A Fair Amount of Money for Electricity?

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GrilledWitOnions

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What do you all pay for electricity? I'm in Northern California and my room mates and I paid $105 for our last bill (only bill so far, we just moved into a new house). $35 each. I think our house is 1200sq ft, average size. One room mate is complaining that that's a lot of money... I honestly was ready for $50 each. Any thoughts?
 
I think it really depends. Having electric heat can make the biggest difference.

I live in an 1000 sq/ft apartment with my wife and we are fairly energy conscious, but have the CFL light bulbs etc and spend about $30 - $40 a month in the winter and up to $60 a month in the summer with window AC units running.
 
When I lived in NorCal, for an apartment it was usually around $50 or so during the spring-fall, didn't turn on the A/C but it would climb to around $100 during the winter. Here in Alaska it's about $75-100 each month no matter what season it is, I blame that on my roommate who always has everything going and never shut it off.
 
[quote name='lordwow']What utilities are you running? Is your heat electric?[/quote]
I feel really dumb about this but I'm not sure. We have a gas water heater I believe; is that what basically is our heater? I've never really had experience with these types of things. But, to be clear, when I say electricity bill, I mean PG&E total - the electricity I think was $55 and the gas was $50.

I am more and more getting the impression though that basically the things that cost the most, will always cost the most - the fridge, washer/dryer etc. My computer probably comes in as a pretty pricey toy. From what I gathered online, light bulbs cost nothing to run. Apparently the formula is:

1. Appliance wattage ÷ 1000 = kilowatts (kW)
2. Kilowatts × (time appliance is switched on in hours) = kilowatt hours (kWh)
3. Kilowatt hours x cost per KWh is what you pay for that appliance to run.

So a 150 watt bulb (I think that's the highest we have, in the living room), is:
((150/1000)*(1 hour))*14.37 cents per kwh (from what I saw online with data through oct 08)= 2 cents. Am I correct in this understanding? Seems really insignificant to be worried about it.

Also, I don't have the bill itself handy (other room mate has it or has thrown it away), or I would get more definite figures.

Hope this makes sense - I am new to living on my own and appreciate the help.
 
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Your computer probably doesn't take too much, depending on how long you leave it on (if it's on all the time then that's probably around 20-30 kWh a month, so it'll cost you $3 or $4). Really the huge ones are fridge, AC/heat, washer, dryer, water heater, oven. If you have a gas water heater then you might also have a gas oven and maybe gas heat, which will raise or lower your total bill depending on how much you use it and how much you pay for gas. I believe gas is generally cheaper (?). We don't have gas at my house so everything is electric and we can pay up to around $200 or so in the summer when we're using the AC more (living with my parents, so I'm not really in charge of it).
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']What about a PS3 or 360? xD[/quote]

Haha, well they basically use the same amount of energy a computer would, but hopefully they're not used as often. With that you'd have to take into account the TV and stereo system too, depending on what you have hooked up. So if you have a decent sized LCD TV and a moderate stereo system I would guess you'd be using about 500-600 Watts for every hour you game. So if you extrapolate that to around 3 hours a day for 30 days then you get about 45-55 kWh a month, which at a 15 cent rate would be $7-$8 a month.

If you game the same amount on your PC you'll probably draw around that same amount of power per hour, depending on your set up.

I wasn't really thinking about the monitor with the PC in that earlier example, so maybe $4-$5 a month for the computer. I think I underestimated it for running 24/7 though, depending in what you do with it, it could probably cost $10-$15 a month if left on all the time and it's pulling around 100-150W when idle. I really don't know how much power an idle PC generally requires, but it's probably best to just cut the thing off, could save you at least $2-$3 a month.
 
[quote name='SpazX']Haha, well they basically use the same amount of energy a computer would, but hopefully they're not used as often. With that you'd have to take into account the TV and stereo system too, depending on what you have hooked up. So if you have a decent sized LCD TV and a moderate stereo system I would guess you'd be using about 500-600 Watts for every hour you game. So if you extrapolate that to around 3 hours a day for 30 days then you get about 45-55 kWh a month, which at a 15 cent rate would be $7-$8 a month.

If you game the same amount on your PC you'll probably draw around that same amount of power per hour, depending on your set up.

I wasn't really thinking about the monitor with the PC in that earlier example, so maybe $4-$5 a month for the computer. I think I underestimated it for running 24/7 though, depending in what you do with it, it could probably cost $10-$15 a month if left on all the time and it's pulling around 100-150W when idle. I really don't know how much power an idle PC generally requires, but it's probably best to just cut the thing off, could save you at least $2-$3 a month.[/quote]
I actually have 2 computers - one is a HTPC and one is my main comp. My main comp has 4 hard drives, a decent video card, a dvd burner. Using
this calculator, it seems I would need at MAX a 360 watt PSU. (I think I have 450 but it should never require more than 360). Using that, if left on all day, it costs $1.25/day - using it for 31 days is $38. Yikes! I have decided on 8 hours a day, or 41 cents, or about $12 a month. Much better.
My HTPC uses a low power CPU (45 watt), has 1 HDD, a BD/HD-DVD player, and a tv tuner. Uses 240 Watts max. 8 hours is 28 cents, or about $9 a month. I don't think either computer ever gets up to max wattage though, since I know I run my regular pc a LOT. Of course it might have made up the majority of the electricity bill.

If my math is off, let me know - I'd much rather like to pay $5 for my pc than $40!

Oh, and yah the lcd screen uses hardly anything - as does an lcd tv (which we have and use the most). LCD screen and tvs don't seem to show wattage, but it seems you can take Volts*Amps to get watts; my monitor is 1.5 amps and 120v (right?), so 180 watts, or 21 cents for 8 hours, or $6.50 for a month. I run my monitor probably a few hours each day though (usually turn it off while computer is on).
 
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1700 Sq. Foot house here. Keep one of my bedrooms sealed off. One TV on most of my day. Three computers, two laptops, PS3, 360 on a majority of the time. The highest my bill has been is $125, with the monthly average at between $75-100.

Your electric bill for $105, given your living situation, isn't all that terrible.
 
I live in the Midwest. 1744 sq ft house, all electric. My bills during the winter months are typically $200-220. During the Spring, Summer and Fall it's typically $120-140.

My main electronics include:

2 laptops
50" Plasma
PS3
Wii
Xbox 360
Water Heater
Water Softener
Heat Pump
Yamaha Receiver
Washer/Dryer
Fridge
Stove
 
I live in Sacramento right now in a place thats 1150 sq feet, our bill is usually around $90, sometimes higher, so that sounds just about right to me.
 
My wife and I recently moved into a 2000 sq ft home with a pool. Since October, we've been floored with monthly payments that average around $285/mo. Our previous home never went above $120, so I'm guessing that the pool pump must be adding a ton.
 
I live in a one bedroom by myself i think around 650 sq ft. I have electric heat and my bill in the winter hovers around $135
 
$50ish in winter (free gas heat) and about $120 in summer with A/C - in an 800 sq ft condo.

Once i move into a 2300sq ft townhouse in the summer, i'm sure the bills will be a bit higher. i'll be sure to utilize the dual-zoneness to see if that can help out.
 
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