Astronomical heating bill question

Something is obvious amiss with my home heating system. Before I call in any professionals, I hope Dopers out there might tell me what to look for to avoid getting gouged.

I recently bought my first house after years of condo/apartment living. So I am pretty much in the dark about the system.

I have a Rheem heat pump and furnace and a Honeywell thermostat. It is a two story wood house with attic. In the summer, which was very hot, the air conditioning ran constantly. I used only 800 kWh in August.

In November, when it started getting cold, it jumped to 2700 kWh. In December, which was pretty cold, it was a staggering 6000. My electric bill is enormous.

I’ve tried fiddling with the dampers and vents, not heating rooms I don’t use a lot, etc. But this seems like a massive jump from 800kWh to cool it in a hot summer and 6000 to heat it in winter. I’m constantly checking the electric meter, and consumption has declined only slightly.

What should I do or look for before I start calling in the professionals? Any advice appreciated.

(Mods: If this is not the correct forum, please move. Thanks.)

First thing I would do with a new house, in fact, before I even bought it, would be to find out from the utility company the past energy use for the place.

Once you have that information in hand you can start to reduce your bill.

In cooling mode, you’re paying to run the compressor and fan. In heating mode, you’re paying to run both of those, plus probably heat strips. The linked document claims that the heat strips increase the usage by 3×, which sounds in line with your numbers.

Heat pumps use a lot of energy don’t they?

Why don’t you call the people you get energy from & ask them to come find out what the scoop is? Around here they love doing that, if not them, another company, Energy Services, comes for free.

Thanks for the tips, people:
Bare: I did call the electric company, and the figures for last year, when the previous owner was here, are much lower.

Mandarax: Very informative link. Thanks. (I knew I was paying more when my thermostat was on the “auxilliary heat” mode. Now I know why.)

Handy: I think I’ll call and see what they say.

Heating by electricity is always expensive…