How many KWH are you using a month?

Well now I don't feel as bad! Ours was 3914

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Blessings,
Jean

Ours is not too great.

2 people 2500' house.

Old , too small, AC unit that runs all day and most of night.

2 old refrigerators.

Gas hot water heater

1637 KWH.

It has been cooler in September. AC has not run as much. Will be interesting to see how much we use next month. I think I need to get a new
fridge and sell the other one. Also need to bite the bullet and get a new AC.

Just paid my bill today. 226kwh Small house, old bachelor hermit occupant. I still havent done it, but replacing old energy hog fridge would cut it lot. I have one of those energy meter things and fridge was the big user.

If I would do it, think I could go off grid with only minor changes to lifestyle. But more chores to do to maintain such.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I feel your pain...National Grid provides our power, too! The really have earned their nickname...National GREED!! I don't understand how it is legal for them to raise the delivery charge to offset the fact that people are trying to use less power.

Homeschooling family of five here. Around 1400 sq ft. house. Last months usage was 960kw which is kind of high for us but we haven't been as mindful of conserving since the youngest was born two months ago. Our monthly average is 920kw with the summer months normally being the low months. During the winter we use a couple electric space heaters at night upstairs which pushes the kw over 1000 during those months.

The summer months this year have been right around 900 kwh.

..2400 sq. ft., two people, everything(stove, fridg, 2 freezers, AC, washer/dryer, distiller, water heater, etc...) is electric, but I did some serious insulation work a couple of years ago and installed window inserts. We find that 100 plus degree days are comfortable with ceiling fans if we cool the house for a couple of hours each evening.

Deep winter here is usually around the same usage with electric heat. Fall and Spring are low enough that we routinely wind up with a credit during those months if the meter isn't read routinely.

I have been looking at solar or wind, but the numbers still don't work out at usage levels like this.

Its been less then a month but I do have a new bill. I use to leave my computer on 24/7...since this post I have turned it off every night with the exception of 2 times. Just checked online and my electric usage is 1463. The only other thing is about 2 months ago our big TV died and we have been using an 24 in one.

The difference in pay is last month 201.40 this month 176.02

How is everyone else doing?

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Toxic Free Products

1250 sq ft with 2 window A/C units or electric oil radiators going depending on the season 400 to 600 kw per month.

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"I didn't have time to slay the dragon. It's on my To Do list!"

The bill for last month, which just arrived, was for 721 KWH's, but the previous month was 1209 KWH's (lots of canning/dehydrating that month). My home's size is 2,350 sq. ft, but the house meter/breaker box also services my garage and barn. The major appliances are central air, washer/dryer, fridge, chest freezer, and well pump. The water heater and stove are propane fueled.

My bill shows the previous 12 months of usage, and from November 2008 through May 2009, I averaged about 450 KWH's. The usage really goes up when the AC kicks in and up a little more when canning/preserving starts up.

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"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey

Wow, I would croak if I used as much power as some of you, lol The bill would be monstrous, eeks! Last month's usage was 885. Prior year it was 1200 and change.

Now, a couple months ago my hub brought home a brand new fancy fridge. We had an older model SBS, and over the summer it starting making a pretty good racket and seemed to be running a lot. The electrical usage dropped an easy 200. How about that?

The new fridge is only supposed to use about 40 watts per day-nice!

I have five ceiling fans turning 24/7 year round. Two chest freezers. Lots of lighting fixtures which we have switched to flourescent energy savers a couple years back-all outdoor lighting is regular for the most part-motion lights and so forth. The barn had three stock tank heaters going nonstop for six months-1500 watts each but I have them on timers inside of insulated tanks and that trims the bill considerably. Heat lamp, light and heated water bowl for my chickens too-but this year they will be inside an insulated chicken coop (yay!). A couple of large TVs, computer of course, electric washer and dryer-newer side loads ones and that helps a bunch. Electric stove but I have a gas one for pressure canning. Microwave and coffee pot-the normal kitchen appliances plus dehydrators that worked a lot a month ago. I am constantly after my son and hub to turn off lights, and for the most part they are pretty good about it. We heat primarily with wood but will run the oil furnace when absolutely necessay.

