I had the same issue last fall. My wife has been home raising the kids for
the past 5 years, but now they started school and my wife just got a job at
the school. So now no one is home from 7-4 leaving every light and TV in
the house on like they have been for the past 5 years. Also I replace every
single bulb in the house with the CF bulbs. I was expecting a nice 20% or
more drop in KWH on my Sept bills on. - WRONG

My electric bill went UP 15% more KWH than the previous year. I called
National Grid to complain that the meter had to be screwed up or something
because I know they do not estimate in my area. They have meters with those
electronic devices so the people reading don't even have to leave the car to
get a reading unless the radio is dead. Since I am never estimated and the
biggest energy wasters (the kids) are not home for 8+ hours a day now and
there had been no change in appliances or other factors there is no way it
could have gone up.

They said that they doubted it because everyone elses bills went up in usage
about that amount so mine should have. Then I hit them with "Did everyone
else's family start leaving their house vacant for over 45+ more hours a
week than mine?" Of course not so they started to make even more excuses as
far fetched as "sun spots" affecting my usage.

I really think that the do something very fishy there because I complained a
few times and they said they were not going to check unless there was a
drastic circumstance that they could know 100% that something was wrong. I
lied and I said that I was going away on vactaion for 3 week in March and
turning off the fridge, not using the dryer, the water pump, TV or even
leaving lights on so my bill should be squat.

Well guess what? I did not go away and they did not say they came out, but
right after I told them that something was coming up that was going to nail
them on a busted meter or a screw up, my bills since then went dow about the
expected 20%. Isn't that amazing. I am doing anything more than I was
before, but all of a sudden after the threats my bills magically drop the
20%.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:36:26 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
mm wrote:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:09:53 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:


There is one caveat. If your water heater is so poorly insulated or so
unfavorably situated that the water temp inside returns to supply
ambient before those ten hours elapse, then you'll save. Since you're
obviously energy conscious, that caveat likely doesn't apply.

I've turned off the electricity to my water heater and it stays pretty
hot for 3 days iirc. And it would stay hot a lot longer if I weren't
using the hot water. The major thing cooling off the water is the
cold water going in when I use hot water.


Usage is very strange. I went away for November and December (and my
billing periods were from the 15th to the 14th, and my bill was almost
the same as the previous year when I was here the whole time.

The water heater was off, and empty. The furnaace was down to about 45
and it's oil so it only used electricity to run the ignition and
blower, and the furance fan.

About 4 lights were on timers, but I leave 3 of them on timers even
when I'm home.

It was not an estimated reading.

I still haven't figured it out.

We love a good mystery. I'm sure you know that for comparison, it's
kilowatt-hours that count, not dollars. How old is that refrigerator?

Yeah, I forgot to say that I compared KwH, not dollars.

The fridge is only 29 years old, but when I was away, I didn't open
the door at all, so however high the electric usage it was, it should
have been less, a lot less, when I was away.

If I'm lucky I may go away for 2 months March and April of next
year**. I'll try to do a better job, if possible, of comparing then

**Prior to last years trip I hadn't been anywhere except to visit my
brother in 10 years. Plus I'm trying to sell a project on these trips
(but haven't attempted to deduct even a fraction of the costs. I don't
think I can since I've not gotten any revenue.)