Hydro bill seems high (GTA)

[PCDawg]

I have a modest home ~2000sq ft in the markham area.

First time home owner and noticed for the past several months that on average its about 1200-1495 kwh of comsumption per month.

Some details of what I have.

Gas stove
Gas water water
All major appliances are energy-star approved.
Computer pretty much on 24-7.
Main TV (LCD) hooked up to home theatre system. (TV on ~ 5 hours a day)
No dishwasher
Wash clothes 1-2 times a week. Hang dried.
Dryer only used ~ once a month for bedsheets ( have extra sets that gets rotated :) )
Most of lights in house swapped to CF. Do have some pot lights but rarely used.
ONly one section of the house where the potlights ae used often (2-3 hours a day with about 5 lights) DImmers will be installed on all pot light switches soon.

Im puzzled with where all the consumption is being used.
Would hiring a hydro expert that comes over to analze and inspect the home?

[Adrian Lankosz]

Turn everything off and see how much is being consumed.
If not everything, go by breakers and see if you can identify one or two major sources.

Not sure how your house is wired but there have been some cases where the neighbour taps into someone's line not to pay bills.

But that doesnt seem too much as it is.

[nalababe]

I have a modest home ~2000sq ft in the markham area.

First time home owner and noticed for the past several months that on average its about 1200-1495 kwh of comsumption per month.

Some details of what I have.

Gas stove
Gas water water
All major appliances are energy-star approved.
Computer pretty much on 24-7.
Main TV (LCD) hooked up to home theatre system. (TV on ~ 5 hours a day)
No dishwasher
Wash clothes 1-2 times a week. Hang dried.
Dryer only used ~ once a month for bedsheets ( have extra sets that gets rotated :) )
Most of lights in house swapped to CF. Do have some pot lights but rarely used.
ONly one section of the house where the potlights ae used often (2-3 hours a day with about 5 lights) DImmers will be installed on all pot light switches soon.

Im puzzled with where all the consumption is being used.
Would hiring a hydro expert that comes over to analze and inspect the home?

We are in a 1300 sqft semi (with basement it is close to 1800 sq feet) and we run around 1100kwh per month--with a boiler and gas fired hwt.

Think about where the energy is going.

Most electronic devices plugged in using electricity even if not being actively used....

Anyway for a computer and LCD monitor, you are looking at around 200-250 watts. Run it for 24 hours is 6 kwh. Which is roughly 200 kwh per month. Add a speaker system an external HD and other fun goodies and leaving your computer on 24/7 could easily run you 200-300 kwh per month or more!!!

For fun, unplug your computer for a week and see how much your bill changes...or if that is not possible, but a line meter.

Your DVD and Hometheatre and even microwave will use power even in standby mode...a microwave uses far more wattage in standby over its life than actually being used...your standby drain could easily account for 100 kwh per month.

What is connected to your furnace? The blower will require electricity, Humidifier?, AC unit....

[gman]

I have a modest home ~2000sq ft in the markham area.

First time home owner and noticed for the past several months that on average its about 1200-1495 kwh of comsumption per month.

Some details of what I have.

Gas stove
Gas water water
All major appliances are energy-star approved.
Computer pretty much on 24-7.
Main TV (LCD) hooked up to home theatre system. (TV on ~ 5 hours a day)
No dishwasher
Wash clothes 1-2 times a week. Hang dried.
Dryer only used ~ once a month for bedsheets ( have extra sets that gets rotated :) )
Most of lights in house swapped to CF. Do have some pot lights but rarely used.
ONly one section of the house where the potlights ae used often (2-3 hours a day with about 5 lights) DImmers will be installed on all pot light switches soon.

Im puzzled with where all the consumption is being used.
Would hiring a hydro expert that comes over to analze and inspect the home?

Are you talking about per month? Or, per 2 months? PowerStream of Markham is billing every 2 months.

I am in Markham. 2050 sqft. My 2 month consumption is similar to yours.
Gas stove, gas boiler, gas heat. Use washer and dryer a lot (about 5 times per week). Use dishwasher almost everyday. TVs are all CRT.

[PCDawg]

We are in a 1300 sqft semi (with basement it is close to 1800 sq feet) and we run around 1100kwh per month--with a boiler and gas fired hwt.

