Yes, I’m grumbling about my electric bill ![]()
All of them. A typical modern electronic device with a wall wart burns a nickel a month just sitting there. If you’ve got a big bill, it doesn’t come from those unless you have hundreds thousands.
Nothing that consumes a lot of power. Cable modem is obviously on 24x7, and a Wi-Fi bridge downstairs. Power consumption is negligible. Two desktop computers automatically sleep after a couple of hours.
The LED lamp in the exhaust vent over the stove has been on 24x7 for years, as well as the table lamp in the family room. Neither uses any significant amount of power.
I think most of my electricity charges come from air conditioning in the summer (I like it cool) and, somewhat ironically, from using a space heater in the winter. And probably miscellaneous stuff like both the gas furnace and hot water heater are ventilated by forced-air fans.
My power coop sends me a bill each month showing what’s using up most of my electricity, and it’s usually heating/ac, refrigeration, lighting, water heater, laundry, and cooking. Those are the ones I would focus on. Perhaps your electricity rate has increased. You might want to check on that, too.
Standard appliances of course, but the one less common thing is a UPS that powers my firewall and POE network switches. Those switches then power many things such as security cameras and various home automation bits and bobs.
I was so proud of myself as I wired up Power of Ethernet from one of the POE switches to my home automation server (Home Assistant), as I thought about how all of my triggers and switches and fancy gadgets would all work even if power failed…then I realized the absolute silliness of having switches silently toggling at my beck and call with no mains power to actually light the lights.
But if the power goes out I’d have an hour or two of video of whatever is going on outside and possibly even gigabit Internet access during that time.
I’m not disputing your experience, but I’m wondering how your power supplier can do anything other than guess at the makeup of your power consumption?
I wondered that too, but apparently they have a way to discern what is using the most and least amount of energy. I don’t think they are making it up just to make us feel better.
Uh … if I said “pretty much everything” does that make me bad? ![]()
To be precise: my TV, my monster desktop computer, my fridge, my toaster, my microwave, my clocks, and my Keurig.
I get “poison pen letters” from ComEd about my usage. They compare me to others and kind of go like this:
Your Most Efficient neighbors:
… … … …
Average Usage in Your Area:
… … … … … …
YOU!! ![]()
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …!!
The usual kitchen and laundry appliances, of course. Others are home phone base and receivers in other rooms. Power strips assigned to the router, two desktop computers, two monitors and related sound equipment. Also various floor lamps, three clock radios in the bedroom (yes, we have clock radios), and we leave two lights bulbs on in the garage 24/7 because my wife insists they inhibit the growth of mold. What else? Garage door opener. Three nightlights designed to come on in the event of a power failure but otherwise just act as nightlights. One wall clock. Two humidifiers in the winter and three floor fans in the summer. I think that covers it.
I’d like to ask a different variant of the OP’s question:
What non-battery electrical / electronic devices do you own and use regularly that you unplug between uses?
I have a couple of seldom-used kitchen appliances that are unplugged when not used just because they live in a cabinet, not on the counter. If they did live on the counter, they’d be plugged in. I also have a couple of special purpose battery chargers that are seldom use and so not plugged in: e.g. e-bike charger used every couple of weeks, toothbrush charger for a toothbrush I don’t now use. AFAIK, that’s it for me.
All the USB power warts I own are always plugged in and dangling the various connectors for me to recharge my various USB-chargeable devices.
Other than that, if I own it and it has a 110v plug, it’s plugged in. I have rather less stuff than most folks though.
The usual appliances and computers, of course. And three air purifiers that go into sleep mode at night.
I get those letters from my gas company. I do okay on electric. But everything that can be gas is: heat, hot water, dryer, range. And my house has terrible insulation.
Years ago I read a story about a person wondering why the electric bill was so high. While reseaching, it turned out that removing one of the fuses made the street lights go out.
I’m skeptical that a single household fuse can handle multiple streetlights. Also why it was wired that way in the first place.
Or maybe it was a cover for growlights.
Somebody semi-rural could certainly have a long driveway with smaller post lights along it that they had assumed the county was paying for. Until they pulled the fuse and found out the truth.
But other than that corner case I agree that sounds a lot like one of those just-so Urban Legends.
I get “poison pen letters” from ComEd about my usage. They compare me to others and kind of go like this:
I get the same from them, every month. They go right into the recycling bin. I get why they do it, but my wife and I are both home most of the day, so, yeah, maybe we use more electricity than our neighbors. I don’t care.
Even more annoying and useless are the notes from ComEd saying, “you are trending towards a higher electricity bill this month!” Me: “Yes, I know…did you know that it’s been 90+ degrees out for the past month? This is called ‘using the air conditioner.’”
We leave most things plugged in. The only thing we turn off is lights and laptops when they aren’t being used. We have a big screen TV in the den, but it’s barely used these days. Biggest jump is in August when we have 2 window-unit ACs running. I can’t complain too much about our electric bill. Here’s our yearly usage for a household of 3 in NE Ohio:
I don’t care.
Good for you! Hell, you’re paying for it, so why are they crying about it?
I live alone so, when I leave in the morning at 5:45 am, all the lights are off and the TV is off until at least 4 pm, and sometime I don’t turn on the TV until 6:00 or so. How can I be an energy pig? Maybe if I ate raw vegetables and used candle light?
They think I’m using a lot of electricity now? My tree goes up and my balcony lights go on Thanksgiving eve, and I leave them on until the 10th of January! ![]()
Hell, you’re paying for it, so why are they crying about it?
I believe that they do the “energy efficiency” program to help customers who have high bills – and complain about them – understand that there may be steps that they (the customers) can take to lower their bills. I suspect that the “compared to your neighbors” aspect of it presumes that your home is relatively comparable to your neighbors’ homes.
The weird part is that about the only thing that really causes our own electricity usage to vary is seasonally-based things: running fans and the AC in the summer, and using the lights (and a space heater) more in the winter. And, yet, how we perform compare to our neighbors, in those letters, varies a lot: some months we’re below average, and some months we’re well above average, and it doesn’t seem to be directly related to the season.