52 replies to this topic

[MRT]

Our home is 3200 sq feet with a pool and hot tub. We had our worst bill this month at $638. Usually, it's is around $275. We usually receive a high bill in the summer; one in the winter and then it tapers off. We do not set our HVAC below 79 in the day and 81 at night and still this bill was the worst!

[555]

Just remember when comparing Folsom to EDH...

In EDH, PG&E provides the gas AND electric.

In Folsom, it's SMUD and PG&E.

So to really compare, look at the same size house with similar set-up and do the math. Just remember to add the SMUD bill with the Folsom #.

I used to live in Folsom and then moved to EDH. It is more in EDH, but not THAT much more...

A friend of mine just got their PG & E bill (they live in El Dorado Hills). $900. Seriously. $900. I played with the numbers and figured that we would have paid $350 for the same usage. Same situation, living in Folsom, I would have paid $550 less. That is HUGE!!!!

[seriesrover]

We're in EDH and have just over 3000 sqf - our PG&E bills are much lighter than many report here - probably average $150 - $200 / month max.

But then we don't have our AC going on full blast and instead open up the windows to let in the fresh air. If I wanted my house to feel like Alaska I'd move there.

Peter

[burritos_mom]

My parents have the same problem as you. They live in Serrano and in the summer they only run the AC after they get off work (usually 6 pm). There house is about 4000 sq ft and they have a pool (solar heat) and a spa. In the summer there bills are still close to $700. So insane to me! I guess if you can afford a million dollar house they probably assume you can pay the $700. What a rip!

[Bill Z]

My parents have the same problem as you. They live in Serrano and in the summer they only run the AC after they get off work (usually 6 pm). There house is about 4000 sq ft and they have a pool (solar heat) and a spa. In the summer there bills are still close to $700. So insane to me! I guess if you can afford a million dollar house they probably assume you can pay the $700. What a rip!

Are they heating their pool as well.

My largest SMUD bill this summer was the August bill I just got which was $111, for those who feel this doesn't tell the whole story, I had a whopping $12 gas bill from PG&E.

Bottom line, if you have a 2-story and want to keep the upstairs cool, you are going to pay.

If you have a pool where the pump runs 24/7, you are going to pay.

If you have an electric hot tub and like to soak at 104 degrees to relax those aching muscles, you are going to pay.

If you have large bay windows facing south, you are going to pay.

If you have a large family and are washing and drying clothes 3 or more days a week, you are going to pay.

[Stitch]

My parents have the same problem as you. They live in Serrano and in the summer they only run the AC after they get off work (usually 6 pm). There house is about 4000 sq ft and they have a pool (solar heat) and a spa. In the summer there bills are still close to $700. So insane to me! I guess if you can afford a million dollar house they probably assume you can pay the $700. What a rip!

We set ours to 80 during the day, AC lowers to 77 after 430pm. At night we leave the windows open for fresh cool air so house is normally 70-73 in the morning.

Anyone know what method is better - bump temp setting to 80-84 during day when no one is home and then 72-78 after work or is it better to maintain a closer range like 78-80 day and 72-77 after work?

[cw68]

here is a little background. remember they went through divestiture about 8 years ago.


In the post war era, PG&E went on a massive building spree, creating 14 new hydroelectric plants and 5 steam plants.

As of December 1992, PG&E operated 173 electric generating units and 85 generating stations, 18,450 miles (29,690 km) of transmission lines and 101,400 miles (163,200 km) of distribution system.

In the later 1990s, under electricity market deregulation this utility sold off most of its natural gas power plants. The utility retained all of its hydroelectric plants, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant and a few natural gas plants, but the large natural gas plants it sold made up a large portion of its generating capacity. This had the effect of requiring the utility to buy power from the energy generators at fluctuating prices, while being forced to sell the power to consumers at a fixed cost. However, the market for electricity was dominated by the Enron Corporation, which, with help from other corporations, artificially pushed prices for electricity ever higher. This led to the California electricity crisis that began in 2000 on Path 15, a transmission corridor PG&E built.

With a critical power shortage, rolling blackouts began on January 17, 2001.

With little generating capacity of its own, and unable to sell electricity to consumers for more than it could buy it on the open market, PG&E was forced to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 6, 2001. The State of California bailed out the utility, the cost of which worsened an already bad state budget situation. This played an important part in the eventual recall of California Governor Gray Davis.

