Playing with my electric bill......

[krlang]

I was wondering why my electric bill never changed in the winter. We pet sit alot during the winter months so we are not home for a few weeks at a time I figured the bill would go down. It didnt ever change much last year.
Last month while we were out of the apartment for 3 weeks I decided to unplug as much as I could to see if it would make a difference. WOW!
All of the little power supplies for computer stuff, phones, camera accessories, television etc. make alot of heat out of electricity while off.
My electric bill is never usually less than $35.00, $70 in the summer with the AC running. I got the bill tonight, it was $20.48 for January. COOL!
We cut our usage by almost half, Obviously the TV and the oven not running from time to time made a difference, but we dont cook alot either.

K.L.

[T2 Ernie]

$70 in summer w/AC going? You have very, very cheap electricity...or live in a tiny apartment.

[Sean Curtiss]

I was wondering why my electric bill never changed in the winter. We pet sit alot during the winter months so we are not home for a few weeks at a time I figured the bill would go down. It didnt ever change much last year. Last month while we were out of the apartment for 3 weeks I decided to unplug as much as I could to see if it would make a difference. WOW! All of the little power supplies for computer stuff, phones, camera accessories, television etc. make alot of heat out of electricity while off. My electric bill is never usually less than $35.00, $70 in the summer with the AC running. I got the bill tonight, it was $20.48 for January. COOL! We cut our usage by almost half, Obviously the TV and the oven not running from time to time made a difference, but we dont cook alot either. K.L.

That's EXACTALY what I did in my house. My electric bill doubled last month for no reason, so the first thing I did was to unplug everything I could. I wanna see if anything changes in my next bill...

[Old SAR pilot]

.....200+ watt power supplies in 'puters will suck up a LOT of $$ if left on. As will all those little gadgets you don't think about!

[krlang]

$70 in summer w/AC going? You have very, very cheap electricity...or live in a tiny apartment.

A heat wave in Boston is 3 consecutive days above 90.
We will see two of them in an average summer. Rarely getting to 100.
I like the fact that it drops 10-15 degrees on my way home as I get closer to the ocean, it can be in the mid 90s in Bedford, and we will be 85 in Danvers.

[T2 Ernie]

$70 in summer w/AC going? You have very, very cheap electricity...or live in a tiny apartment.

A heat wave in Boston is 3 consecutive days above 90.
We will see two of them in an average summer. Rarely getting to 100.
I like the fact that it drops 10-15 degrees on my way home as I get closer to the ocean, it can be in the mid 90s in Bedford, and we will be 85 in Danvers.

I'm in the mountains east of Albuquerque at 7000', it's easily 15* cooler here than in town, yet in the summer, it still gets broiling. No A/C here, swamp cooler - just a fan with a bit of water & my electricity bill is still $150/mo or better...

[chico]

.....200+ watt power supplies in 'puters will suck up a LOT of $$ if left on. As will all those little gadgets you don't think about!

As far as a PC is concerned, you're not really using as much electricity as you think.

A power supply is rated by its peak output. Standard power supplies are in the 400 watt and above range. However, unless you're running a high-end gaming rig, you're rarely going to use all 400 watts. In standby mode, you can get a machine's use down into the 10-20 watt range, and just sitting there doing nothing you're probably looking at less than 60 watts. You're still burning electricity, but no where near 200 watts. I've got five machines in my office at the moment, all on, several on 24-7-366. My electric bill hasn't been over 30 bucks since we moved in.

Getting rid of your old CRT monitor in favor of an LCD will make a huge difference. So will dumping your old TV for an LCD. I've also switched every light bulb I can for compact fluorescents.

[Old SAR pilot]

Mmmm...won't make a difference....because.....All utilities, including extended cable, are included in the rent!

(2 br, 2 full bath, covered parking, large apt for $595/mo)

[Jet Mech]

If you have electric water heater, putting insulation blanket on and getting timer to turn off/on only when home makes a lot of difference. Water getting got and staying hot for nobody uses lots of $$.