend to dry quicker indoors than outside on the line - mainly because dear one put the clothes line out of sight. Pity it is also out of the sun (only gets about an hour in the morning) and not in a prevailing wind spot either - so nothing dries!. :roll:

[amyamz]

B/F and i just moved into a 3 bedroom place and we have auroa pay as you go power and in about 9 weeks we have used about $150.00

[Heather]

I don't feel bad about my bill any more ( an all electric house)......my friends copied their last quarters account for me and I have it pinned to the notice board in the office.....oh it was ....turning around to check.....$1239.48.

[zen]

wow! that's beaten any of our large bills hands down! good grief!! i think i'll feel good about ours from now on as well.

[Stormy]

That is ridiculous! :O

[mel35]

I don't feel bad about my bill any more ( an all electric house)......my friends copied their last quarters account for me and I have it pinned to the notice board in the office.....oh it was ....turning around to check.....$1239.48.

That is insane:blink: I don't even pay that much for a year and there are 7 of us. Ours is usually about $150 to $200 and the winter bill about $250

[Mesmereyes]

Our power bill is around 6 to 7 hundred, yep we have a pool, and a spa, and 2 many tvs LMAO

[kezabelle]

heather - would that be due to reversre cycle air con going 24/7? A friend of mine has bills like that too :)

[Stormy]

Cripes, haven't they heard of putting on a jumper?? :blink:

http://www.allforwomen.com.au/forums/picture.php?albumid=4&pictureid=153

[Night Crawler]

Sooobbb...I just did that math and mine totals up to over $1800 this year...wish I hadn't pulled out that damn calculator. The hoter water thing is a real killer and is why ours is so high right now. Where I am, the hydro company calculates your total usage on the anniversary of your hook-up, then tells you how much your new equal-payment plans will be for the next 12 months. While the rate goes up every year, ours is so bad because our hot water tank had been leaking for months, unknown to us until it actually died a wet, messy death. Next year it will go down between $20 and $40 per month, or at least we hope so!

:uhno: :uhno: :uhno:

[~Sundance~]

Mel- who are you guys with? (If you don't mind me asking). That is a really low bill compared to us (I have 7 here too).

[LoveMyFamily]

Well, mine was $120 last time which was high but I had been using the dryer and had people here. Normally it's between $70 and $90 for the 3 months. We have gas though and that's gone up in price. We have gas cooking and hot water and the reason that's so high ($150 for 4 months) is because of the hot water. It's in the big container and it keeps burning 24/7 to keep the water hot constantly but we only use it to have a shower which is once a day and to do the dishes, once or twice a day so I'm switching that over soon to the new tanks. They heat as you use it so cut the cost drastically. We don't have an airconditioner and use energy saver lights and turn everything off at the wall every night so our power bill should go down now that we're back to just the 2 of us.:D

[mel35]

Mel- who are you guys with? (If you don't mind me asking). That is a really low bill compared to us (I have 7 here too).

We are with Integral Energy, also we don't have a dryer, air con, or pool which helps.:D

Our hot water heats up overnight and once its gone for the day its gone -off peak I think it says on the bill.

[Heather]

heather - would that be due to reversre cycle air con going 24/7? A friend of mine has bills like that too :)

Yes.....with doors and windows open as well due the the little darlings. There are 7 computers or laptops for the 5 of them also 24/7....3 ginormous Plasma screens with either a Playstation, XBox, Wii game on, or a movie, or just the TV going on if anyone is home....a large tropical fishtank, an outdoor Spa, a security system and CCV(is that what it is called) and everything that opens and shuts electronically.
And this from people who recycle, compost and consider themselves Eco warriors.
Just as well I love them all. :P

[zen]

eco warriors... lol! they should look into solar panels... :)

[redrobyn]

I have all electric home my electricity bill is between $350 and $ 400 don't have a gas bill as when I first moved here there was only L.P.G. the natural gas is here now but we can't afford to change over our appliances at the moment, we have reverse cycle heating and cooler it's the inverter system not too bad has power saver, the worst is the hot water there's 4 of us living here so I don't think that's too bad for one bill.
We have 2 computers, one playstation, 2 t.v's. and just the usual appliances, no dryer used to have one years ago don't bother with one now.

[LoveMyFamily]

Well mine is low I guess as we don't have all that much running. The microwave, fridge and my alarm clock are the only things running 24/7. The microwave is the only clock other than the alarm clock in my bedroom otherwise that would be turned off at the wall each night also. We have one tv and it's just a normal $200 one, and pay tv is hooked up also and a 2-in-one video and dvd player. All these are turned off at the wall at night and when we're out. The cd player is only plugged in when the tv is unplugged but it's only a small one. Pretty much everything else is off at night and we use the washing machine 3 times a week and the dryer is only used very rarely. We don't have a dishwasher. I have a laptop and no other computer, no games machines, my daughter has no electrical toys, just a couple of battery operated dinosaurs the rest are just normal kids toys that don't turn on and do anything special. No pool or anything either of course and energy saver lights through the house. I think the bill was high last time also because my brother was visiting here with his music gear, so he had amps and electric guitars plugged in and large speakers too. But he only visits from time to time so it's not too bad. To me, if I got even a $200 bill I'd freak out and not know how it's going to be paid!