holy crap! what a bill

[Sang]

SO i just got my APS bill *power* and its 600 bucks, now i keep my AC at 76. i am running 2 60 watt house bulbs in two small silver domes, 2 reptisun 5.0's 18" and 1 reptiglo 8.0 18".
i also have a zoomed 100 watt basking bulb.

i have a herp mist mister.



can my lights being on from 6am-7pm be affecting my power bill, i know this is AZ, and the summers are hell. but can i keep my AC at 78? that means the air won't kick on till after the room reaches at least 79-80.

it'll take about 15 mins to cool back to 78.


im concerned now, cause were i am living and how my job is , its very hard to accomodate a 600 dollar bill.


i leave the rest of my lights off during the day, the TV is off, the PC is on, but the screen is off.

the draw on the PC is not even that much.


whats goin on >.< 600 bucks is insane to keep my house cool..need ideas for keeping this one room cool.

 

[jojackson]

If the sun hits exterior walls of that room for most of the day, try installing shadesail/s to minimise heat absorbtion, or grow shade trees aswell.

 

[Syn]

I would call about that. Our power bill never goes 75$ a month.

I leave the computer on all day, at least 5 lights on if not more..

Your bill shouldn't be that much unless you are freezing your house - how big is your house??

 

[Vegas Chad]

I would call about that. Our power bill never goes 75$ a month.

I leave the computer on all day, at least 5 lights on if not more..

Your bill shouldn't be that much unless you are freezing your house - how big is your house??

$75 sounds VERY low, however $600 is VERY VERY high!!!

I my bill aint that high and the AC is on all day and we have rooms full of lights on. ?????

 

[Syn]

Well we also have a swamp cooler and not AC. It's worth it.

 

[Veiled Guy]

I would definatly check on that unless you live in a mansion. We live in a moderate size house with alot and i mean alot of lights on for chams and our bill is just around $700 and thats with the an increase due to the heat of the summer. Good Luck with that one.

 

[luevelvet]

We live in Florida and out bill rarely goes over 250-300 per month. We run a lot of electricity all day....

AC set to 76 to cool the whole house (1400 sq/f)
120 gal reef tank with 920 Watts of lights and pumps etc..
2 40 watt radiant heat panels for the pythons
4 75 watt heat lamps for the chameleons
a number of fluorescent fixtures for the repti-suns.

The list goes on, so i would say hat 600 is much to much to pay for what you have going on.

Luis

 

[codiwatkins]

I live in a 1100 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment....and the most my bill has EVER been in $178

I keep my thermostat at 74 all the time. I have 2 10 gallon fish tanks up and running with lights pump and bubble wands in both . A lap top that is always on. 2 70 watt heat bulbs. 3 reptisun 5.0 bulbs on for 12 hours a day and fans on in almost every room in my house except the one that the chams are in. Oh and my son leaves his bathroom light on all the time because he is convinced that the rat from teenage mutant ninja turtles lives under his bathtub and is going to come out if the light is off

I wish I could have a $75 electric bill! That would be so freaking cool. I could buy a mist king with the money I would save in one month!

 

[Sang]

my room is facing the East side, so it gets the morning sun, the thermostate is in teh LR next to it, so when that room heats up, it gets the direct sun from 11-5... our sun doesn't go down till like 7:30 sometimes it feels like 8:00...


the house has two AC units, my unit cools the LR/DR 1 big room, laundry room, and work room, my room and kitchen... the other AC unit cools the other 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

im going to try turning off two of the vents in other rooms, my bathrooms don't need to be cool and neither does my laundry room work room.


600 just seems so over the top, even for all my lights + tv +PC that should only be like 50-60 a month , maybe another 65 for my AC unit. and onther 70-80 for the other AC unit.


this is so frustrating.

 

[blackbetty]

Could you use perhaps some standard house fans that take less electricity to help keep the house cooler, or maybe just int the rooms of the chams wile you are away?What about one of those reverse green fans where it takes the heat from outside and converts it to cool air to blow in the room. I think they go in your window.. Closing vents will push the cooler air to other rooms too. Try putting heavy blankets over the windows to shield the sun or invest in blackout curtains. We have those in our LR and dining room where the sun hits us and it slike a dungeon in here and air doesnt kick on til its 79 inside.

