Between using the breakers and the electric meter, you should be able to figure out what’s using all the power. Turn off all the breakers and watch the meter. I’m guessing the meter should be stopped with all the breakers off. Then go through the breakers where you turn one on and see what the meter does for some fixed amount of time. Only have one breaker on at a time. You should be able to come up with a chart where you know how much power each circuit behind the breaker is using.
It sounds like the problem is that his wife is using butt-loads of electricity and water on a daily basis. By comparison, my household of three used ~2800 gallons of water last month and 826 kWh. Granted, it’s spring so we haven’t had the use the AC much yet and there’s been enough rain that plants aren’t needing much watering (and we have a rain barrel), but we do have a hot tub that is continuously heated.
That said, the OP’s household surpasses our weekly dishwasher and washer/dryer use in two days! I mean, yeah, every family is different and I always assume that everyone has their own little quirks or luxuries but this just seems like so much clueless wasting of resources I was like 
:eek::smack:
How many computers do you have and how old are they?
I have 4 PCs that are essentially always on, and all by themselves they probably account for 20% of my electric bill. One of them alone is probably 50% of that, judging from the fact that I can tell by the temperature of the room it’s in whether it’s on or not.
I’d try a compromise at 75 and see how it goes. Heat pumps are better at maintaining temperatures than making large temperature changes.
Out of the box idea: your wife is taking in laundry to make a little side cash.
I have the house to myself tonight, so this is what I’m doing. I’m going to figure this shit out once and for all. I will report my findings.
Well that was disappointing. I set up my house with the normal lights/fans/TVs on but with the power-hungry appliances off (dryer, water heater and AC) and went through each circuit and measured the current. The biggest draw were my hallway lights @ 3 A. I’ve never had to change a bulb in those, they still use the original incandescents that were installed when the house was built. 8 bulbs total I believe. My fridge was drawing 1 A. Everything else added up to about 4 A.
Then I turned on the dryer. It sucks about 20 A which is around 5000 W and so costs about $0.50 - $0.60 an hour to run.
I ran the AC and it pulls 40 A (around 9.6 kW) so it costs about $1 an hour to run.
The water heater I have has a 4500 W element, so it’s about as expensive as the dryer when it’s heating.
So I’m back to where I was. We just use that much energy I suppose. It seems like everyone else in the country uses half of what we use. I don’t know how you people do it or what we’re doing differently.
One month about 10 years ago I got a really low (for me) power bill in the mail. This was after trying some different things to lower our bill, so I was ecstatic. Fuck yeah. It was around $109 when the previous month’s was over $300. I figured it out. I fixed our crazy-ass electricity usage.
…but then, I noticed in the corner that it was addressed to my next-door neighbor. I walked over to deliver it to him and told him I got excited when I thought it was mine and he said, “yeah I know it’s high, but I can’t stand being hot”. Fuck me.
Well, I give you credit for testing but it seemed obvious to me that it’s your family’s lifestyle/habits that are to blame. I mean, you don’t understand that trying on clothes and then putting the clean clothes in the wash is crazy? Or letting your kids wet the bed every night so you have to do a load of bedding every day is completely avoidable? That might sound harsh, but it’s not normal and I’d be willing to bet that there are a dozen such habits that could be changed in your household that would help reduce your water and electricity consumption. Do a search on ways to conserve energy and water in your home and you might learn all sorts of things.
We have trees strategically planted to help shade our house. The only air conditioner is in our bedroom window, and it is used for the handful of nights when it is really, really hot.
Speaking of shade, if you’re letting a lot of sunshine into your house you could also try blinds or curtains on the windows. And keep the outside doors shut when it’s hot outside.
If your windows are not well sealed/double paned, curtains can also help keep your house warm in winter.
I also think the washer/dryer cycles are at least partly to blame. If your kids are wetting the bed that’s a different kind of problem, but until you solve that you probably will continue to have high water and electric bills.
Your wife washing unworn outfits is something you might want to discuss, though.
Do you have any old bills from months where you went away for a week or two for comparison? How different are they? You would expect them to be lower in any event, but by how much?
I would put the hallway lights on the short list for projects–check with your power company, they offer deep discounts on LED bulbs. That project should pay for itself within 3 months.
Or Little Women running around switching on appliances while no one is watching.
As to the dryer and dish washer running daily in a 2-person household, I’d say that is above average for sure. In my 3 adult household we run the dishwasher only when full, about 3-4 times per week depending on how much/what we cook at home. The washer and dryer run about the same, 3-4 times per week. The dryer takes, on average, about an hour per large load, so I’m guessing your wife is doing 2 large loads per day for 2 people :eek:.
Novel theory: Your wife has a second, secret family living in the attic.
Move them to the basement and you won’t need so much AC.