Your average kilowatt-hour (kWh) usage? Anyone care to post theirs?? - Page 2

[Storm Bride]

I don't have my November bill yet (we're on a two month billing cycle). The graph for last November shows average daily usage of about 38 kWh. It's a bar graph, and the lines are about every 17/18 kWh - November '08 is just over the 35 line. (We peaked at a daily average of 70 kWh in March - so mid-Jan to mid-March - during a really, really cold winter. DH has the heat on a little more than I would, but I couldn't really blame him on that one.)

We have 6 people (one an infant) in a 1250 sq.ft. townhouse. We have no gas. The heating is electric baseboards and the stove is electric. We have one computer, and it's on pretty much all day if I'm home, and 24/7 during dh's pager week, which is roughly one week in five. We don't line dry, because I can't find anywhere to rig one. We also have a dehumidifier running pretty much 24/7. Without it, our walls are damp most of the year and it's really kind of gross...and moldy.

[UberMama]

Originally Posted by UptownZoo

Hmmm...so the insulation/windows aren't the problem. I definitely think that doing some more investigating is worth your time. Something just has to be going on there. Although I did think of one thing: my oven/stove are gas, so if you cook a lot and yours are electric, maybe that's part of the difference?

Could be? We have electric everything, no gas. Plus the extra freezer (full size upright) out in the garage. It is an older freezer, but we don't have much choice to get a newer one, as we're beyond broke (and we need it for space, of course). :/ I am sure it sucks the energy.

And our flat screen TV, while an awesome win of mine, I am sure sucks the electricity. DH and I watch a lot of TV once the kids go to bed.

ETA: Here's our usage chart: http://i38.tinypic.com/kci7x3.jpg I am shocked that last December isn't higher, being that is when the Pac NW was hit with 2' of snow (unheard of for us). We were stuck at home for a good week. But then the week of Christmas, we weren't home as we stayed with our ILs. January was of course colder than usual, but in the 70's? That shocks me. :/

[PenelopeJune]

We've only lived in this house for 2 months, so I don't really have an average yet. The first month we averaged 10 kwh's per day, with a total of 300 kwh. The second month we ran an electric heater part of the time and it jumped to 16 per day, and 496 for the month. I really like my bill, because it averages out how much I pay per day. The first month our electricity cost us $1.90 per day, the second month it was $2.50 per day.

We live in an 800 square foot house, with electric stove, but gas heat and water heater. There are 4 of us.

Our old house, a 1200 square foot, much better insulated place, we ran between 600-800 kwh per month. Wow. That is a HUGE difference!

[terrabella]

We go through about 3 a DAY.

[Drummer's Wife]

From my current bill:

41.25 kWh @ $4.38 per day.



6 people in 3,000 sq ft. - but that still seems really high! We do have electric powered well water so maybe that is a big part of it with all the laundry, showers, dishes, etc.

ETA: I just looked, and it is much higher for the months where we have the A/C running almost constantly. This past month was not one of them.

[SAHDS]

October is 39/day.

Highest this year was 41, lowest was 29.

Four people in 2500 sq ft.

We do have gas too (water heater, furnace, range, 2 fireplaces).

[nathansmum]

We have a 4 person family, the house is just over 100sq metres and annually we use about 5,500 kw which works out about 15kw/day. During winter we have a woodburner and don't use any other electric heating and don't own a clothes dryer (electricity heats our water though). Our power bill summer and winter is almost the same as we don't have any cooling during summer.

[Tizzy]

Ours for September was 13, we average 15 over the entire year. It goes up in the winter a bit (shorter days) and down to 6 in the summer.
We run two large chest freezers, a heat lamp or two and/or stock tank heater over the winter, the fan on the propane stove, a 3yr old fridge, 65yr old oven, space heater in the kids room set low overnight and a laptop.
This is 4 people in a 2500sq. ft house that was built in 1840(kitchen)/1904(main house).
Last year just about killed me because due to renovations, we were using the electric furnace. OH MY GOSH when I got the $1100 electricity bill one month I just about had a heart attack. But we didn't pay for propane which works out to $1200/winter. So it does even out, but still....