Think about where the energy is going.

Most electronic devices plugged in using electricity even if not being actively used....

Anyway for a computer and LCD monitor, you are looking at around 200-250 watts. Run it for 24 hours is 6 kwh. Which is roughly 200 kwh per month. Add a speaker system an external HD and other fun goodies and leaving your computer on 24/7 could easily run you 200-300 kwh per month or more!!!

For fun, unplug your computer for a week and see how much your bill changes...or if that is not possible, but a line meter.

Your DVD and Hometheatre and even microwave will use power even in standby mode...a microwave uses far more wattage in standby over its life than actually being used...your standby drain could easily account for 100 kwh per month.

What is connected to your furnace? The blower will require electricity, Humidifier?, AC unit....

I bought an energy reader from cdn tire that calculate the khw usage of whatever is plugged into it.

Ran it through the computer for several days and its about an average of 2.4 kwh/day.

I currently have it plugged into my home theatre setup and will ahve it there for a week to get an accurate estimate of usage.

I dont have a humdifier and the ac unit is connected but not in use yet.

Are you talking about per month? Or, per 2 months? PowerStream of Markham is billing every 2 months.

I am in Markham. 2050 sqft. My 2 month consumption is similar to yours.
Gas stove, gas boiler, gas heat. Use washer and dryer a lot (about 5 times per week). Use dishwasher almost everyday. TVs are all CRT.

From my point with not using washer/dryer as often and not even having a dishwasher power consumption should be low.

Here's the breakdown for the past readings
date days consumption kwh/day
mar 04/08 - 60 - 2422 - 40
jan 05/08 - 59 - 2709 - 46
nov 06/07 - 60 - 2747 - 46
sept 07/07 - 35 - 1495 - 43

Forgot to add, my basement i didnt count as its not furnished.

Just noticed on my bill they added 3.68% for loss factor of consumption so for the 2 months i used 2511 kwh LOL

[gman]

From my point with not using washer/dryer as often and not even having a dishwasher power consumption should be low.

Here's the breakdown for the past readings
date days consumption kwh/day
mar 04/08 - 60 - 2422 - 40
jan 05/08 - 59 - 2709 - 46
nov 06/07 - 60 - 2747 - 46
sept 07/07 - 35 - 1495 - 43

Forgot to add, my basement i didnt count as its not furnished.

Just noticed on my bill they added 3.68% for loss factor of consumption so for the 2 months i used 2511 kwh LOL

I have just noticed you did not mention how you heat your place.
Are you using electricity to heat your place?
My power consumption is half of yours and I am supposed to use more than you. I am using 21 to 30 kWh/day in the past year.

Jan 30/08 - 61 - 1432 - 23 kWh/Day
Nov 30/07 -59 -1240 - 21 kWh/Day
Oct 2/07 - 61 -1746 - 29 kWh/Day
Aug 2/07 - 58 - 1757 - 30 kWh/Day
Jun 05/07 - 67 - 1380 - 21 kWh/Day
Mar 30/07 - 56 - 1231 - 22 kWh/Day
Feb 02/07 - 60 - 1228 - 22 kWh/Day

[MacGyver]

Here's a tip - set your power meter to read watts (W) - this is the amount of power the appliance is consuming at this moment, which saves you from waiting for a few days to pass to get an average kWh reading.

[nalababe]

Here's a tip - set your power meter to read watts (W) - this is the amount of power the appliance is consuming at this moment, which saves you from waiting for a few days to pass to get an average kWh reading.

unless he wants to get an idea of use during off hours....collecting over a typical day would be more accurate...

[emidyl]

My last two month period was 2000kwh

I live in a 2500sq ft home with 5 people.
1 dishwasher load everyday after 10pm.
Washer dryer(gas) 2-3 loads every Sunday.
Gas stove, water heater, and furnace.
main computer is on 24/7
2 CRT on most times and a plasma most evenings.

use between 25, 26- max 32 kwh/day last three periods.

[pkguy]

I average from 18-23 kwh per day according to my last few billings.
2800 sq ft house
gas heat and hot water
electric stove, fridge, dw, freezer, dryer, lcd tv (not on much) two pc's (one always on pretty much)
All my lighting is CFL with fluoresent tubes in garage and shop, still I don't leave lights on when unnecessary.
5 or 6 cordless phone remotes always plugged in robbing power.

