How many KWH are you using a month?

[Quiver0f10]

What size house and how many people? Thanks!

[moongirl]

During August with the fans going we used 393 KWH. That is a two bedroom apartment with 4 people. We have a washer and electric (full size) dryer as well.

[joseph97297]

In Middle Georgia, Month of August, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, 5 people (myself Pregnant, so almost 6 people) we used 422 KWH.

It is kind of high. Hubby's goal is 3600 KWH for the year, but he says that the winter will help average out the summer (I flip the AC on sometimes around 4 PM just to cool it down a little). Other than that, fans, computer and 2 Fridges, 1 Freezer (but two of those are in the carport).

Nothing else electric, we used 8 therms of Natural Gas last month to cook and heat (water).

[TnAndy]

Originally Posted by Quiver0f10

What size house and how many people? Thanks!

You'd also need to ask if gas is used for cooking, heat, hot water......otherwise, you're comparing apples to oranges, since those are the largest users of electricity in a home.

We use about 900kwhrs per month, averaged year around....which is also right at the national average. 2 people, 2200sqft house. Electric stove, dryer, older SBS fridge, 3 freezers, water heating is propane, heat is wood.

But we also produce about 300 of that 900kwhrs/month from solar.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by TnAndy

2 people, 2200sqft house. Electric stove, dryer, older SBS fridge, 3 freezers, water heating is propane, heat is wood.

.

this is real similar to us, but we are 5 people. I think we averaqe about 700 kwh

[cfabe]

We usually use 700-800 without running AC and with propane or wood heat. 1600 sqft, two people, two computers, two refridgerators. Electric Dryer too. I think the dryer and the two fridges are the bigest loads.

[Quiver0f10]

Thank you all. I am embaressed to say what we used last month, but it was high. Very high.

We do have an older electric stove, which I do a lot of cooking and baking. We have an electric dryer and I do hang out what I can, but with 12 people we still dry a lot. We have 5 computers and 2 laptops, all of which are on 24/7. The TV is on too much too. We have an old fridge. The AC is on 24/7. My husband's office has old florescent lights, which I heard use a lot of power? The kids leave lights on all the time ( I have already been working on changing this)

We need to chop our usuage drasticaly! When we move to our homestead we were considering solar but at our current usuage there would be no way. Once we move we would like to switch as many of our appliances to propane, go to wood heat and if we are in Maine we wont need AC. All of this should help, but what can I do now to cut usage down?

[Fracey]

ok... now I am feeling like a real energy hog!!! we average 1300 KWH - family of 5, 3400 sq ft, and a race shop, and I run day care during the day. No air- wonder how low we could get it? Maybe a challenge coming up in this household!

[Quiver0f10]

Originally Posted by Fracey

ok... now I am feeling like a real energy hog!!! we average 1300 KWH - family of 5, 3400 sq ft, and a race shop, and I run day care during the day. No air- wonder how low we could get it? Maybe a challenge coming up in this household!

Well I will make you feel better, I would do a happy dance if mine were only 1300 KWH.

[Micheal]

Used 397 KWH in June and Aug, 402 KWH in July as per our bill.....
For the most part only 2 of us in a 4 bedroom home, with the occasional vistor(s) on the weekend.
One each, washer, freezer, refrig, TV, computer, etc. Biggest user(s) of electric - water heater and being on a well (the pump).

[woodsy]

450 KWH month :Average size House/Garage-woodworking shop
We were up around 700KWH month till i got smart and built a solar hot water system.
2 adults, 1 teen
2 PCs, SAT tv
Wood heat only
Elec. range and clothes dryer, 10 cu. ft. freezer, energy star fridge
Deep well pump
We could do better but hey, doing pretty darn good i think and not trying that hard.

[Quiver0f10]

Originally Posted by rose2005

Quiver of 10, ours was a lot higher till DH realised that the tank from the well was not filling up, and we were pulling water straight from the well each time which costs a lot more.

DH still has some checking to do, as I believe ours should be a lot lower.

Some of your usage sounds low, wish I could say the same.

Rose

We have city water, which is a whole nother crazy expense that is very high for us. I hate hate hate city water.

[WisJim]

Presently we have 3 adults at home. Old 2 story farm house, shops in garage and big metal and wood shop in barn. Large freezer, 2 refrigerators, deep well pump, gas stove and water heater, large blower motor on wood furnace. We buy less than 100 Kilowatt hours a month, and produce 300 to 400 from wind and solar.