[mnnice]

Originally Posted by Delicateflower

This can't be right. Ours was 9.96kwh/day in October. 2600 sq feet. But maybe because there wasn't much a/c or heating that month? Our average price is 8 cents per kwh, more in summer, less in winter.

That's about what ours was and what I would expect for us in a low heating/cooling month.

We range from about 250 kw to about 900 depending on the weather. Most bills are between about 300 and 450. We are a family of 4 in about 1600 sq feet. We have an energy star washer and dishwasher and about 80% of our lighting is CFL. Our fridge and stove are electric and definitely not the newest, most effiecent. We have central air, but it's really not necessary in our climate and we used it a maybe 6 days in 2009 (which would be pretty average). We have an electric dryer, but hardly ever use it. We have natural gas heat and water heater. We have one computer (laptop and two tv's, but one is rarely used and on a power strip.)

If your freezer is only partial filled you should fill it up with some jugs of water. It will run more effiecently and not thaw so fast if you would have a power interuption. Also I know that my garage is the hotest part of my house in hot weather (poorly insulated, south facing) and would be a poor place to put a freezer.

[FillingMyQuiver]

For our October bill, we used just over 27kWh/ day.

We have a 2400sq ft home, 6 people (2 adults, 4 kids, 2 of which are in FT CD), HE FL W/D, LARGE chest freezer, EVERYTHING is electric. We turn our 7yo laptop off at night, but it's on all day, I'm very diligent about turning off lights, but our tvs and electronics are NOT on power strips (they used to be and we had cable problems).

[Kyamo]

We are two adults living in a roughly 1100 sq foot house. We have electric stove, washer, and dryer, gas hot water.
We average 12.9 kWh/day May-Oct.
We average 33.3 kWh/day Nov-Apr. This is because we have electric baseboard heating (no furnace).

We are billed for two months at a time. The summer bills are about $120 for two months, the winter bills can be $200-350 for two months, depending on outside temperature.

[Kyamo]

Originally Posted by Malva

My most recent bill, up to Oct 14, we averaged 20.05 kWh/day. Bill looked like this for a 62 days period:

Green Electricity $110.66
GST $5.53

Provincial Benefit $47.44
Delivery $58.27
Regulatory Charges $8.08
Debt Retirement Charge $8.34
GST $6.10

Hot Water heater Rental $20.72
GST $1.04

Total $266.18

What drives me crazy is that regardless of how much or how little I use, the majority of the charges don't change. I could average 2 kWh/day and yes, the Electricity line on my bill would show a smaller amount but the rest of the bill would stay the same.

We get billed every two months.

Our account history shows:

2009-10-14 20.05 kWh/day
2009-08-13 17.95 kWh/day
2009-06-10 21.24 kWh/day
2009-04-15 29.12 kWh/day
2009-02-11 42.74 kWh/day
2008-12-12 26.17 kWh/day
2008-10-10 19.25 kWh/day

Are you sure all those items would stay the same if you used less? My bill is dramatically higher during winter months due to electric heating, and my Delivery, Regulatory, and Debt Retirement charges all get dramatically higher as well. They are linked to the amount of kWh you use - at least they are with Toronto Hydro.

[HeatherAtHome]

Ok, ours is HORRIBLE.

We just moved into our house and got an electric bill for 37 days.

We have *everything* electric (heat, hot water, stove etc)

Our consumption for 37 days was 1610kWh = 43.51 /day

The first 30 kWh per day are charged at .0545$

Remaining consumption is charged .0746$

2 adults living in a 935sq ft house

We have all CFL light bulbs, use the stove once a day, had the heat on since we moved in*, have all new appliances, no freezer plugged in yet, keep the computer on all the time*, have an old water heater but it was only in use 17 out of 37 days and we've been without water since (don't ask, should be in this weekend and we have a brand new water heater to go in).

