Cps Shocker!!!! (West: apartment, upkeep, floor)

[Paka]

Originally Posted by shenane

Just curious
Those who have the huge bills -how old is your house?
My last bill was dated 21 May 2008. It was 62 dollars. April bill was 48 dollars.
1733 SF, 2006 house.
When I'm gone during the day, I leave the air conditioner on 80 degrees for the dogs. When I get home, if the dogs look okay, I raise it to 85 degrees. If the dogs start to look too hot, I lower it - but never lower than 80. It's always turned off completely off at night.
I have a doggie door, so Im sure some cool air escapes through that.
I just got ceiling fans last week. Hoping to get some poly-wood shutters installed in a couple of months.
Is the wood cooler than the poly? Do you worry about warping and fading with the real wood?

House was built in 1994....DANG I am IMPRESSED with your bill, altho I suppose I would have to double it since I have almost 2 times the sq ft...and 80 is the HIGHEST ours goes vs the lowest...but that thermostat that USE to be set on 72 when I get home is now at 75...and I have pulled out and will use a few fans that have not seen much use.

I suppose if I could get to where I can sleep in something other than 72 it would help...going to try 73 with fans tonite...then if that is a go, 74 with fans tomorrow.

I know that we are really lucky to be able to afford it, but sure don't want to pay it and truly feel sorry for those that can't...especially with the VERY high gas prices at the same time.

I am just cheap...prefer to spend my extra $$ on good wine and fun travels!

[the_dimwit]

Paka,

I'd highly recommend the radiant barrier for the roof. We just moved into an "energy star" house, which has the barrier and some other things (better insulation, energy efficient AC, etc.). Our electric bill has been 180.00 or so (just got the bill last night). We keep our AC at 76 (both up and down zones) but will adjust downwards if needed. So far, the house is cool and comfortable.

--Dim

[sinsativ]

Just got ours, on a 2100 sq ft home, $308 for May, and it was on $149 for April. Same people and all dat. more than double. Got the bs from CPS, we go into the energy peak bills during June,July,Aug, & Sept billing, I tried explaining that this wasn't a June bill yet, that this bill was for the usage in May, and she got all confused about the days of the month. The real issue is, yes, the rates are a lot higher. I have never paid this much. I just had my AC unit replaced in Oct. expected to see lower bills this summer. Here the first one, and its horrendous. Our thermo is between 75 and 78 clean filters and all that jazz, house is 1992, just a very humid month she says. too bad, the budget bill will bite you tho. I had that at another house a couple years back, and if you go neg, they will up your budget quick, or expect a lump sum payment. Just like your escrow on your mortgage payment. It aint gonna just absorb into CPS energy resources.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by rd2007

Mine hasn't made huge changes from year to year. The largest change was last year because of all the rain, but it still only changes something like $10-15/month. It's not like a mortage where you can have fluctuations in the $100's/month

Get ready. I just got mine today and they are saying I had double the usage of last year. Whatever. Luckily we are so far in the negative that we still don't owe anything, but by August we will. There's a nice little brochure telling you basically that they are going to stick it to everyone this year, and go ahead and bite their butt.

[noplacelikeWA]

I haven't received our current bill yet but I'm not expecting anything major. We have a 3000sq ft home built in 1996, it's 4 sides brick with some siding on the upper half on 3 sides. We keep our thermostat set at 78 day and nite and use fans when needed. In 2 years our bill was $198 once only and usually only goes over $100 in the summer. I think it is mostly due to A/C units but honestly you have to consider many other sources of energy hogs. In our home we have all new engergy star appliances, use the special bulbs everywhere and there is a strict turn it off when not in use rule for the entire house. We are family of seven and only my DH showers everyday, the rest of us rotate and shower 3 times a week. We only do FULL loads of laundry about 6-7 a week and the dishwasher gets run nightly. We keep our blinds closed most of the time and we have trees shading our house both in front and back. Oh and and our home faces SW, I think this helps greatly because we never get full sun on any one side. (This is also why we can't use solar lighting anywhere in our yard.) If and when we get a cool evening I usually run around the house opening windows on all sides to release the stale warm air that tends to build up these days.

[Chaka]

Paka - at 72 Mr Chaka would be bringing out his sweater! And he's from Switzerland!

We have it at 70 in the winter and wear sweaters in doors, but 80 in summer (unless it's really humid, then I might drop it 1-2 degree for a couple of hours.

[mrstxcop]

hi paka --- we were told that it is actually worse to raise the thermostat during the day and then drastically reduce it when you get home --- because the unit has cooled the house to 80 but then when you put it at 72 the unit has to work really really hard to cool 3000sq ft from 80 down to 72 in a short amount of time resulting in alot of energy usage resulting in higher cps bills - i had cps come out for a free energy audit and this is the info they gave us

the best thing to do is to pick a temp. and leave it set there --- like 78 or 77 --- we always keep it at either of those 2 temps and we keep our ceiling fans on high in all rooms ---

yesterday we had our a/c serviced for the new buyers and they came out and washed/cleaned the outside unit, checked the freon levels, vacuum'd out the inside unit, didn't pull the coil, as we just had it cleaned 3yrs ago, but they did open up the inside unit and vacuum in there, and they also cleaned out the intake vents --- omg, we felt a huge difference right away --- we usually didn't have our unit serviced every year, more like every other, but we felt a drastic difference --- we had to raise the temp to 80 last night because it was so cold ---

[ryneone]

Mine was 132, I live in an apt. A little over 1100 Sq Ft. (Two bedrooms!)

That is about 25 dollars higher than I'v ever had! I thought it would be more!

[rd2007]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Get ready. I just got mine today and they are saying I had double the usage of last year. Whatever. Luckily we are so far in the negative that we still don't owe anything, but by August we will. There's a nice little brochure telling you basically that they are going to stick it to everyone this year, and go ahead and bite their butt.

nah, mine was more than last May, but nowhere near double. I have adjusted my thermostat so it warms up earlier and cools off later. I keep mine at 74 starting at 9:00 AM, that lasts until 7:30 PM where it goes down to 73, then 72 at 9:30 PM and 71 at 11:00 PM. I can't stand hot (obviously) and am willing to pay for comfort. Dogs like it that way too, except for the chihuahua, but he sleeps under the blanket.

[needsomeinfo]

Originally Posted by Paka

Is it just me, or is anyone else in need of CPR after getting their CPS bill this month????

I guess the REAL kicker is Rob is gone, so no one at home all day long...set the thermostats to 80 for the entire day, do bring it down to 73 when we are home in the evenings, less laundry and the bill this month was $283!!!!! DANG!!!!!! We have had bills that high before, and for 3000+ sq ft I suppose that is ok, but that was WITH kids, home, running things, laundry, etc.

There was a point we thought we had planned well for retirement, but with gas and electric bills, maybe we will not be as comfortable as we thought we might. Besides, it may be better to go to work just for the A/C and heating we won't be able to afford!!!

I plan on moving to SA soon from Dallas. we leave the ac on *80* during the day (and yes, we are home), bump it down to *79* at night, and my 2500 sq foot home costs us $350 for electricity most of the summer. I can't wait to get to SA!