Very high electric bill.

LawnGuyLandSparky

OK Here we go. The truth is out. Despite being askes several times, you failed to mention you have ELECTRIC BASEBOARD HEATING.

And yes, if you think you can close the door to a room and shut the heat off and that room will not cost anything to heat, you'd be mistaken.

Hopefully the fact that you're paying top dollar for electric rates AND you bought a home with electric heat, the folly of that combination was reflected in the price you paid for the house.

68MHJCs

First of all I saw ONE listing of do you have base board heating and return with answer ASAP. Sorry if I forgot to list it. Trying to give as much info as I can so situation can be taken care of. I came from a house with GAS heating and dryer and was there for the longest time. This is all new to me. Now with a home with all electric being here only a short time with new wife and new baby Im trying to figure out the best way to run this home in a efficiant manner.

John2

Electric Baseboard Heat

Replacing all the thermostats with programmable ones is the only way you are going to cut down on your electrical usage using electric heat. You want to turn the heat down and not completely off. Defiantly look into some other way to heat your house.

jerryh3

Sweaters and wool socks. Welcome to electric heat. How much was the electric bill?

68MHJCs

I could lease a brand new caddy for the same price.

redline

How much insulation is there?

You may look in the attic and find that there is either very little or none at all.

Insulating is the most cost effective to start.

68MHJCs

When i use this, Perpetual it will tell me who is the big soakers of electric and if I can I should unplug it when able to and use it sparingly?

idoelectric

Put a timer on the water heater and have it set to turn on 1hr before and 1hr after you use in the morning and evening. Electrical water heaters waste more energy in the home more than anything else in my opinion. By thermostat they run when temp falls below a certain temp. even when not in use. Why keep heating hot water when it's not necessary? I use to turn the breaker off when I was finished showering and turned it on 20 minutes before I needed it when I lived in a 1 bedroom apt and I saved anywhere from $60 to $80 off my bill.

Another alternative is looking into instantaneous water heaters, they are a little pricey at first but with the savings will pay for themselves 10 folds.

perpetual98

That's the goal of that little gizmo I posted earlier. Then again, it's only going to tell you things that use electricity that you can plug in and unplug. If you have an electric water heater and electric heat and an electric dryer, it won't tell you that since you can't monitor that with the Kill-A-Watt.

You CAN check your fridge, TV, computer, space heater, etc and see what they're soaking you for. I just picked up some more CFL lights for over our sink and our hallway. Drops the wattage used to light those areas from 365W to 75W. It may add up over time to eventually pay for the bulbs!

JGarth

Sorry to break the TRUTH to you...
But you are in over your head. You are not the first one to get caught in this predicament. Forget about liting or water tank usage .... that's pittance.....
The thing I don't understand, is that anyone with reasonable intelligence would research the history of power consumption/costs for an all-electric home, especially in an area with a cold climate. I'm not goin' sugar-coat if for you ... you can't afford to live in that house since you are already complaining about the costs ... and it's sure not going to come down.
Sell now, minimize your losses before it gets way too late.
The prior owners either could afford to live there, or realized this all-electric home wasn't for them. They found YOU, and passed on this 800 lb gorilla to you.

perpetual98

That could have been phrased more eloquently. lol

Anyway, I did think it odd that they "mentioned" that their costs weren't that high. You'd be hard pressed to find a seller who would just pony up that information accurately if their bill were that high and they thought that they could get away with not being totally accurate.

Speedy Petey

Oh, that's definitely NOT his style!

__________________
Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

68MHJCs

JGARTH thanks for the tough love. But with disclosure this house was affordable by us. We are trying to figure out why the electric is almost double now. We purchased the home becasue I liked it and MY WIFE LOVED IT. Anyone out there married knows thats the deal clincher.

redline

Call the utility that you buy your electric from and ask for the bills for the last 12 months when the previous owner lived there.

How many people lived there prior?

How many people live there now?

Is the home well insulated?

How cold has your area been over the past month?

68MHJCs

Redline will they give us that info even though we were not the owners during those months? If so great and I will do that. 2 very old folks lived here prior to us. We are 3 actually 2.5 small baby. As per insulation I believe so. Good doors replacement windows and insulation in the attic. Average temp aprox 32. So in comparison they probably didnt use too much hot water.. Maybe with baths?? I guess they are way out of the question for us huh..Baths. They probably didnt use as much washer and dryer as us also. I will also check into a monthly fixed bill.