Crap, I turned on the heat when I woke up this morning to help me get out of bed, but I think I forgot to turn it off before I left.
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Energy Hogs
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 Crawl and 1OOO |
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Posts: 15578 (11/28/07 1:18 PM) Administrator |
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Flying Omelette |
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Yes, you did. I just hope it didn't run straight the whole 8 hours I was gone.
"My feelings hurt, but you know I overcome the pain
"Some try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend Just what you want to be, you'll be in the end" - The Moody Blues |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (12/23/07 1:22 AM) Lunitari Mage |
I don't know how the actual cost of natural gas has fluctuated, but I've been keeping track of what we've used and spent compared to last year. The
suffering is paying off a little bit as we've been saving a good deal even though it's been a colder year so far, especially December.
November 2006- 104.96 November 2007- 70.76 Saved 34.20 This year was 2 degrees colder on average. December 2006- 154.54 December 2007- 110.18 Saved 44.36 This year was 4.8 degrees colder on average. My real savings goal will come in February. For whatever reason, the gas bill for Feb. 2006 was something like 350.00. I don't know what the hell we were doing using the heat that much. This first image shows the comparison in terms of therms used from this year to last. 
The second image is the same thing comparing this December to last year. Not as big of a reduction as November but like I said, it's been colder than average. 
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MaskedSheik |
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Posts: 891 (12/23/07 4:58 PM) |
In Chicago, February was the month where it really got cold and started to snow. (in fact, last year, we had a blizzard in October and then nothing at all
until February!)
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (01/24/08 1:41 PM) Lunitari Mage |
January 2007- 176.75
January 2008- 122.94 Saved 53.81 This year was 5.4 degrees colder on average. 
So not an epic savings over last year, but pretty good, especially considering how cold it got near the end of the billing period. That's reflected in the average temperature, which is the biggest departure from normal since I've been tracking it. If only we had a warmer winter, I'd have saved a fortune. This next month is what I've been waiting for, a chance to do February right. |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (02/22/08 10:24 PM) Lunitari Mage |
This is what I've been waiting for all winter. The perfect combination of conservation and fortunate weather conditions.
February 2007- 386.55 February 2008- 122.27 Saved 264.28 This year was 9 degrees warmer on average. 
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (05/03/08 1:21 AM) Lunitari Mage |
Final post and some conclusions.
April 2007- 127.18 April 2008- 47.82 Saved 79.36 This year was 4.8 degrees warmer on average. 
TOTAL WINTER SAVINGS OVER LAST YEAR: $633.06 Was it worth being in absolute frozen misery to accomplish that? Maybe. I certainly wasted a lot of money on other things, and if I had made more universal spending cutbacks, I could have met the same goal without having to be so cold. It would have been nice to think of it as "extra" money, but it's really just covering some of my losses, like my hours being cut back or the car needing work. I may have mentioned this earlier but because we're on a budget plan, I've been paying the same bill every month regardless of what we used. However, at some point in the future, probably around the end of summer, they'll balance it out and we'll be able to go several months without having to make any payment. |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (09/01/08 2:29 AM) Lunitari Mage |
I'm not sure exactly how I plan to deal with the heat this year. I think I overdid things a bit last winter. But I was looking at this month's gas bill
and because of the fixed payment plan we're on, the minimal use last winter, and an accidental overpayment...
The gas company currently owes me $826.44 |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (12/23/08 11:00 PM) Lunitari Mage |
November 2007- 70.76
November 2008- 60.03 Saved 10.73 This year was 0.4 degrees warmer on average. 
December 2007- 110.18 December 2008- 174.21 Spent 64.03 more this year This year was 1.4 degrees colder on average. 
Basically, November aside, I expect to be spending more every month this year. Last year was pretty much a bizarre obsession and I lived in almost unbearable cold for the satisfaction of seeing how much I could save. My heart just isn't in it this winter, though. Fortunately, I probably won't have to even pay them again until around the end of winter due to last year's savings, and the accidental overpayment I made a while back. |
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 Alicia Pris |
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Posts: 18 (07/31/09 12:23 PM) |
Lord Vyce wrote:Something is definitely not right about the electric bill at that old apartment. Many people we've talked to have expressed surprise at how high our bill was. When I got the final bill, which only accounts for the time between the last bill's issue date and the day they transferred the power out of our name (about 2 weeks, I think), it was almost $10. Now, $10 isn't that much money out of our pockets, but it's definitely way too high for only two weeks at an apartment where no one was living during that time. The only things using energy would've been the phone that I left hooked up for awhile (because of the AT&T/Allconnect debacle) and the electric water heater. When I went over there to check my phone messages, I'd turn on one light bulb and the ceiling fan, and neither were ever on for more than a few minutes before I'd turn them off and leave. Either the electric water heater consumes a LOT of energy (but even when no one's actually using the water there??), or the bill is somehow influenced by the surrounding apartments. 
