# My Electric Bill Was "Only" $283 This Month; Gonna Be A Long Summer **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818 "2009-06-15T10:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/21 "2009-06-16T23:23:15Z")
Wow. My **quarterly** electricity bill over summer is only about half that amount. Like **Telperien** , I’m one of those "turn it off’ people. The winter quarterly bill is a bit higher, but only because I have the lights on for a few extra hours each day. I’m just glad that I don’t need to have either airconditioning or heating. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/22 "2009-06-17T03:51:41Z")
I have a $68 bill waiting to be paid. I’m in Maryland. It’s been a relatively cool spring and summer so far with lots of rain - we haven’t turned the AC on yet. ---
**Author:** ![gustp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gustp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gustp)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/23 "2009-06-17T04:04:03Z")
I have a brand new house in Southern Ontario Canada. My electric bill has been between $40 to $50 per month since I have been here. I moved from a 3000 sq ft house where I had a large pool a big pump on my well and every gadgit known to man. My bill in that house was around $200 a month. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/24 "2009-06-17T04:07:04Z")
I set our thermostat at 78, and our AC hasn’t kicked on in…god, a couple weeks, probably. This is rather unusual for around here, but it’s been really cool this spring/summer and has pissed rain roughly 6 days out of 7 since early April. It’s been a blessing for us though; the circuit board for the upstairs unit got blasted by power surges from the incessant storms, so we haven’t had AC up in our bedroom for about a month. They’re supposed to be coming to fix it soon, but… Still, even when the weather is more typical our bills are not too bad in summer. We live in a fairly shady neighborhood, in an old house with good cross-ventilation and ceiling fans in almost every room, and like I said the thermostat is at 78. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/25 "2009-06-17T05:28:15Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Yes, the joy of living in Las Vegas, and the Southwest,… And yet your location says you live in Chicago. A little behind on the updates, are we? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/26 "2009-06-17T06:02:17Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > And yet your location says you live in Chicago. > > A little behind on the updates, are we? No, actually, that is the order of where I have lived in my life to date: Chi NYC Berlin LA Vegas Born in Illinois, moved to Chicago, then to NYC then to Berlin - from there to Los Angeles and now live in Las Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/27 "2009-06-17T13:11:01Z")
80 is HOT. I wouldn’t stand to have my house so hot. A/C is expensive, but it’s worth it. I fear my next electric bill, but better that than living in heat (and here, humid heat.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/28 "2009-06-17T15:29:07Z")
3300 sq. ft. house, two adults, no kids, last electricity bill was $69, up from $52 the previous month. We’ve been using the A/C fairly consistently since late April, but I’m super-stingy about lights and appliances. We’re with Duke Energy and have a lot of trees around our house EXCEPT on the southeast side, which gets the most sun during the day. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/29 "2009-06-17T15:48:40Z")
I live in an 1100 square foot apartment in New York City. I have two window AC units, about 10k BTU apiece. I expect my monthly electric & gas bill to be well over $200. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/30 "2009-06-17T15:52:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > 80 is HOT. I wouldn’t stand to have my house so hot. > > A/C is expensive, but it’s worth it. I fear my next electric bill, but better that than living in heat (and here, humid heat.) If 80 is HOT, what on earth do you do when it gets up around 100? I mean, 80 is fairly warm, but if you’re dehumidified and got a breeze it’s just about perfect for the low activity level most people maintain inside the house. And with the A/C kicking on when it gets above 78, and ceiling fans blowing all over the place, that’s pretty much what we have. If I were doing heavy physical labor indoors, it would probably be uncomfortable, but running the vacuum is about as heavy as it gets in our house. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/31 "2009-06-17T15:54:17Z")