[Stephen in SOKY]

2 people, 3200 sq ft house, gas range & water heater. We use around 2000 at the house & 300 at the shop in the summer. Around 1000 house and 200 shop in the winter. Very little electric dryer use. Cook every day & then overcome kitchen heat with A/C. A/C & pool are our big users in the summer.

[Windy in Kansas]

Household of 1, KWH usage of 180 to 250 per 28 to 31 day period.

Forgot about house size, about 624 square feet.

[ca2devri]

Originally Posted by Quiver0f10

We do have an older electric stove, which I do a lot of cooking and baking. We have an electric dryer and I do hang out what I can, but with 12 people we still dry a lot. We have 5 computers and 2 laptops, all of which are on 24/7. The TV is on too much too. We have an old fridge. The AC is on 24/7. My husband's office has old florescent lights, which I heard use a lot of power? The kids leave lights on all the time ( I have already been working on changing this)

It would be well worth it for you to make a spreadsheet on one of those 7 computers that you have currently running (!!). Start making a list of everything that might be significant and figure out what it uses. Lights are easy (take the wattage and multiply by how many hours it is on: e.g. 40W bulb on 4 hrs a day takes 0.16 kWhr per day or 5 kWhr per month so those florescent lights probably aren't your problem). In some cases it will help to have a power meter to plug the device through. The computers you can do this with as well as your fridge and freezer. They are all likely high. You're dryer and AC will be a bit harder because they're wired in or on 220 V. You can estimate based on their rated power use. Then take the total kWhr you've added up for a month and subtract it from what your bill was. The left over is "mystery" usage. Keep searching until the mystery usage is a small enough percentage of the total.

Once you have a list it will be much easier for you to make changes. Sometimes the changes are easy to make once you realize how much it is costing you (i.e. you realize it's not really worth what you are paying). For instance, you might buy a new fridge because you can pay it off in savings in a year, or you may decide to shut off 5 out of 7 of your computers. Don't start making big changes willy-nilly until you know what matters. If you were to change all your husbands light fixtures, I bet you would spend a lot of money and not even notice the difference.

I've never lived in Arkansas so take this for what it's worth (I live in Canada). I doubt you'll suffer much if you set your house AC temperature up a few degrees and begin using the AC more sparingly.

Chris

[Rocktown Gal]

Mine for Sept is 1736 for 31 days (a year ago it was 2582). We do no use the a/c. We have a 3500 sq foot home. I have chicken lights that run 24/7 with the new chicks. 2 freezers and stove, dw and refrig. We have a hot tub but it is not working right now. We have 3 computers, mine is on all the time and tv are on 24/7 also.

I really need to cut down more.

[halfpint]

We have a pretty high usage, but are all electric and I cook nearly every meal at home, we only eat out about once a month, and I bake most of our bread. Summer averages about 3000 kwh per month, winter runs about 1500. Husband has an electric welder that he uses occasionally (about once a month) that pulls quite a bit of power. The higher use in summer is due to A/c and pool (plus a hot tub but that runs year round although much of the time on economy) plus my son being home from college and taking showers 2-3 times a day. Although we have a heat pump we mainly heat with wood in the winter. We mostly have five people living here, but in the summer son had friends visiting from around the country a lot plus we had different relatives many times so we probably averaged 6-7 people. We also have two freezers that are fully stocked in addition to our kitchen fridge/freezer and a fridge for eggs from our chickens and extra storage for fruit/vegetables from the garden. Since we home educate, we are home nearly all the time. I believe our heated/air conditioned square footage is about 2700.
Dawn

[Harry Chickpea]

Rose, I'd about double that cost on the hot tub. Lots of surface area, pumps and all that.

Probably about 160 kwh each on those freezers every month. About the same on a refrigerator.

Got a clothes dryer? That'll add up.

I figured costs on computers running a while back. For me it was somewhere between $3.00 and $5.00 per month on a single computer with all the froo-fra I had added on. It can vary a lot.

[Stephen in SOKY]

Incubator shouldn't use an excessive amount but those heat lamps at 250 watts each & on 24/7 really use the power. My being at home all the time is a contributing factor although I rarely have the TV on & I do save by line drying clothes during the day.