Last month my electric bill

was $66.00 for a 1300 sq. ft. house, but the other day APS was given approval to a 4.5% monthly increase. Winter is not a problem here, summer, everyday over 100 degrees and above. Last summer my high bill was $150.00 and I kept the temp at 80. I am not looking forward to this summer. It is quite warm in the house tonight, my ceiling fans are on, no way will I put the air on yet. It is 80 degrees in the house, my doors are open but there is no breeze outdoors. Time to change the way I dress I guess. Guess this summer my light at night will come from my computer.

I like to keep mine around 70 usually.

For February 8th through March 29th was $450. I wear big sweaters in the house and we went out and bought electric heaters and move them from room to room. Had a very cold and snowy winter. Couldn't lower the thermostat any more or the pipes would start freezing.

This is GAS heat, not oil, which is supposed to be cheaper.

Geez, I don't know what I would do if I had to pay that every month. Are you able to save for this during the summer months?

You nay have a bad meter or a gas leak perhaps? Maybe a cracked heat exchanger in you furnace? Do you have a wood burning fire place and maybe the flu is stuck open? Something doesn't sound right.

Don

built in 1987.

My house is a few years older than yours but it does have 6 inch walls which help out a lot. Though most of the heat loss is through the roof. That still seems really high. I just don't know?

Don

And we kept the heat at mid 60's all winter and wore lots of sweaters. Summer hear is a lot cheaper though, we only need the ac on during the afternoon then it's nothing at night. Gas heat too.

I keep my 20 year old house at 72 degrees all the time and also heat my 2 car attached garage at 70 degrees with a ventless heater and my bill never went over 80 dollars a month this past winter.

Don

Where are you? I never had a low bill like that in any house I've lived in in NY. Seriously thinking of solar panels or something, it will only get worse.

I;m concerned about the heat in Arizona this summer.

12yrs old and well insultated but a lot of windows. Double paned but a lot of them and high ceilings. Great for the views but at a price. The furnace was inspected at the beginning of the season. I think it's the rates here that are high. With the kids still home it's a nice size but when they start to think of their own places I will be downsizing. Smaller place, smaller bills.

They used to burn the excess gas off, In giant flames. It is a nuisance and a natural by product of oil production. Environmental regulations forced the oil companies to modify (48) 747 jet engines that pump the gas back into the ground. This overpressurizes the natural well head flow and severely hampers production, so more robust pumps are needed to overcome the back pressure. Of course, all this extra cost is passed on to the end customer. Some of this Alaska oil is shipped to japan , China nad other Asian countries. Some of the gas, a very small percentage is liquified and shipped by tankers (at enormous cost).

The saddles of the transAlaska pipeline were built to hold three pipes. One main pipe for liquid petroleum, and two smaller pipes for natural gas or other products. In the 70's when the project was being built. Cost overruns due to fines and zealous regulations(read- polititians wanted their slice). The plan for the 2 smaller pipes were scrapped.

Now the Alaska political machine wants to play ball and install the new pipe. Keep in mind they just spent millions on seismic retrofits. So there is obviously a plan to keep this cash cow a major employer for many years to come.
In the meantime while the political games continue(I'm sure Cheney's energy bill would shed much light on this subject).Canada has a fully functional pipeline that could easily be connected to the US system right around Wisconsin (basically where all the gas is needed). It is a far more cost effective route as on a few hundred miles of new line would have to be constructed in order to hook to the US systems. Of course the Alaska political machine doesn't take kindly to this sort of talk, and are ready to go through with that pipe they helped block in the 78's. They have their engines all revved and are willing to build thousands of miles of new pipeline (at billions more than it would have costed in the seventies of course).

Around these parts , they have doubled and tripled my heat bills, they keep crying, there is no gas - get used to it. However there is a small driller in these parts, he sinks holes for the city on golf courses and publiuc places like the Babylon courthouses and such. 90% of the holes he sinks are lucrative producers. The steel mills used to have their own private wells , and the papers have been blathering on for years how all those are sucked dry. I know for a fact this is complete poppycock for the American sheeple. BTW the holes this driller is sinking , are well outside of the evershrinking patches of where the gas should be according to the USGS.

So therein lies the dillema , We have oil companies that would burn it off if they could do so. we have Exxon posting 8.5 Billion in profits for the first quartes of this year. We ship our own oil to Asia. And you will pay $500 per month in the cold months for years to come.

Meanwhile Darpa has invested in a certain nanotechnology company in Northern California. You see this company knows how to make non- photovoltaic solar panels. They are highly efficient and can be massed produced for a fraction of the cost of PV solar. This new technology can even be put into paint, you know the stuff they used to put on houses. How soon do you think the public will get it's hands on this, now that Darpa is involved?

