Apparently somewhere in the southern California heat my husband and I got lazy... a little too lazy, and we are apparently going to be paying for it big time.
Our little AC wall unit (we don't have central air), when turned on is normally in energy saver mode around 75 degrees or so when the temperature is in the triple digits. Somewhere along the way though, it moved from energy saver mode... to "cool"... a chilly 72 degree chill...
It ran when we weren't home because we neglected to turn it off... it ran at night with the hopes that the cool air would make it into the bedroom...
We added fans all over the place, and yes some ran when we weren't home as well... I guess last month when we were spending more money then normal we forgot to be vigilant in other areas of our spending.
All of this is to preface our largest electric bill to date.... $105.73!
Not only did we go through all the tier 1 rates, the tier 2 rates, and the tear 3 rates... we entered the tear 4 rates...
Thankfully the "new billing cycle" started on the 26 of July so we have only had a few days of erratic consumption.
The wall unit is off. Our screen doors now stay open at night (Hubby did some repairs to them to make them close better, but that's a post for another day), and all the lights and fans are turned off when we aren't at home anymore.
Hopefully if we are careful and better about our choices we can start to correct the problem. I remember when our electric bill was $32.... (Before SCB... but even when he first moved in we managed to get by under $50 a month....)
Were making plenty of ice in the freezer for cold and chilled drinks... its supposed to be a roaster this weekend.
It's so hard to keep hydro bills down, especially in crazy hot weather! We've gotten up to 120F here this summer, so our central air has been running like crazy! Not excited to see our next bill... :/
ReplyDeleteCarla-
ReplyDeleteI totally don't envy 120 degree weather... My new "house clothes" are gym shorts and a sports bra (my hubby ain't complaining lol).
With my early morning shifts and my slightly erratic work week/schedule I've been so lethargic lately. I actually had to drink Coffee at work to keep going and it took all kinds of effort to motivate me to clean up the house with SCB today.
Be careful, as you are planning, but please don't go so far as to make yourselves uncomfortable at home.
ReplyDeleteJanF-
ReplyDeleteWe aren't going extreme... we just were treating ourselves like kings and queens before with our ac use.. now we are treating ourselves like normal people, lol.
Thankfully none of our windows hit direct sunlight and we actually get a decent cross breeze with a fan on to circulate the air. (It actually hasn't been too bad thus far) :)
but then again, its not 120 degrees here, lol... may high 90's