Electric Bill problems ??

[ChampioNman]

99% of the people on here don't read before posting

Reading is one thing, comprehending is entirely different.

[B.Combs]

Our electric bill went down when they put a new line from pole to house,
i showed them where whatever it’s coated or wrapped in it’s showing bar aluminum wire in spots. It was 25 years old they changed it out.

That had absolutely ZERO to do with your bill. The coating is to separate the 2 hots from the neutral. It’s either good or it’s not. As long as your power was on, it worked. There is no in between.

[skeeterator]

I can check my yearly, monthly and daily usage on my cell 24/7 from anywhere in the country. We have a smart meter, no one comes to read it, they simply access it online. We don't receive a monthly bill either, I get a text telling me our account is getting low so I just tap a button on my cell to pay x amount. I can pay for 1 day or a whole year in advance. I always know how much I'm using and can see any spikes as they happen so there's never an issue. I just took a screen shot of my usage graph to show it here but it's too large to post.

[LTZ25]

Reading is one thing, comprehending is entirely different.

What ????

[1781ccT]

Spent 37 years in this business. Here in order are my thoughts. No problem with meter. Make sure thermostat is not set to emergency heat ( said above). Heat pump part of your system is out and you are heating with all resistance heat i.e. the heat strips.

We had this happen, and it skyrocketed our usage. Those heat strips consume a LOT of electricity.

In in our case, the power company noticed the usage discrepancy and called us to alert of a potential problem. Turning things on/off at the breaker revealed the HVAC system as the culprit. Contractor came in and said it was a faulty switch or something on the defrosting heat strip(s). Pretty cheap fix in our case.

[Mark Perry]

My electric usage went way up couldnt figure why. Heat with gas water heater gas wife and I are gone 10 hours a day at work. After the 3rd month of it I came home early wasnt feeling good found out my neighbor had two extension cords going over the fence plugged into my outside outlets. They got them selves arrested.

What were they charged with? Were they convicted and get any ail time?

[jimbo188vs]

Just quick ciphering...you are using 5000 watts/hr. That’s a 45 amp draw on 110v circuits or 23amp draw on 220v continuously. I’d look at your big hitters in the beaker panel first.

[billnorman1]

99% of the people on here don't read before posting

Watt?

[snowblind]

If you have the old glass style meter, place a magnet on it....it'll slow the wheel. Ahem

[crazy 8's]

If you have a heat pump hvac system, make sure it’s not set to emergency heat.

A couple years ago I got a call from a very nice lady at my electric company. They noticed my usage was way up. She said to make sure my furnace wasn't in emergency mode. I checked and sure enough it was. I had shut it off to change the filter and when I turned it back on my aging eyes didn't notice it was set wrong. I couldn't believe they actually cared enough to call. I thought about sending her flowers!

[yatesville88fan]

If you have a heat pump that is where to start.

[The Bass Junkie]

99% of the people on here don't read before posting

This... plus a lot of people have no idea the basic principles of electricity. I get more stupid questions from customers than I can count... There is also some really bad info in this thread.

OP meters very rarely fail...ive actually never seen it happen on a digital. Ive seen analog meters that "ran slow," one of which resulted in a client in az paying less than $20 a month for electric for over a decade.....until they switched the meter out. Then sticker shock of her usage habits set it...and she bought solar from me.

You may have a bad appliance, water heater, or even thermostat...Could be a lot of things. Electricians can isolate circuits and tell you what may be going on. We used to do some usage studies before bidding out commercial jobs in areas without net metering..so we needed to be precise. If it were me, id get another month bill, and then if the issue is still there reach out to a tech to come diagnose.

[Sunny Jim]

I had the heat pump fail on my first startup this year. I don't use A/C so I turned the heat on in October. Everything heated up just fine. One day a couple of weeks later I was outside and noticed that the heat pump fan wasn't running when the furnace ran. So for those weeks I was running in emergency mode and didn't know it. Turned out that in my case the heat pump wouldn't turn on because the freon level was too low and a safety device wouldn't let the heat pump operate. Had the system brought up to specs with R22 and it started right up. Worth checking to see if the heat pump is actually running.

[CatFan]

If you have a heat pump that is where to start.

I asked twice what kind of heat he had, but OP hasn’t answered.

[Racingfan]

If you are total electric heat, here is something to consider. Im an HVAC service technician and I have ran this call many times. If you have natural gas for heat than disregard...
If you have a heat pump with an electric furnace you need to have a good HVAC guy check its operation. Its very possible that your heat pump isnt working correctly or MORE likely, is that the electric heat relays are sticking. Ive had people call me and tell me many, many times, "My electric bill has all of a sudden doubled or tripled this winter!!"
I have found many times that the relays are stuck on inside the electric furnace... This will use an incredible amount of electricity and doesnt usually over heat the house because the fan doesn't run to send the heat out into the home.

[legendtim]

Are you on city water or well
one of my customers usage went way up,found the well pump was running continually
impellers in pump may be worn enough to pump water but not raise pressure to cut off
or may have a cracked drop pipe
will know on Monday

[riverrat29]

Does your utility have the ability to report interval(hourly) data ? I would guess you have a HVAC issue or other appliance failing like water etc. it all depends what the wattage is. The interval data will help tell you what is wrong. It’s not the meter. If you are savory enough to use a meter. You can go into your breaker panel and pull amp draws on your circuits to see where draw is. Amps x volts =Watts.

[grout-scout]

I asked twice what kind of heat he had, but OP hasn’t answered.

lol, I think we had a post and run from the OP.

[Wild Heethen]

If you have the old glass style meter, place a magnet on it....it'll slow the wheel. Ahem

Thanks. Never thought of that. ��

[jlperkins]

Central heat and air, electric water heater, Ky utilities not that im aware of, all my neighbors are having bills at 180 dollars or so

Central heat and air unit,