Are you beginning to get the picture.....

man it was a cold winter.I caulked my windows and put plastic up cleaned out the furnace put in a new filter,didn't make any difference.
In the summer my electric bill will be just as high because of the air conditioner. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.

Take the profit out of all the necessities, like the Labour gov in
england did in '46. Same time that they booted out the RW idol, churchill. Had enough of his pompous nonsense for a while.

nationalized over nine basics: rail, air, electric, trucks, banks, steel, coal, gas, phone and some others.

Health too, date unknown.

nationalizing is not unprecedeented in the British culture sphere. Nothing alien or foreign about it.

Just supressed history few now know.
Cheap electric will never come till you nationalize it. Co-ops also a good choice. 25% cheaper if co-ops.
You will never hear that on your MSM tv news.

speaking of tv,... just saw the sponsors on fox.. whiskey and a casino. So backward, so full of harm.

electric company.

People from outside the town used to marvel and how low my monthly electric bill was--and I had electric heat.

The surrounding communities are always trying to be annexed into it because the rates are much cheaper than PG&E and the service is better. Also SMUD kicks ass when it comes to conservation and green power, they discount compact flourescent bulbs and offer rebates for a lot of energy upgrades.

Imagine if the law made it easier for electricity to go municipal so everybody could get greener power and decent service at a reasonable rate.

and i live in sacramento, reknown for its 100+ ("but it's a DRY heat") summer temps. i can't tolerate temperature extremes. i have a 29 yr old all electric 975 sf home and before i replaced the heat pump/ac, i had bills that were usually around 128 bucks in the summer (one time it was 170!!), and the temp would never go below 80 in the house. it was insufferable.

after the new energy efficient unit was put in in 2002, my bill never goes above 80 bucks a month, year round (and our winters are chilly, although rarely freezing). i got it with a SMUD 5yr low interest loan - it's the best investment i've made so far in my home.

... lots of Americans are going to learn to live with less heat and less A/C.

Hate those freeps and everything they stand for!

it is warm here that is why I remain on the computer where I receive the air from my ceiling fan. At night I have a ceiling fan over my bed, and another circulating fan.

My greatest fear.... the ceiling fan will fall on my bed not only making a mess of me, but also my waterbed. I think my dogs would move quickly.

an evap cooler or dig a hole and put some water in it. Buy your doggies a plastic pool and get in it with 'em...me and my five hounds put ice water in ours and drink cold beer when it gets too hot (120) I'm a native what can I say...brain baked and don't know the difference.

the other would not go near it. Actually, my one dog loves to sit outdoors in the sun especially if there is a wind, temperature doesn't bother her.

it and one that thinks she's Ms. Piggy. The jack russel stands and doesn't like to get wet all over, just her paws. Guess bitches like water. Me included.

Get an exhaust fan for your attic too. Chances are that is where your heat is building up. It saves your roof also.

Don

anyne know if that istrue? seems they ought to help a lot.

Paint your roof white. vines over it also help.

If you have a chamber of hot air right above your ceiling that can not escape it will keep a house hot all night long and you will have to run the air conditioner to stay cool. Now if you can bring that area down to the cooler night time temperature quickly with an attic fan just an open window should o the job. I don't believe it doesn't help. Really.

Don

Even if it is over a hundred degrees outside during the day. You may have a flow problem? Do you have enough vents in the roof to allow enough air intake? I have both roof vents and also the peak of my roof is vented so my intake flow is good here.

Don

here in Phoenix when temps hit over 120, hope I never have to relive that year again. The funny thing the three summers before my children and I lived in a little house with only a swamp cooler, never felt the heat but glad we moved into a larger house before we experienced that hot hot summer.

upstairs especially, but it didn't.

I have trees, bushes, and vines around my house, this does help.

They help a lot too.

Don

Different animals.
Attic exhaust fans help save your roof and might lower you bills somewhat....although not alot.
Whole house fans pull the air through the house and allow the cooler air to come through when you want it. Wish I had one...my neighbors do.

...the whole house fan. Before I had the attic fan installed I needed to use central air all night long. But no more. When the attic fan which is set at 75 degrees goes off automatically at about 7:30 PM I can turn the central air off and just open the windows and it is comfortable in my house. That has been my experience here.

Don

thanks for the suggestion. So, they really work?

