Can not understand my electric use?

johns4104s · January 25, 2009, 05:37:00 AM

Living in the 9 while we are constructing a house I am plugged into the 200 amp temporary Entergy service. Live in South east Texas.
My electric bill has averaged $165.00 per month for the past 5 months. The conversion is standard why so high?

John

gumpy · January 25, 2009, 05:48:37 AM

Electric heater?
Electric water heater?
Engine heater plugged in full time?

Seems pretty high to me, but I don't know how your bus is set up, or how you use it. Only you can answer your question since only you know what you
have that's electric and how much you use it.

Nusa · January 25, 2009, 06:19:17 AM

How much of that $165 is for the service, and how much is for usage? On your bill it should mention how many kilowatt-hours you used for the month. Divide that by 30 (or however many days the billing period is) to find out your daily usage. A 100-watt lightbulb left on 24-hours a day will take 100 watts x 24 hours = 2400 watt-hours = 2.4 kilowatt-hours.

See if you can figure out where it's going. Things to start with: Refrigerator, electric heaters of all sorts (oven, range, water, space, engine, etc), security lights, interior lights, pumps, fans, the power tools being used in construction, entertainment systems, and more.

You can read your meter yourself, daily, as a way of measuring actual usage. You might find that a construction day takes a lot more than an off day...those power tools can add up, depending on what they are.

rip · January 25, 2009, 06:33:03 AM

That does seem high.I also am building a house in the Phoenix area and my highest bill since Sept is under $100.00 a month.In Sept is was running two airs and now I use electric heat when needed.I do use propane for ref. and cooking.I will be setting up my shop to build my cabinets so I'm sure that figure will go up.
Don

steve5B · January 25, 2009, 07:02:17 AM

You might want to check how much you are paying per KW. per hr, and if there is a meter charge.

Steve 5B....

buswarrior · January 25, 2009, 07:38:29 AM

Can't help without more details!

A temporary connection may be priced differently?

we need power used?

Fuel economy can't be calculated by what you spent, especially if you included a carwash!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

Jriddle · January 25, 2009, 09:07:34 AM

It would be hard to guess on this one with out more info. Did power company install temporary panel? Is there a rent charge? Are you suppling the neighbors at night?

John

HB of CJ · January 25, 2009, 04:01:44 PM

Does your monthly electric bill include the electricity used in your house construction? Or do you have a separate power meter for your Bus Conversion only and the house power bill is additional?

If your usage includes the house, then it's very possible to run up very high power bills. Those big chop, skill and table saws use up a lot. Add that Big compressor for the other stuff and you use lots of juice.

If you are on a separate meter, then look to see how many KWH you used per month. Bus Conversions in winter can use a lot of power, but you are in Texas. How cold has it been? Hope this helps. HB of CJ

VanTare · January 25, 2009, 04:45:26 PM

John you do know that in the State of Texas you can buy electric power from other companies. I don't know where you live in east Texas but most areas have a least 3 different power Co's. check your area where I live we have 6 different power Co's and the price is from .08 cents to .15 cents so shop around I pay .08 per KWH and yes CJ this year has been cold all over the State of Texas

David

Kwajdiver · January 25, 2009, 04:53:23 PM

One thing you may want to look at, what are you using for heat. If you are using the overhead A/C units to heat the coach, they will suck you out of all your cash. When I was in Little Rock, and the weather turn cold, I found out, just how much two overheads cost to run. I had a thread just like yours, when I got my first electric bill at the Little Rock KOA.

Also, I turn my water heater off most of the time. Turn it on 15 minutes before I want to use it.

Good Luck,

Bill

Greg Roberts · January 25, 2009, 05:06:17 PM

That is true in most of Texas but last I checked Entergy was not an Opt-in company and this means only Entergy can sell in their certified area. They have a strong lobby group and many consultants like most utilities and the result is a thorough screwing of the consumer. They actually have no risk of loss in their business and simply pass on all costs and losses from bad decisions to the rate base (consumer). Take a look at how the fed treated them when they lost a plant and some lines during Katrina and you will be shocked at how in bed with the politicians these type companies are these days. Southern Company is another along with about 100 others.

Quote from: VanTare on January 25, 2009, 04:45:26 PM
John you do know that in the State of Texas you can buy electric power from other companies. I don't know where you live in east Texas but most areas have a least 3 different power Co's. check your area where I live we have 6 different power Co's and the price is from .08 cents to .15 cents so shop around I pay .08 per KWH and yes CJ this year has been cold all over the State of Texas

David

johns4104s · January 25, 2009, 05:48:05 PM

I have been using Water heater,two 1500 watt heaters,small micro,small griddle and outside lights, I will check the meter and check the bill to see whats going on,

Thanks

John
PS Greg that's a good looking Eagle, do you have any pictures posted.

belfert · January 25, 2009, 06:32:55 PM

Two electric heaters could potentially use $7 a day in power at 10 cents a KW, but they probably don't run anything close to 24x7 in Texas. Still, the heat could possibly be half your bill.

David Anderson · January 25, 2009, 07:04:39 PM

John,
I'm going to make an assumption here since I live in Texas and thanks to our perfect hair governor, Rick Perry, who promised total deregulation would bring us all the choices we want, we are blessed with some of the highest rates in the U.S. The best rate I could shop for at my house was .16 cents per kw, so your bill may have been $165/.16=1031 kilowatt hours. That doesn't sound like too many kw for what you described you have hooked into your meter. Check your bill and see how many kw you used.

This deregulation BS only helped those who sell, not those who consume. Example, in Austin I paid .05 cents per kw for a rent house I owned. Austin is owned by the city and doesn't have to make a profit for Wall Street derivative sellers. San Antonio is city owned, also, though it is a few cents higher than Austin. Both opted out of the competition in the Texas deregulation market and it has benefited its ratepayers tremendously. Houston's largest provider is Reliant and my oh my, I had to to buy power from them one time on a temporary basis and it was .22 cent per kw.

The upside to all this is that many in Texas are scrambling to devise ways to conserve energy.

I'll come down off my soapbox now.

David

Bob Gil · January 25, 2009, 07:18:17 PM

Did they come by and read the meter on a high comsuption month and just guess it to be the same the following months?

They did that to me a while back until I called them because i noticed the readings on the bill were no where close to the ones on the meter.

Bob