Somewhere you're using a lot of power.

[PCDawg]

Hmmm i heat my place with a furnace powered by gas with Enbridge.

At first I thought it was electric but its not.

I also dont leave lights on and turn them off when Im not in the room.

[gman]

Hmmm i heat my place with a furnace powered by gas with Enbridge.

At first I thought it was electric but its not.

I also dont leave lights on and turn them off when Im not in the room.

Well, something is really wrong in your house that consumes that much electricity. I wonder if someone taps to your power. Grow Op?

[PCDawg]

Well, something is really wrong in your house that consumes that much electricity. I wonder if someone taps to your power. Grow Op?

I will definately get someone from powerstream to come in and visually check out my place.

[nalababe]

Well, something is really wrong in your house that consumes that much electricity. I wonder if someone taps to your power. Grow Op?

I don't think so....it is not that much more than the others that are commenting or my experience...

[gman]

I don't think so....it is not that much more than the others that are commenting or my experience...

Well, he is double of what I am using. He seems to conserve more power than I am. We are in the same size of the house. I spend more energy in applicants (more washer use, more dryer use, more dish washer use, 3 CRT TVs, 2 PC running 24/7). He does not even use AC yet. I can't see how he would spend more power than I am and even double it? Do you?

[nalababe]

we run roughly 1000 kwh per month...not using much more than he is describing...he is a bit higher, but not much..

[gman]

we run roughly 1000 kwh per month...not using much more than he is describing...he is a bit higher, but not much..

How do you heat your house? He uses gas.
How about your stove? He uses gas stove.

[rogerrabbit168]

we average from 15 kWh/Day to 21 kWh/Day (July and August - air con use), gas heating, gas stove

since some of us are talking about Markham and power stream, what are people's water consumption like also?

we average from .80 m3/day (Nov and Dec) to 1.31 m3/day (July and August - i guess its all the watering for the lawn)

[PCDawg]

we average from 15 kWh/Day to 21 kWh/Day (July and August - air con use), gas heating, gas stove

since some of us are talking about Markham and power stream, what are people's water consumption like also?

we average from .80 m3/day (Nov and Dec) to 1.31 m3/day (July and August - i guess its all the watering for the lawn)

I guess it would depend on how many people are in the household.

Water consumption for me is fine (2 adults and one toddler)
Nov-Dec .37 m3/day
Jan-Fev .35 m3/day

Back to my power consumption.

I decided to unplug everything that could be plugged including fridge, gas stove, dryer, heater, switched off the heating system, the works. Made sure everything else was not turned on

Found out that my meter is digital and not those old style spinning wheels! The meter still cycles, but slower.

After half an hour I went out to time the cycle it would jump to the next bar.
It took 1:21 mins to jump. Does anyone know what unit of measurement one bar jump is?

I will probably get my home audited in the coming week. From what I read it averages from 250-300 for it to be done and the Government of Ontario will re-imburse you 50% of the audit fees (up to $150).

Any suggestions as to which ones to use? www.powerwise.ca does have some companies listed that are liscensed by Natural Resources Canada.

[gman]

I guess it would depend on how many people are in the household.

Water consumption for me is fine (2 adults and one toddler)
Nov-Dec .37 m3/day
Jan-Fev .35 m3/day

Back to my power consumption.

I decided to unplug everything that could be plugged including fridge, gas stove, dryer, heater, switched off the heating system, the works. Made sure everything else was not turned on

Found out that my meter is digital and not those old style spinning wheels! The meter still cycles, but slower.

After half an hour I went out to time the cycle it would jump to the next bar.
It took 1:21 mins to jump. Does anyone know what unit of measurement one bar jump is?

I will probably get my home audited in the coming week. From what I read it averages from 250-300 for it to be done and the Government of Ontario will re-imburse you 50% of the audit fees (up to $150).

Any suggestions as to which ones to use? www.powerwise.ca does have some companies listed that are liscensed by Natural Resources Canada.

Would turn if off through the main power switch box be easier? In theory, if you turn them all off, the meter should not jump. Then, turn on each switch one by one to verify which one needs power and then find out which piece of electronic takes the power.