PG&E emerged from bankruptcy in April 2004, after distributing $10.2 billion to hundreds of creditors. Its 4.8 million electricity customers are expected to pay an average $1,300 to $1,700 each in above-market prices through 2012.

PG&E was one of the most profitable companies on the Fortune 500 list for 2005 with $4.5 billion in profits out of $11 billion in revenue.

It's important to disclose that another major reasons we have a power shortage is the major increase in power demand from both residential and business consumers. This is true for PG&E, SMUD, Sempra, etc.

[cw68]

Checking your HVAC system for leaks is one of the best things you can do to figure out how to cut your electric usage.

Also, don't leave your computer on when you're not using it! Turn it off!!

Typical Example - Having shut down the computer after eight hours of normal use, the remaining components still used 52 watts of power. Since my UPS used 16 watts and needed to stay on, the power wasted by the peripherals in the background was 36 watts. This is almost equivalent to having three 13 watt CFL powered lamps turned on.

If a computer system is normally inactive for the remaining 16 hours of the day, the average waste for the year by leaving the peripheral devices running would be 36 watts x 16 hours x 365 days = 210,240 watts per year. We divide this by 1000 to get 210.24 KWH (kilowatt hours). At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $29.43 would be realized.

Extreme Example - If, after using the computer system for the average eight hour period of the day, you failed to shut down the entire computer system half the time, the total wasted power and associated costs would be: 171 total watts - 16 watts used by UPS = 155 wasted watts x 16 hours x 182 days = 451,360 watts. We divide this by 1000 to get a total of 451.4 kilowatt hours wasted by leaving your computer system on half of the time when you should have shut it down.

Meanwhile, even when the computer system was turned off, if the peripherals are not shut off as portrayed in the previous example, we add 105 KWH which is in half the total of KWH from the 'typical example' detailed above, for a total of 556.52 wasted KWH. At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $77.91 would be realized.

Also, put your computer monitor to black when sleeping instead of a running screen saver. Put your components on a power strip and turn it off when you're done with the computer to keep it from draining power. You can do this with your TV, too, because TVs, especially flat screen ones, suck a lot of energy while turned "off." I have my stereo and TV on a power strip that I turn off when I leave town and when I remember at night. I don't have my cable box hooked up to it because it has to go through rebooting every time and then it doesn't tape my shows either.

[FolsomFrogGuy]

Are they heating their pool as well.

My largest SMUD bill this summer was the August bill I just got which was $111, for those who feel this doesn't tell the whole story, I had a whopping $12 gas bill from PG&E.

Bottom line, if you have a 2-story and want to keep the upstairs cool, you are going to pay.

If you have a pool where the pump runs 24/7, you are going to pay.

If you have an electric hot tub and like to soak at 104 degrees to relax those aching muscles, you are going to pay.

If you have large bay windows facing south, you are going to pay.

If you have a large family and are washing and drying clothes 3 or more days a week, you are going to pay.

Although I still need to check the average daily high temperature from last August, the installation of my whole house fan this spring may have saved me about $2 per day for August. As an added note, we have one extra adult living with us full time, meaning more NRG usage during business hours; so perhaps we saved even more... I'm guessing it'll be a while before I get that investment back!

[Howdy]

Typical Example - Having shut down the computer after eight hours of normal use, the remaining components still used 52 watts of power. Since my UPS used 16 watts and needed to stay on, the power wasted by the peripherals in the background was 36 watts. This is almost equivalent to having three 13 watt CFL powered lamps turned on.

If a computer system is normally inactive for the remaining 16 hours of the day, the average waste for the year by leaving the peripheral devices running would be 36 watts x 16 hours x 365 days = 210,240 watts per year. We divide this by 1000 to get 210.24 KWH (kilowatt hours). At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $29.43 would be realized.

Extreme Example - If, after using the computer system for the average eight hour period of the day, you failed to shut down the entire computer system half the time, the total wasted power and associated costs would be: 171 total watts - 16 watts used by UPS = 155 wasted watts x 16 hours x 182 days = 451,360 watts. We divide this by 1000 to get a total of 451.4 kilowatt hours wasted by leaving your computer system on half of the time when you should have shut it down.

