Hi, my name is Larry. I just finished a complete remodel of a small home. We have lived here for 3 months now. All three of our electric bills have been like 500 dollars. It's only a 2 bedroom, one bathroom home. Our house is really tiny, so 6,180 kW/h seems crazy. We are completely electric, and we have a 200 amp service. We don't have central heating so we have to use space heaters. I just want to know if that size of usage seems possible? Our electric company said it doesn't seem right, that they are charging us like we have a huge house. I don't know what to do about it, so any suggestions will help. Also would it be cheaper to run central heating compared to all these space heaters?
While space heaters are very inefficient, I don't think they would cause that big of a bill (of course if you live in 3000 sf with 0 degree temps they will). I guess the first thing I would do is shut everything off in your house and go look at your meter (assuming you have one where you can still see the meter spinning), slowly start turning things on and watch the behavior of this meter, you may have to do this a few times in different order. If nothing jumps out at you after doing this, then have the electric company come out and look at it for you, it may just be a faulty meter.
General Contractor/Home Builder
Posts: 386 | Location: Minnesota | Registered: 15 January 2007
space heaters use about 1.5 kilowatts per hour each if they don't turn off. Multiply 1.5 x 24 hrs. per day x 30 days x charge per kilowatt = cost per unit. multiply times number of units. Central heating maybe more efficient. Check with a contractor and do an energy audit to find best solution for you.Your rate seems to be about 8 cents a kilowatt.One space heater running nonstop for one month would cost approximatly 86.00 a month!