[PCDawg]

Would turn if off through the main power switch box be easier? In theory, if you turn them all off, the meter should not jump. Then, turn on each switch one by one to verify which one needs power and then find out which piece of electronic takes the power.

I did turn off the main power switch and the meter did not jump.

Not all my switches are labelled so im not sure which is which.
I forgot to mention my place is a semi and my friend has told me that sometimes electricians might have grabbed the wrong circuit from the dividing wall and is connected to my box.

[jm1]

That consumption doesn't seem that excessive and I have similar specs and a lot more consumption. If you're sure no neighbours are "tapped" into your power, then you have to manage your consumption using your own prior months for comparison instead of trying to compare with others using this very limited information. With every person who thinks your consumption is higher than theirs, you'll find someone else who thinks your consumption is low.

The thing is, there are sooooo many devices needing power nowadays (even when supposedly "turned off") that comparing one household to another is virtually impossible unless you detail every single device plugged into an outlet. For example:

1. Even though you have a gas fireplace, the air moves around via the blower motor (powered by electricity). If you have your heat on at the same setting all day vs. someone who has a lower setting or turns down the heat overnight and during the day vs. someone who has the thermostat set to have the fan on all the time, you'll all using different amounts of electricity. Also, how big is your blower motor, how efficient is it, how often do you clean your funace filter, etc. etc. all impacts the amount of electricity used by the furnace.

2. Computer(s): the last time I needed a new power supply, I used a website to estimate my power requirements and it's surprising how much a fast-spinning hard drive or fancy video card uses up. How many internal devices do you have? How many USB devices? If you have an external USB hub, does it plug in to give USB devices more power? CPU or hard drive set to slow down when inactive? How many minutes/hours before power saving kicks in? Etc. etc.

I haven't even started to talk about fridges, washers, dryers, how many alarm clocks you have, how many cordless telephones, how often you charge your cell phone, how often you make toast, etc. etc. Even though there may not be a lot of difference between individual devices, it all adds up in the end.

My point is, don't beat yourself up by trying to compare to others. Do all you can to manage your own household and look for "phantom drain" devices (eg. feel if the transformer block is warm if the device is turned off) and increased efficiency. When you're done, rest assured that you've minimized electrical use as much as possible within your current lifestyle.

[Bullseye]

Ition should be low.

Here's the breakdown for the past readings
date days consumption kwh/day
mar 04/08 - 60 - 2422 - 40
jan 05/08 - 59 - 2709 - 46
nov 06/07 - 60 - 2747 - 46
sept 07/07 - 35 - 1495 - 43



You're pretty close to double my daily usage, and I have a dishwasher that runs daily, we do more laundry, and we use the dryer for all laundry (not EnergyStar). We also have gas furnace, stove, and water heater. Four people in house, one PC, cordless phones, some CFL's.

Something seems wrong somewhere, either your meter, or something is draining power that you don't realize yet.

[canabiz]

My most recent bill is $80 for 2 months for a 1,700 sq. ft home, an average of roughly 10 kw/day. We don't have A/C (we get by with fans and opening the windows) and we don't use the dryer (hanging clothing on clothes hanger and in the backyard instead)

Good for the environment and good for the wallet. I am very pleased.

[belowzeros]

Anyway for a computer and LCD monitor, you are looking at around 200-250 watts. Run it for 24 hours is 6 kwh. Which is roughly 200 kwh per month. Add a speaker system an external HD and other fun goodies and leaving your computer on 24/7 could easily run you 200-300 kwh per month or more!!!


these numbers are reaaaaaaaaaaally high, my upper end system with a 24" lcd comes no where close to that. I haven't measured for a while but it wasn't more than 3kwh per day based on 24 hour usage.

[belowzeros]

My most recent bill is $80 for 2 months for a 1,700 sq. ft home, an average of roughly 10 kw/day. We don't have A/C (we get by with fans and opening the windows) and we don't use the dryer (hanging clothing on clothes hanger and in the backyard instead)

Good for the environment and good for the wallet. I am very pleased.



that's a great bill amount grats. ours is usually up around $200 :(

[vidhoo21]

We have a 2000sqft home. We consumed 520KWH for last month(june15-july15). We have our AC on throout (daytime at 26C and evenings at 23C).
I read one of the energy savings guide and this is what we do in our house. Remove all the plugs from the outlet when you don't need them (some exceptions could be the major appliances,TV, hometheatre). Do you work from home that you need to keep your PC on for 24hrs? Please give it some cool off time by removing the computer plug. You could always connect and set it 10mts before when you need it. Just my 2cents.



