Insanely high electric bills

[Bree Copithorne]

We are getting huge electrical bills and cannot figure out why. Stove/oven, furnace, water heater, and dryer are all gas. New thermal windows which are great at letting it tons of light (so no lights needed during the day except the basement). They also conduct heat well and allow the house to warm up so the heat almost never comes on during the day. Gas bill is very low so it's not the blower.

No other heaters, no hot tub or pool.

We're averaging about 66kwh PER DAY, and just under 2000kwh a month...in winter! This past July, it as over 2700kwh and we were gone for 12 days.

I have talked to 3 electricians and had one come and check everything. All 3 said our bill should be about $250 in the summer with the cooler on. Tops. It was $470 in July when we were gone for a chunk of the month, and $360 for last month.

We requested a new meter as suggested by all 3 electricians. Hopefully that's the issue. Can you think of anything else someone may have missed? We're using a kill-a-watt now to double check appliances.

Help! It's a new house to us and it's just insane. It's bigger than the house we moved out of 8min from here, but only by 500sq feet, yet the electrical bill is more than double. Newer appliances here (2017) and a gas dryer with great windows and lighting...so it should be less, or at least the same.

Sorry for the novel. Thanks for any help.

 

[Reach4]

Get a clamp-around ammeter. Watch each main hot. Turn off breakers temporarily, and see if there is an unexpected drop. You can also see what each branch circuit draws. Yes, that involves pulling the cover off of the breaker box.

We're averaging about 66kwh PER DAY,

That is about 275 amps on average. How many amps is your main breaker?


One possible excess user of electricity is the well pump, with a hole in the drop pipe.

Just checking-- free standing house with no attached neighbors, right?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[HudsonDIY]

One of your neighbors stealing your electricity? You'd think an electrician would have found that but it does happen.

 

[Bree Copithorne]

The box is a 100 amp box. He recommended a 200, but said that this time of year with no cooling, nothing we run should be taxing it. He said the box is Federal Pacific which has a lawsuit against it and is known for not tripping when it should. He said I should replace it, but that's probably not the cause of the excessive bills.

It is a free standing house. We turned off the main breaker and the meter came to a full stop. We don't have a well.

We have not turned a breaker on one by one, but the electrician said he tested the wires. I don't know that he tested every single one though. I watched him doing it and it didn't look like he checked all of them.

He checked the old hot tub line (we've never had one), and that was fine. He checked the AC and said it was great and actually using less than typical. He had me run the washer and that initially spiked and went to normal.

When everything in the house is off except appliances, I think the meter spins faster than it should, but the electrician said it looked normal.

Changing the meter us my last hope. I have friends in town with houses bigger than mine, who run two AC units all summer, and their bills are $250-300 tops. Mine was $480 in a month we were gone for 12 days and used the evaporative cooler.

 

[WorthFlorida]

All electric companies will change a meter at no charge. From the billing record it should be a no problem since you did have an electrician checked thing out. BUT what does testing wires mean? Did he use a clamp meter? If you have a new digital meter, some display the actual current draw, if not there is a arrow usually displayed showing your drawing power. Do turn each breaker on individually. The only thing that will draw power is the refrigerator and any electronics like the cable tv box, modems, computers, etc. Air handlers for Air Conditioning units usually have electric heating elements to provide heat when needed. Not sure if you have one or even if it is needed. There is a relay to switch on these heating elements and sometimes the contactor seizes up and keeps the circuit closed and the elements are on. It doesn't seem like you have this problem. The electrician should have noticed it if he used a clamp meter.

He is correct about the circuit panel, they are bad and UL pulled the label from them many years ago.

 

[Dana]

Get a clamp-around ammeter. Watch each main hot. Turn off breakers temporarily, and see if there is an unexpected drop. You can also see what each branch circuit draws. Yes, that involves pulling the cover off of the breaker box.

That is about 275 amps on average. How many amps is your main breaker?

Huh?

66kwh/day is (/24 hrs=) 2.75 kw = 2750 watts At 120VAC that's (2750W/120V=) 22.9 amps.

Yes that's a lot of juice on average, but it's not going to blow the main breaker. It's the equivalent of a couple of toasters being on 24/7. Many homes (even those with gas appliances) can average about 1000 watts between all of the refrigerators/TVs/lights/computers etc, so you're probably looking for a vampire lurking in the background with a load in the 1500-2000 watt range.

That's enough power to make something pretty hot (easy to find with an infra-red camera) but not enough power to heat your whole house (unless you live in a superinsulated house.)

 

[Reach4]

66kwh/day is (/24 hrs=) 2.75 kw = 2750 watts At 120VAC that's (2750W/120V=) 22.9 amps.

You are right. I see where I miscalculated. I forgot the 24 hours per day. Thanks.