We have new windows but the biggest culprit is lack of insulation in this 100 year old house that has a cheaply built addition that was tacked on in the 60's. The heat is *always* on in the addition (digital thermostats with wavy lines showing). We had an EcoEnergy evaluation (I started a tread about it a couple weeks ago) and they figured we have a 19.5ACH (AIR CHANGE PER HOUR!!!) rate. Which means all our heat is going outside.

We're slowing insulating and paying as we go for hydro (vs equal payment plan) so that we can see how the work is affecting our bill.

[Ola_]

Our house is about 1200-1300 sq feet. We have a gas furnace but use electric in the summer for AC. We're billed in 3 month chunks so I don't have a month-to-month breakdown but they do give us kWh/day averages for each 3 month period. Our highest was 28 kWh/day when we first moved in 2 years ago (summer time). Our lowest was this summer at about 12 kWh/day. We usually seem to hover around 18-22 kWh though.

[VisionaryMom]

We're using 1100 KwH per month on average. We just did the Low Carbon Diet program with a group of families, and we've made some changes to cut back on ours. We're hoping to reduce our electric use by 10% next year. One of our problems is that we have the cheapest electric rates in the country here, and unfortunately that means it's easy to use more than you should without it costing too much. On the good side, we've talked to the kids about it, and they've really picked up quickly on small things we can do.

[Malva]

Originally Posted by Kyamo

Are you sure all those items would stay the same if you used less? My bill is dramatically higher during winter months due to electric heating, and my Delivery, Regulatory, and Debt Retirement charges all get dramatically higher as well. They are linked to the amount of kWh you use - at least they are with Toronto Hydro.

It fluctuates but always remains more than the cost of the electricity itself.

As for those wondering about why it varies so much from household to household, it could be that some have gas powered hot water heater and others have electric hot water heater. It probably makes quite a difference.

[UptownZoo]

One HUGE difference, too, for those of you who have very high numbers in the summer months, is air conditioning. Here in the desert, we can get by with evaporative coolers and fans, which use dramatically less energy than air conditioning. Just one more thing to consider. Oh, and if you live in a very humid area, how much electricity do your dehumidifiers use?

Don't mind me. Just brainstorming to find some of the causes of these huge differences.

[BBerryBliss]

My highest numbers are in the winter. We have baseboard heat and a really drafty place, everything is electric. No extra freezers or anything. We do have a washer and dryer and a dishwasher.

My useage in the summer with a window A/C is 33/kwh a day or so. In the winter with the heat at 65 it can get up to 70/kwh a day. We are 2 adults and 1 child in 800 sqft duplex.

[_ktg_]

We have a 1800sq ft house with 2 HVAC systems (one upstairs & one downstairs).

Our latest usage was: 23.13kWh @ $3.07/cost per day

Last year's usage was: 22.62kWh @$ 2.95/cost per day

Now I'm all over DH to start shutting down our powerstrips for the TV/console systems and the computer at night to see if we can reduce our use that way for electricity.

Next month I'm hoping to see a difference!

[springbabes]

Family of 6
3600 sq ft house
22 kWh/day in Oct.

Our highest month was August when we used 40 kWh/day.

This is probably terrible, but I've never tried to lower our electric bill. I do shut off lights whenever I find one on (which is often), but our computers are never shut off at night. They do go into sleep mode, though--I assume that uses less electricity. We only have one refrigerator and we use gas for almost everything (range, furnace, water heater, dryer). I'm kind of thinking 22 kWh might be on the high side in that case. Hmm, I wonder how much electricity the dishwasher uses. . . I run it twice a day, which is totally not optional.

My DH is TERRIFIED of running the AC. He's sure that one of these days we're going to get hit with a $500/month bill. So if we ran the AC as much as our neighbors I'm sure we'd use much more than 40 kWh/day in the summer. I feel fine about our AC use.