I have a modest home ~2000sq ft in the markham area.

First time home owner and noticed for the past several months that on average its about 1200-1495 kwh of comsumption per month.

Some details of what I have.

Gas stove
Gas water water
All major appliances are energy-star approved.
Computer pretty much on 24-7.
Main TV (LCD) hooked up to home theatre system. (TV on ~ 5 hours a day)
No dishwasher
Wash clothes 1-2 times a week. Hang dried.
Dryer only used ~ once a month for bedsheets ( have extra sets that gets rotated :) )
Most of lights in house swapped to CF. Do have some pot lights but rarely used.
ONly one section of the house where the potlights ae used often (2-3 hours a day with about 5 lights) DImmers will be installed on all pot light switches soon.

Im puzzled with where all the consumption is being used.
Would hiring a hydro expert that comes over to analze and inspect the home?

[mymeowcat]

If you want to calculate how watts convert to dollars try this formula:

((Watts X Hours Used)/1000) X (Cost per Kilowatt Hour)

Formula is found at: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html

The way I figure it -- running a computer 24/7 at 10 cents per kilowatt (Calgary Rate) amounts to $7.20 per month.

I have 4 computers each with LSD monitors and accessories all attached to a back-up power supply which totals 485 watts according to kill-a-watt. Systems all run 24/7.

If you want to find out how much each appliance is using you can try kill-a-watt at:

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1217825329&sr=8-2

I have an energy star fridge which uses about 100 watts when the motor runs.

I have 3 room-mates that seem to use the washer/dryer 4 days per week.

Total bill can max out at around 900 kilowatts.

See if you can get a kill-a-watt thing and see if some device is really drawing out the energy.

BTW: I hear those LCD high definition TVs suck energy big-time.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080523074939AAeAnvv

[OldFortYork]

I really don't understand why people leave their computers running 24/7?

:confused:

[Aerya]

In my case, I download torrents, and leaving it downloading all day makes the downloading time way shorter. I also used to run a computer as a server, which had my email and websites that would need to be on all day.

[hesp]

i just got my bill and I used 1241KWH in two months for a 3400 sq ft house

[Keigotw]

If you want to calculate how watts convert to dollars try this formula:

((Watts X Hours Used)/1000) X (Cost per Kilowatt Hour)

Formula is found at: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html

The way I figure it -- running a computer 24/7 at 10 cents per kilowatt (Calgary Rate) amounts to $7.20 per month.

I have 4 computers each with LSD monitors and accessories all attached to a back-up power supply which totals 485 watts according to kill-a-watt. Systems all run 24/7.

If you want to find out how much each appliance is using you can try kill-a-watt at:

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1217825329&sr=8-2

I have an energy star fridge which uses about 100 watts when the motor runs.

I have 3 room-mates that seem to use the washer/dryer 4 days per week.

Total bill can max out at around 900 kilowatts.

See if you can get a kill-a-watt thing and see if some device is really drawing out the energy.

BTW: I hear those LCD high definition TVs suck energy big-time.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080523074939AAeAnvv

or use this to calculate
http://www.powerwise.ca/resources/powerwise-calculator/

[daftfunk]

My June and July hydro bill is thru the roof. I had the smart meter installed in June. The time of use billing is not in effect yet, but when it is I wonder what the impact will be!

Time of Use Charts for Electricity

Weekends & Holidays All day Off-peak 2.7 cents/kWh

Summer Weekdays
(May 1st - Oct 31st) 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Mid-peak 7.3 cents/kWh
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. On-peak 9.3 cents/kWh
5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mid-peak 7.3 cents/kWh
10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Off-peak 2.3 cents/kWh

Winter Weekdays
(Nov 1st - Apr 30th) 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. On-peak 9.3 cents/kWh
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mid-peak 7.3 cents/kWh
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. On-peak 9.3 cents/kWh
8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mid-peak 7.3 cents/kWh
10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Off-peak 2.7 cents/kWh