"Hey! I better not catch you throwing my furniture around!" www.flyingomelette.com |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (07/31/09 6:42 PM) Lunitari Mage |
Either the electric water heater consumes a LOT of energyWell, if it works the way I think it does, the water in the tank is going to keep cooling down and then getting heated again even if you aren't using it.
CB007's Review & GPT Archive
After 2000 years, I will be forgotten, and the Time-Loop will close. I will |
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Crawl and 1OOO |
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Posts: 15578 (07/31/09 7:01 PM) Administrator |
Yeah, but doesn't it work like a refrigerator?
For a fridge, if you keep the door shut, then it's insulated, and doesn't have to run so much. If you keep opening the door, the cold air will keep coming out, and the fridge will have to run more to compensate. I think it's the same thing for a hot water heater. It tries to keep the water so hot. If you take a shower, you've used up all the hot water, so it has to heat new, cold water until it's hot again. But if you don't use it, you merely have to compensate for slow cooling. Anyway, it really doesn't make sense to me. Like I said earlier in the topic, my grandmother would have $20/month electric bills, and she had the TV on constantly. Then we had a $10 bill for not even a whole month, when we weren't even living there or using any appliances? Even the fridge wasn't running because I turned it off at the circuit breaker. Maybe the bill did go back to right before we moved out. "Of the three ways in which men think that they acquire a knowledge of things--authority, reasoning, and experience--only the last is effective and able to bring peace to the intellect." -Roger Bacon |
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Bloody Malth |
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Posts: 13 (08/05/09 9:04 AM) |
It's probably an older water heater that's not very energy-efficient. A few days before our refrigerator broke, I noticed someone wheeling a new one
down the sidewalk on a dolly. A few days before we moved out, there was an old water heater sitting near the trash dumpster. Considering how many other things
were broken in that apartment (the garbage disposal, the kitchen drawer, one of the stove burners), that probably would've been the next thing to go... and
while we temporarily resolved the refrigerator issue with a mini-fridge, the water heater would've been impossible to solve on our own.
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Flying Omelette |
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Uh, I think they misread our electric meter. The bill is under $25. True, we hadn't been using the air conditioner with the cooler weather, but we're
still running the computer, lightbulbs (and I only have three energy-efficient bulbs in the house right now, and none of them are used as much as the
non-energy-efficient kind), the dishwasher, washing machine, microwave, TV, and refrigerator, amongst other things, and there's no way that could all be
under $25.
I'm expecting the bill next month to be higher than usual when they realize they misread it. |
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (10/18/09 4:36 PM) Lunitari Mage |
45 degree daytime high in early October! Woe is me, for the heat must be activated, if only so my cats don't turn into popsicles.
CB007's Review & GPT Archive
"My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form... Feeble creatures of flesh... Your time is nigh!" |
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Flying Omelette |
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One thing this house definitely saves us on is garbage bags. We didn't have a recycling program at the apartment, but since we have one here I recycle all
metal, glass, plastic, and cardboard containers, and that greatly eliminates the amount of trash that goes into our trash bin. At the apartment, I used to take
the garbage out at least twice and sometimes three times a week. Here I usually have one bag at the end of the week, and last week's bag wasn't even
completely full.
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CLOUDBOND007 |
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Posts: 12333 (10/24/09 4:04 PM) Lunitari Mage |
I ended up using my fan heater for the first time this year last week, and the electric bill for the month was lower again. I think this heater comes from
another dimension, and when used in this universe it consumes negative amounts of energy, thus reducing my bill.
Unfortunately, I was right about the gas company being wrong when it told me I didn't need to pay recently. I got hit with a $200 bill instead of $65. Also, they raised the budget payments to $85 going forward. Since I plan to keep the house colder this year and use the electric fan heater more, I will no doubt end up with a credit again. I was totally tempted to just start paying the amount due, but I don't want to have some kind of an emergency and then have to pay a $300 heating bill or something.
Last Edited By: CLOUDBOND007
10/24/09 5:44 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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James FP |
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Posts: 3164 (10/25/09 6:48 AM) Schmendrick's
Nose |
Crawl said that sometimes apartment buildings are all on one meter and the bill is split evenly between each dwelling, regardless of how little or how much you use.Hmm. I wonder if that's how it is here, because our bill never really goes down even if we're pretty sure we used less, though it does tend to go up really high in the summer from (I guess) running the air conditioner. |
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Crawl and 1OOO |
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Posts: 15578 (10/25/09 10:46 AM) Administrator |
They also don't read the meter all the time, so it might take a couple of months (with consistently different energy usage) to show a change.
I think the legality of community meters might vary from state to state. Anyway, sometimes the kitties (so far, Mel or Hermes) get on an outlet grate when the furnace is running. FO calls that a "Marilyn Monroe". |
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