Meanwhile, even when the computer system was turned off, if the peripherals are not shut off as portrayed in the previous example, we add 105 KWH which is in half the total of KWH from the 'typical example' detailed above, for a total of 556.52 wasted KWH. At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $77.91 would be realized.

http://www.weatheriz...uter-power.html

For those that might want to read the rest of the article.

[Dave Burrell]

Checking your HVAC system for leaks is one of the best things you can do to figure out how to cut your electric usage.

Also, don't leave your computer on when you're not using it! Turn it off!!

Typical Example - Having shut down the computer after eight hours of normal use, the remaining components still used 52 watts of power. Since my UPS used 16 watts and needed to stay on, the power wasted by the peripherals in the background was 36 watts. This is almost equivalent to having three 13 watt CFL powered lamps turned on.

If a computer system is normally inactive for the remaining 16 hours of the day, the average waste for the year by leaving the peripheral devices running would be 36 watts x 16 hours x 365 days = 210,240 watts per year. We divide this by 1000 to get 210.24 KWH (kilowatt hours). At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $29.43 would be realized.

Extreme Example - If, after using the computer system for the average eight hour period of the day, you failed to shut down the entire computer system half the time, the total wasted power and associated costs would be: 171 total watts - 16 watts used by UPS = 155 wasted watts x 16 hours x 182 days = 451,360 watts. We divide this by 1000 to get a total of 451.4 kilowatt hours wasted by leaving your computer system on half of the time when you should have shut it down.

Meanwhile, even when the computer system was turned off, if the peripherals are not shut off as portrayed in the previous example, we add 105 KWH which is in half the total of KWH from the 'typical example' detailed above, for a total of 556.52 wasted KWH. At 14 cents per KWH, a yearly waste of $77.91 would be realized.

Also, put your computer monitor to black when sleeping instead of a running screen saver. Put your components on a power strip and turn it off when you're done with the computer to keep it from draining power. You can do this with your TV, too, because TVs, especially flat screen ones, suck a lot of energy while turned "off." I have my stereo and TV on a power strip that I turn off when I leave town and when I remember at night. I don't have my cable box hooked up to it because it has to go through rebooting every time and then it doesn't tape my shows either.

Excellent Post!

I do exactly as you noted and shut off everything when I don't plan to use it within 30 minutes and I shut it all off at the power strip too.

A few weeks ago I was working on my entertainment system and heard an electrical buzz sound from my TV even though it was turned off! it was at that point I decided to start using the power strip to ensure everything was 100% turned off at the strip and it seems to have made a difference.

On the a/c - I set it to 80 and often only turned it on after 4pm even though I'm home all day, I don't need to air condition the entire house when I'm mostly only working in one room - a small fan worked just fine.

Even with my pool filter running about 5 hours a day, the largest SMUD Bill I've ever had was $200

[FolsomFrogGuy]

Excellent Post!

I do exactly as you noted and shut off everything when I don't plan to use it within 30 minutes and I shut it all off at the power strip too.

A few weeks ago I was working on my entertainment system and heard an electrical buzz sound from my TV even though it was turned off! it was at that point I decided to start using the power strip to ensure everything was 100% turned off at the strip and it seems to have made a difference.

On the a/c - I set it to 80 and often only turned it on after 4pm even though I'm home all day, I don't need to air condition the entire house when I'm mostly only working in one room - a small fan worked just fine.

Even with my pool filter running about 5 hours a day, the largest SMUD Bill I've ever had was $200

I replaced several of my powerstrips with these a few months back... They utilize a single powered item, like your tv to act as a controller for other devices plugged into the same strip...to eliminate ghost NRG usage by those devices. The savings is quite measurable...

[Dave Burrell]

I replaced several of my powerstrips with these a few months back... They utilize a single powered item, like your tv to act as a controller for other devices plugged into the same strip...to eliminate ghost NRG usage by those devices. The savings is quite measurable...

Are there power strips with remote controls for power on/off? If so that'd sure be handy

[Bill Z]

Are there power strips with remote controls for power on/off? If so that'd sure be handy

google it, I did and there is a lot of different stuff out there.

[asbestoshills]

Just move....Instead of having HOAs in all the developments to keep the rift raft out...just have excuberant electricity prices!!!!!
Maybe that's why there are so MANY foreclosures in EDHs....
If I had to pay $900 a month for electricity, I would move immediately!
900x12= $10,800 per year! That could pay for a lot of fancy international vacations!