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A glimpse into my life and thoughts up here in Southcentral Alaska-visit my blog www.suvalley.blogspot.com

1500 sq. ft all electric house, with wood/coal used for heat. Our average is 1350/mo. with the low being 800-1000kws in the winter & 1500-1800kws. in the summer. That includes CA, pool, chest freezer, 2 refrigerators, one desktop computer & dehumidifier in the basement etc. I really want a solar hot water heater setup and we also have a problem (so DH says) with our bladder tank for the well. He has not looked at it yet though. In the winter we do not run the dehumidifier for the basement, as the woodstove dries it for us, but we do have a chicken light & a squirrel fan to pump wood heat into the family room. Our electric rates are supposed to rise 50%+ in a year. We are down to 3 people with DS#2 away at college this year & it appears to be going down some. I really need to cut before the increase. I mostly hang wash, but with the rainy year I have used the dryer way too much. Good to know we are not the highest!

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Cindy in PA

454 KWH last month for a 867sq foot home...it's only me. I'm pretty good about unplugging appliances, and have almost all CFLs. But my computer is always on. The dehydrator and grow lights (for winter veggies) are on most of each day.

4000 sq ft, 4 people, 5-7 computers, propane dryer and hot water, 1 pool. Low 1000 kwh fall/spring, high 2800 July or August. Average 1600 past year.

This is a very interesting thread. We are 2 people in 2200 sq. ft. We have a window ac but only used it twice this year. We have propane heat and water tank is also propane. Well is electric, 1 computer, 1 tv. and electric washer and dryer. Also 2 freezers.Our latest bill says we used 615 kws. I'm thinking thats a lot. We need to start using the washer/dryer less and unplugging stuff not in use. We just used our furnace for the first time the other day. That's a whole different story--The price of propane!

There's 2 (sometimes 4) of us here on the homestead and we're entirely solar powered. Our maximum potential power harvest is around 150KWh per month. We have an energystar fridge (18 cu. ft.) and as many as 4 laptops and satellite internet running during daylight hours. Our well pump delivers water at about 1.2 gallons / minute -- which is plenty for us, the garden, & animals so far.

Before the fridge and well pump we were living on less than 1/2 of that amount of solar power. We live a very power-aware and power-frugal lifestyle... but we really don't feel like we have to go without very often either.

We do still have to run our cloths washing machine off of the generator... (that consumes less gas than driving to town and using the laundromat's electricity).

We pretty much only use 120V AC CF lighting (still have some 12V LEDs in use) and we're real good at turning things off when not in use. Everything that uses one of those little power "bricks" that plugs into the wall gets plugged into a power strip that's turned off when not needed (some of those little bricks will draw more power when not connected to their appliances than they do when they are being used -- seriously).

If you are looking for ways to decrease your energy usage here are some fairly simple things you can do to lower your energy needs:

1). Get rid of all incandescent light bulbs. They are extremely inefficient... they are really a heating element that happens to give off light. About 85% of the energy they consume is delivered to your home as heat. (We can run our entire homestead and business for a day off of the energy required to light six 100 watt light bulbs for 7 hours).

2). LCD computer monitors and TVs tend to be more power efficient than their traditional CRT counterparts. Use flat screens when you can.

3). Laptops usually draw 75% less power than desktop models. Apple laptops have the lowest power usage of any laptop or computer that I've measured. (Our Dell laptop draws 80 - 90 watts whereas the Apple laptop draws 20 - 25 watts).

4). Keep your furnace's filter as clean as you possibly can. I've seen studies that suggest a furnace's fan can draw 2 - 3 times as much energy when it's filter is clogged. This should hold true for all forced-air type furnaces.

5). Make sure your fridge and freezer have good ventilation and their cooling fins are kept clear of dust and debris. Also make sure your fridge's seals are clean and intact.

6). Cloths dryers are one of the most power-hungry devices in your home. Try to find an alternative.

7). In the typical American household traditional hot water heaters account for as much as 15% of the total energy used. They are pathetically under insulated and according to some studies release as much as 80% of the energy they use back into the air of your home in the form of heat loss. Putting hot water heaters on timers, using on-demand hot water heaters, or (better yet) using solar hot water can trim a great deal off of your energy bill.