...there are plenty of windows open. Otherwise it will reverse the exhaust from the hot water heater and suck it back into the house. Kind of loud, but you get used to it. I like it a lot. I am not crazy about air conditioners. I don't use mine unless it gets real hot or the humidity is very high. Good luck too.

Don

We always had at least two growing up - in Yuma. They use very little power compared to an AC, put needed humidity in the air, and are good for circulation.

From the time we moved there, I had one in my bedroom at night for the entire summer, else I slept in the living room by the big one. I'm a very pale skinned red-head (thanks, mom and dad, for dragging me to a desert... Mom's got SAD, but I've got reverse SAD, so.... ) and highly prone to dehydration and nose bleeds, among other things. I probably would not have survived childhood without a cooler, between dehydration, heat exhaustion and burns.

They're not expensive - the one I have now I got at Lowe's for $75 or so. To keep the odd smell at bay, I add 1/4 c. hydrogen peroxide and a small amount of linen water per gallon of cooler water. Keeps the house smelling nice, too. We have 1000 square feet, and the portable is kept in the kitchen/living room, while the house size takes care of the rest of the house.

here in TX and in OK (the 2 states I have experience with) the summer humidity is usually 90%+.

A swamp cooler will not work here, as much as we would like for it to. I like heat, so I can handle it up to 90F in my house, but my kids and husband aren't convinced. We try to plan outings as much as possible during the summer, use someone else's money to stay cool.

Oklahoma.

Since the OP is in AZ, it will work for her, and I suppose in the drier sections of west texas, it would work as well.

But they're pretty useless even in 60% humidity in my experience.

can't say enough on how the circulate the bit of AC you DO use. (If you haven't already)

Guess it is time for me to get out the floor fans. Last year I did not use my floor fans and did not feel the need. Guess I will do this during the upcoming months.

I got an extra one for my studio...I'm up in red rock country...we don't get as hot as you guys but I can cool my house down to below 70° ...before the monsoon humidity starts. I don't have air & I am thankful *most* of the time ....

Wonder if this summer will be as nice as last summer.....(meaning not as HOT)

My husband and I are looking into digging up our backyard this summer and installing bundles of 4" pvc tubing that'll connect to a blower and the house duct system. The air goes from the house through these tubes, heat exchange between soil and tube surface cools the air, and it's blown back into the house at around 74 degrees (ground temp in central FL year-round).

Well, that's the idea anyway. ;)

If/when we give it a go I sure will let you know. In case you want to read about cool tubes yourself go here: http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html

That site gives almost all the particulars you could need to do a DIY install. (They'll also do specialized plans for a fee.)

I admit the idea seems a bit out there. But with the economy heading towards a brick wall, and Bush having done SO much about making alternative energy sources affordable over the last five years :shrug:, DIY green solutions get more than a passing glance from me.

NW Ohio has the highest rates in the state. We use the budget plan so we don't have any surprises if the weather is cold or prices go through the roof. However, we did get a surprise when they raised our budget $60 a month.

Our problem is that our public utilities commision is virtually useless. We've called them several times and never had our questions answered. Last month, they approved a 10% hike on the natural gas.

I just read this evening that our rates are higher due to not having sufficient storage facilities and more lines, but yet the gas company has had a tremendous increase in profits over the last several years.


We're lucky on our electric though, ours is about 1/2 of what the neighboring area is because we are able to get a municipal contracted electric company.

They consume fairly little electricity, right?

You should be glad you don't live in hell, er, Florida.

In Tennessee, we have great co-ops that advocate for the consumer and keep rates very low. I have paid $200 a month in a total electric home with four people ( three of whom like to run the heat as high as possible.) The summer rate is usually around $70 a month since we only need AC for a few weeks.

If they jack up your rates, what can you do? I guess, n2mark, you could become a nudist in the summer! LOL

It sounds like you're in a prime spot to put up some solar panels. Check around, prices for 2kw of solar panels run from 15,000-30,000. You should also check around to see if you qualify for state or local assistance in purchasing these panels. You should be able to take out an equity loan on your house and pay it off within twenty years. Granted, for awhile you will simply be substituting a loan payment for your electric payment, however within a few years you will be better off, since electric is going to do nothing but go up, while your loan payment will remain stable. Plus you are adding resale value to the house.

Modern solar panels have a lifespan of forty years, possibly more, thus after your loan is paid off, you will have nothing but gravy for another twenty years.

In addition, check the insulation in your walls. It is one thing that I've noticed in warmer climates in this country, that contractors short houses there on insulation, feeling that since they don't need much if any heat then they don't need much if any insulation. Check your walls for insulation, and if it doesn't have any, put some in. It will keep your cooling bills way down.