what does your electricity cost?

[Bird]

As a point of reference, my utility bill runs around $2200 per year for a 1450 sq. ft. brick rancher built in 1953...
I have a heat pump and electric water heater...
Not relevant to you guys up North...
That heat pump would be pretty worthless in cold climates...
I do have gas logs for back up...

Our house is total electric, 1295 sq.ft., built in 1991, double pane windows, pretty well insulated, heat pump, but also has a 525 sq.ft. shop/recreation room under the same roof, but not included in the central air. So I put in a window unit air-conditioner with heat strip. We have a small CFL bulb outside the back door and another outside over the garage door that are left on 24/7. We also have one plant grow lamp in the shop that's on 24/7 and a two tube 4' florescent light with one tube being a plant grow light in the garage that's on 24/7. My computer's never turned off and one TV is on at least 16 hours a day.

Our total electric cost was $2,405.39 in 2011 and $1,832.72 in 2012.

The house does have a fireplace, but I cleaned the ashes out when we bought the house 7 years ago, and we've never used the fireplace; just leave the glass doors and the flue shut.:laughing:

 

[RickB]

I pay 23 cents per KwH. You guys have got it good. Still, because I installed a small solar system, I got a credit of $60.00 the last bill.

Wow. That's at least double and maybe triple what some of us pay. Oil fired generation or are we truly spoiled?
At those rates, solar has to pay for itself in a reasonable time. Glad you got a credit. That's a load of diesel for the Kioti!
And you appear to live (sorry, never been to your beautiful country) in the "populated" East, not too far from the coast,
so your transmission costs are likely as low as they'll get in your area.

Kinda like reminding us to stop complaining "here" of gasoline prices.

You might want to convert AU dollars to US to get a true comparison. I have no idea what the exchange rate is.

 

[RickB]

Here in NC using Duke Energy they break it down as follows:

Basic Facilities Charge: $9.90

July-Oct: .092898/kWh for the first 350 kWh
.092897/kWh after the first 350 kWh

Nov-June: .092898/kWh for the first 350 kWh
.084192/kWh after the first 350 kWh

I am positive these rates will go up due to their coal fired plants and new EPA regs...

As a point of reference, my utility bill runs around $2200 per year for a 1450 sq. ft. brick rancher built in 1953...
I have a heat pump and electric water heater...
Not relevant to you guys up North...
That heat pump would be pretty worthless in cold climates...
I do have gas logs for back up...

DL, I'm glad to see your response here (and you know why!). I just reviewed the bill I got yesterday and the TOTAL per kW price after all fees, taxes, etc is $0.18. That ties the highest US rate posted in this thread; matched by a guy in NH.
My annual electric bill up here is similar to yours for a similar sized house.
Except my heat and domestic hot water are oil fired, and we cook with propane.
I'm anxiously awaiting a move South.

 

[daugen]

You might want to convert AU dollars to US to get a true comparison. I have no idea what the exchange rate is.

$1.00 Australian equals $1.04 US. Even slightly more expensive... but good point.

 

[DFB]

approx $0.1585 per kWh.

Geez and I thought mine was high 0.14669

 

[JBourquin]

Geez and I thought mine was high 0.14669

That's National Greed for ya.. They keep crying they want to jack up the prices every year for "maintenance"..

 

[Carl_NH]

DL, I'm glad to see your response here (and you know why!). I just reviewed the bill I got yesterday and the TOTAL per kW price after all fees, taxes, etc is $0.18. That ties the highest US rate posted in this thread; matched by a guy in NH.
My annual electric bill up here is similar to yours for a similar sized house.
Except my heat and domestic hot water are oil fired, and we cook with propane.
I'm anxiously awaiting a move South.

Rick - that was me @ $.18 per KWH $.09 for the electricity, and $.09 for the distribution. Similarly we heat with oil, FHW, and DHW too, and have a propane stove. Wife didn't want propane dryer so thats the biggest energy consumption @ 240 V other than the 1.5 HP well pump.

We use 550 KWH or $100 per month at the low point in Oct/Nov and in the summer with window AC and some irrigation running it goes to $130 for 850 KWH roughly.

The NE is one of the highest in the country with rates set by regulatory "recovery" of older power plants and maintenance of an aging infrastructure. Then they need to return to investors 5-6% per year.

 

[mehig]

In my area of central Kentucky we belong to the local RECC...Rural Electric Coop Corporation.... the rate is 0.1043 per KWH. I average a 1000-1250kwh per month. I also have Geo-thermal HVAC,with which I'm very satisfied.

 

[Alien]

You might want to convert AU dollars to US to get a true comparison. I have no idea what the exchange rate is.

$1.00 Australian equals $1.04 US. Even slightly more expensive... but good point.

LOL Yeah, our dollar is slightly higher than yours, but even if it fluctuates, a dollar is still a dollar. They don't put the price down when our dollar is worth more.
Update. I mentioned in my earlier post we suffered severe flooding 2 years ago. Right now we are copping it again. We can't get out to the shops as the creeks are flooded and the main street of Grantham is once again under water. Even getting tornadoes along the coast which is something that we don't see here. Doing lots of damage to homes and property. At least one person is swept away and many more rescued and evacuated.
Having trouble with the internet too, dropping out.

 

[mingus108]

My reason for investing in solar was a result in disappointment in the results of our retirement funds. Cd's were nonperforming, low interest rates where-ever we turned.
So why not take the funds & invest in a item that is guaranteed to give you a return on your investment for life?
With home insurance covering the system from storm damage, a life of at least 20 to 25 years.
With a normal payout in 10 years.
A solar system is the way to go now, there has been a major advance in technology just in the past 3 years.
It is a no-brainier.
Edit to add. I have been in 2 interviews with graduate students from UT of A over the last 2 years for their research papers.
Mainly about the costs, benefits and installation.
TXU has come up with more grant money for home owners here in Texas, so if you are with TXU find a solar installer fast.
The funds don't last long.