8). Become an "energy smart shopper". There is a wide range of efficiencies to be had in large and small appliances. Learn to review your product options based on how much energy they are expected to consume. When in doubt, go with something that is EnergyStar rated. Don't be afraid to open a product's box to get it's power specs before you buy it. You have a right to know how much power something consumes... that's why it's required to be on the product somewhere.

9). Adding extra attic insulation can vastly reduce the amount of heat required to keep your home warm and it's easy enough for almost anyone to do themselves if you use blown cellulose... and I think there's still some good tax incentives on this as well.

10). Smaller usually means less power consumed. When purchasing an appliance we go with tend towards the smallest option that will meet our needs. We can run a small crock pot without noticing... but the larger ones would kill us on power. We have the smallest microwave we could find, etc..

One final thought... I've helped several of my friends and neighbors track down the source of their excessive power consumption and in all but one case it turned out to be their refrigerator. I found one frig. that was consuming 5 times the amount of power it was supposed to be consuming while running. And man was it's compressor hot... burn your skin hot. As machines with motors / compressors that run frequently age they degrade in a way that they still operate but at a fraction of their efficiency. Causes them to draw more power and run more frequently... delivering a double-wammy hit to a home's power usage.

If you think that your power bill is too high I recommend that you rule out the fridge and freezer before spending too much time reviewing your other appliances.

Be well and good luck!

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Patrick Harris
http://ByExample.com

Just looking at the bill here from September - 639 kwh
We have National Grid who breaks the bill down into delivery charges and supply services. The delivery fee is 2X what the supply fee is.

1248 sq ft house. 2 adults. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths.
Electric is used for hot water heater (summer time), 2 upright freezers currently, but not all the time ( 38 yr old one, 1 yr old ), 1 frig ( 1 yr old ), 1 old TV , 1 old computer, pump for the well, washing machine, dryer winter
( line drying summer ), No AC. 3 outside night lights.
Computer is shut off completely when not in use.

Electric to run the outside wood furnace in winter. Then the domestic hot water is heated by the heat exchanger from the OWB. Winter usage is just over 700 kwh a month total for the house. I see 732 as the highest one last winter.

Propane for the cookstove. Working from first tank that is 100 pounds ( 24 gallons ) . Has lasted just over 6 months so far. Have second tank filled ready to do the switch soon. Figure propane use about $ 12 a month.
We used to heat with propane up to a year ago. We used 500 gallons of propane a year for the heat and cookstove. I asked the hubby if we could go to a OWB as I was sick and tired of being held hostage by propane prices.

We bought our home in October of last year and I keep a log of power usage. There are only the two of us. This is a three-year-old brick ranch approximately seventeen hundred square feet and luckily the insulation is pretty good. But with the bad weather this past winter, we used quite a large amount of energy to heat our home. This is an all electric home serviced by a heat pump and we have used approximately 1550 kWh’s per month. As I said winter ate us up; we were using between 2000 and 2500 kWh’s per month, but luckily we have been able to cut back to between 500 and 700 kWh’s per month.

I splurged last month and used 60 Kwh. to charge the batterys A few times I ran the AC after the sun was not charging the system.
Very often I use the AC, or during cold times electric resistance heat, to help consume all the power my PV and wind system is generating.
Deep well is pumped into the big storage tank only when the system is generating lots of power.
2 fridge and 2 freezers, desk top only on when using. 1100sf. One person. No dryer. Super efficient Staber washing machine.
One of my projects is put a regular meter on the out put of the inverter to see what all that I'm using. .. . . I've only had the meter for 5 years . .so you can see that project is low on the priority list.
Very comfortable living with my moderate sized PV and wind systems.

My bill shows the last two years usage. The lowest we have been is just under 1000 and the highest is 1971. In between July and August we cut usage 10 kwh/day. That was a nice drop. After canning is over I expect it to drop again.

Our house has CA, gas heat, electric everything else. We have two full size fridges, two electric stoves, two TVs (though only one is ever on)and two freezers.

Current usage is around 1500 kwh/month.

I usually average about 1200kwh per month on average. 800kwh in the winter. 1600kwh in the summer. Got to keep that AC happening!

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Francismilker

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16