I saw mention today of high summertime bills in CA. I knew from constant cases on Judge Judy that P G & L are sky high. Here in TX the winter months were always low and Summer was high. But in recent years it’s reversed . Ours runs $500 in January - $400 February and works it way down. May was only $152. Our high this summer might be $250. Not a big house but we do keep it cool at 70* And a gas heater for hot water so that’s probably $700 more a year.
Curious about posters in Europe and Asia too. I know you have small stoves & fridges because of the high cost of electricity. Well, not trying to be nosey or anything but if anyone wants to chime in feel free.
ETA : A family member in OK runs 5 window units in summertime and swears his bill is only $130 per month. I don’t buy that.
Seattle, circa 1939 house, 900sf, all electric (no gas). My winter bill is about $150/mo, more if I really keep it toasty. Over the summer months when I don’t turn the heat on it’s more like $20-25. I have a portable AC unit for one small room of the house but no central air, that is rare here. Our power is mostly hydroelectric.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
3
We have a joint gas and electricity supply contract, so I can’t easily separate out the cost of the electricity. Gas powers the central heating and hot water, electricity everything else. The latest bill I can find was for December and was £166 (€190, 206USD).
1930s three bedroom detached house. We run two fridges and a freezer. I think Europeans have smaller appliances than Americans because we have smaller homes, not the cost of power. A relative bought an American sized fridge/freezer some years and it was so large it “took over” the kitchen.
I’m in New England, so my bills peak in the winter. 3br modest house, my electric bill ranges from $225-250 from Jan thru March. In the summer, I only use fans (no AC), and my bill will drop to about 50/mo.
We have oil heat, so in the winter our electric bill is around $120-130 a month for a 3000 sf house (but our oil bill is an additional $300-400). In the summer it shoots up to $300+ during the hottest months. The house is over 100 years old, so not nearly as energy efficient as a newer build. On my list of big projects is to have new windows installed - the previous owners put in cheap vinyl replacement windows and they are incredibly drafty.
Built a 1600 sq ft two car garage off grid home about 12 years ago on acreage. Wood heat with propane backup wall heater. Flash hot water heater and propane dryer. Backup genny which we hardly use. Side by side frig in the house, one full frig/freezer and one standup freezer in the garage. We have streaming internet from a 4g modem router and two yagi antenna’s. Cell phones work off a amp and antenna hooked to a Bluetooth home phone. We are 12 miles to the closet cell tower. If you came into our home and were not told you would not know that we are off grid. Our costs come from driving. My wife up till the pandemic was driving 45 minutes each way to and from work, now she telework from the ranch. And if you need something from the hardware store you better remember that before you leave town.
We’ve had a hellish summer here in southern AZ, really really hot and dry. The house was built in 1957, during a huge building boom, Calilfornia developers with little or no thought to insulation.
Our last two electric bills were both over $300. We have gas for the water heater, furnace, and stovetop. That’s been practically nonexistent, but it switches in winter, when I turn the thermostat to 64 or 65. We’ve been looking at a lot of the things we’re being sloppy about and turning off the nonessential stuff like ceiling fans that run all the time, and the cable box, which for some reason you can’t turn off from the remote. We have a shop with a window AC, but DH resists using it (I wouldn’t, but I’m not in there that much).
Husband says we pay about $500.00 a year for electric. We have had solar panels for 5 or 6 years. We also have gas, which is about $40.00 a month. We used to pay $5000 a year.