 

[Sang]

betty, on average the heat here is about 90 at nights and 90 in the mornings, soon as noon hits it can be as high as a 116-120 depending on the week/time of summer.

my room is fairly dark and i have large shutters on the windows,

 

[ChrisnLisa]

Sang- I would probably call about that. Is your meter inside or outside. At our last place, it was inside so they would "estimate" our bill and mess it up all the time. Our place is about 1300 sq ft, we have 14 cages, misters, etc. and our highest bill so far this year has been $140. Last year when we had a bigger place 2200 sq ft the highest was about $220. This is in NV too, and we live the air at about 74 all day and night. I would call if I were you. Did your company recently increase their rates?

 

[Sang]

i dunno, but if they did ... it sucks being limited to APS or SRP...aps is the only thing available here.

the house is 2400 SQF, and i have two AC units.

yah, 600 is insane.
my sister is supposedly calling. i havn't heard from her in a while.

 

[dondeb562]

I had to call 2 weeks ago about my electric bill. It had more then doubled. They accidentlly put a 4 instead of a 2 at the begining numbers on the wattage used. I have a smaller house then you but keep it at 78 maybe 80, and have 17 basking bulbs (some 150 watts) 14 flo. bulbs, fish tank etc and my bill was $250....
Do you know where your meter is?? Check the numbers with your bill. That's what I did....

 

[Pure]

Sang, Check your hot water heaters and your AC units. If one of the elements is burned out the other can stay on to try and make up for the dead element. Also if just one of your AC units is too small for the job (an extra hot month) and had to run 24/7 it will make your bill go this high.

Back when I ran all my tanks (40) my electric bill was a little more than yours ATM. My house was only 1600 or something sqft. Sweating it out for a month with no AC revealed that the majority of our bill was because the AC was running non stop. It was having to fight against the BTUs produced by the heaters in all the tanks and just couldn't cut it.

Also check how much they are charging per kilowatt. I know some cities/states hike up the price when the price of oil goes up. That doesn't make sense right now as it's relatively cheap. I dunno, it's worth checking.

edit: BTW Right now I'm in a 2600 sqft house. I run 8 fish tanks. 4 planted with the extra lights for the plants, and 1 with 4 filters turning 2500 gallons per hr.. 2 Cham cages, the one is the Melleri running 4 basking lamps and 1 dual 48 inch strip floro. We have a 6 or 8 ton (I forget) AC unit. Keep it at 74 during the day and 68 at night. Plus we are running 2 hot water heaters. Our bill rarely goes over 400, and it only might get that high in August. So yeah there is definitely "something" going on in your case.

 

[Sang]

the water heater is gas, so im not worried about that.

we don't cook often.

we have two AC units, mine is on auto to kick on when ever the house gets above 76. which here is very easy when its 105 out.

 

[Syn]

It's 99 and slightly cloudy!

 

[laurie]

Sang my husband said to turn the air conditioner on as high as it will go, take your infrared thermometer, point it at the air conditioner vent closest to your furnace, and the air temp coming out should be in the 30's or 40's. If it is not try to find "nu-brite air conditioner coil cleaner & clean the condenser coil. David said if you find the nu-brite cleaner to be sure you rinse the coil really well and follow the safety instructions as this is some nasty corrosive stuff .If you don't know how to do it find someone to do it. If the coil is really dirty the air conditioner has to stay on a lot longer to cool the house.

Also check your meter readings as compared to the ones shown on your bill. Last he said to request the electric company come out and do a FREE energy audit for you

If all else call and David can walk you through it. Just PM me for the phone #.

Hope this helps

 

[Sang]

its funny you mention having the AC unit cleaned, the company i work for, we do Air duct/ AC unit cleans when our hours are slow, and the insurance companies are not having any emergencies.

 

[ColorCham427]

our bill is 450 per month. but again, we keep the house at a very comfortable 64-66 degrees.