What could be causing this electric drain?!

[Cottie]

My electric bill was $370 this month. No A/C. Barely have lights on during the day. Fridge, 2 freezers. Pretty much everything is the same as my old house where the electric bill was SIXTY per month.

WHY IS IT SO HIGH?! This went on ALLL winter. I assumed it was the furnace and water heater running overtime. But now...what gives?! Ceiling fans don't use $300 worth of electric!

Any ideas would be appreciated. I can't afford this. It's insane.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

if your freezer are older than 15 years old will drain .......the hot water is it electic and how old is it .. If the one element is gone.. the other one tries to make up for it and it is running all the time.

 

[paradox]

Try this. Go look at your meter and watch how fast it is spinning. Then have someone inside turn off the breaker to one large appliance at a time and watch for the large slow down of the meter. You will find your culprit. Failing that, check the website of your electric company. Some energy companies will do a free energy audit and help you find things that are a drain (ours offeres this). Also, electric prices are rising and will continue to do so (remember Obama told us before his election that "under my plan, energy costs will necessarily skyrocket") so you may also be paying more per kw than you used to. And last but not least it sounds like you are comparing bill at one house to a different house. Insulation and windows can make a huge difference.

 

[AmysMacdog]

Also some electric companies are offering rebates when you replace an appliance with new energy effient models. Bless your heart! I hope you find the drain soon!

 

[Secuono]

Different areas or companies will charge a different price, too. Where I grew up it was a medium amount, moved south an hour and electric bill was cut in half. Moved northwest 2hrs and the bill was a bit more, moved down half an hour and bill went even lower.
Peak time and summer they tend to be higher, even if you use nothing at all. Same with the dead of winter.
At least, that's how it works here.

You might think a new freezer/fridge is best, but new electronics are meant to be replaced, not last over the decades! We have an old, ugly fridge from the 80s, I would never get rid of it until I could no longer fix it. When we had moved the first time, there was no fridge, we bought a nice, well known new fridge. The whole year we lived there, we had to get the company out to fix something! It was ridiculous! My sister got a new one several years ago, she also started having issues a year in, different brand, bought new.

Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't go fixing it!


Can you get the wattage you used up from the company? If your house is getting warmer, fridge/freezers need to work longer and harder to keep the stuff inside cold. So even though they didn't change physically, the air around them did.

 

[Miss M]

Our electric bill tripled over seven years in the same apartment in Florida. I tried all kinds of things to cut costs.

Out of desperation, I pulled out a lot of old bills, and created a spreadsheet. I put in all the information from each bill on there.

I learned that I had, indeed, reduced our energy consumption a little. The price of electricity, however, had risen and risen and risen.

You might try that. Get out the bills from the last year or so in your old house, and the bills so far in the new house. Particularly pick out those bills from the old house that match this time of year. Like... look at April-May-June from both years, both houses. Compare your usage, and compare the price. You may have additional taxes or fees in your new house, too.

I have done what Paradox suggested, too... turning off one breaker at a time to figure out what was the energy hog.

 

[Marinea]

First step- check the meter. Turn off your main breaker, and the meter should completely stop turning. If it doesn't, there's an issue with the meter.

Next, know that anything that heats or cools uses the most electricity. So, a/c, water heater, stove, fridge, freezer. If you're not using the a/c, the bill tells me something is wrong. I would start with the water heater- you may have a burnt out heating element. Those are generally 5000 watts each- a big user. You can check the continuity at the element using a voltage meter (make sure the power is off first).

Another biggie is if you have a well and a water pump. If there's a water leak, the pump will be running all the time.

People usually know when a stove element is out of whack.

Fridge/freezer- check the seals. Hold a dollar bill in the door and close it. Can you pull out the bill easily? If so, change the seals. Clean the coils at the back of the units. In the summer, keep them as full as possible- even if it's only water bottles. If they're really old, consider replacement.

Based on what you're using, I am willing to bet something is wacky. Hope this info helps.

 

[NOrabeets]

Warning: this advice is not for the clumsy or clueless!

Buy yourself a cheap clamp-type amp meter. Turn off everything in the house...you can even go so far as to unplug cable boxes and the like as they draw amps even while not in use. Go to your main panel and take off the inside cover (just a few screws). Carefully pull cover off. Check amp draw at the big wires feeding your panel. It should be quite low with everything off. If you are drawing significant amps with everything off...there is a problem. In that case, start turning off individual breakers until you find the one drawing amps. If it is only drawing a few amps with everything off, get a helper to start turning the things that you use on one at a time. Expect an initial surge in amp draw when motors/compressors kick on. Give it a few seconds to settle down to see its constant draw. Most appliances will list their amp usage...anything drawing much above their rated amperage is a problem.

BE CAREFUL IF YOU DO THIS! If you are not a little handy or do not know the basics of electricity, pay an electrician or get a friend with some knowledge to help.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:03 am __________<br /><br />And like Marinea said, watch very carefully for something running non-stop when it should be cycling off and on. You should be able to ID the problem in a single day.

 

[TMTex]

Try this. Go look at your meter and watch how fast it is spinning. Then have someone inside turn off the breaker to one large appliance at a time and watch for the large slow down of the meter. You will find your culprit.

I agree with paradox. It's the easiest way to find out what's eating your electricity. Your house's electric meter is a built in amp meter. It measures kilowatts over time, which are essentially amps times volts. There's a power factor involved in the calculation, but it's not significant in this case.

I'm a licensed Master Electrician and would warn against opening your breaker panel and using an amp meter. It's not worth getting hurt or killed. Electricity has a way of reaching out and touching you. You'd also need to clamp each wire individually. Different phases will cancel each other out and you'll get false readings. Getting the wires out of the way so you can clamp one at a time is dangerous and you can accidentally cause problems leading to a fire later.

Paradox's method is safe, easy, effective and free.

 

[Cottie]

Thanks everyone! I'll run down this list with fiancee. I do well with electronics but not electric.

I doubt it's the fridge or freezer. All are less than 10 years old and working just fine.

No a/c in the house at all. We've replaced all the bad outlets we could find. We can hear the well pump, and it isn't running constantly, but we'll still check that.