I have a swamp cooler instead of AC, and it hardly uses any power at all. Last summer I upgraded from a 1/4 horsepower motor to 1/3, and it gets downright cold in here, even when it’s 100 degrees out! I sometimes have to turn it off to let it warm up a bit so I don’t freeze. Of course, come monsoon season I’ll be miserable, but it’s almost worth it. My new plasma TV does use a lot of power, though- I went from an average power bill of $50/month to $85. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/32 "2009-06-17T15:57:27Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > 80 is HOT. I wouldn’t stand to have my house so hot. > > A/C is expensive, but it’s worth it. I fear my next electric bill, but better that than living in heat (and here, humid heat.) Hah! 😃 I grew up with no a/c and you get used to it. It’s not all that fun but it’s not a big deal (when the highs are the mid-high 90s, not like, in the 100s really, and really humid, anyway). And actually, I’d prefer to just have no a/c anywhere (though good cross-breezes and fans to circulate the air) than to go from a refrigerator to super hot outside, back to a fridge, then back out into hot air, etc. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/33 "2009-06-17T16:18:17Z")
When I was looking into buying a new flat panel tv, I ruled out plasma pretty quickly once I learned that a plasma tv uses as much energy per year as a fridge! If you have the patience to allow the tv to take a while to warm up and turn on, may I suggest a [smart strip](http://www.smarthomeusa.com/ShopByManufacturer/Bits-Ltd./Item/LCG5/)? It turns off the accessories to any component when the main component is off. Pays for itself. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/34 "2009-06-17T16:34:40Z")
Last months bill was 320, this months bill is 317. All this for a 1400 sf house that is kept between 78-82 degrees all summer. I have a feeling that the A/C isn’t very energy friendly (It’s roughly 10 years old) and my roommates new live-in girlfriend does laundry all. of. the. time. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/35 "2009-06-17T17:01:31Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > 80 is HOT. I wouldn’t stand to have my house so hot. Dude, when it is 110 degrees outside, and you come into an 80 degree house, you shiver. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/36 "2009-06-17T17:02:42Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Dude, when it is 110 degrees outside, and you come into an 80 degree house, you shiver. Nah, 80’s still hot. Especially if you’re a woman of a certain age. Which I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/37 "2009-06-17T23:43:51Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > my roommates new live-in girlfriend does laundry all. of. the. time. Does she pay 1/3 of the rent? 🙂 Fellas, tell us where you are and who your electric company is. The A/C is out at work in our part of the building. Built in 1900 (Yeah, that’s where you put the file servers, right?) the 12’ ceilings were built for Arkansas Summers. so it’s merely irritating at 90 F. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/38 "2009-06-18T02:07:52Z")
82 F at 21:09 west of Little Rock. _Dammit._ ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/39 "2009-06-18T13:56:02Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > If 80 is HOT, what on earth do you do when it gets up around 100? I mean, 80 is fairly warm, but if you’re dehumidified and got a breeze … Our summer electric bill is in the $150-170 range, but we live in Kansas. Hot with the extra benefit of 40-90% humidity on any given day. We mostly run the A/C for the dehumidification benefits. I think our thermostat is set to 74 or 75 right now. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818/40 "2009-06-18T18:12:17Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > Hot with the extra benefit of 40-90% humidity on any given day. We mostly run the A/C for the dehumidification benefits. I think our thermostat is set to 74 or 75 right now. Trust me when I say humidity is not a factor in Las Vegas. I can remember dying of heat in Illinois when it was only 85 degrees, but the humidity was about 95%! My mother use to tell us boys to wring out our t-shirts before entering the house! As much as people laugh when we say it, 110 is a very dry heat here\*. I think in the 10+ years I have lived in Las Vegas, I have only sweat about twice - and even that was just a bit damp on the brow. \*I will never forget the friend visiting here and we were out in the backyard until the wee hours. On our way in to bed, she quickly went to the backyard to get her light sweater and said, “I don’t want the dew to ruin my sweater in the morning…” We laughed and laughed…I don’t think Vegas has seen “dew” in 1000 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-electric-bill-was-only-283-this-month-gonna-be-a-long-summer/499818.md?page=3)