Insanely high electric bill

helenl

Our electric bill went up nearly 3 times higher than any month ever. We have a 2200 sq ft area. 2 of us at home. The bill says we used 4750 kw in a32 day cycle. The most we have used was around 2600 kw which is a lot. We have nothing extra running and we installed a new heat pump at the first of last summer and the electric bill dropped from prior years.

Any ideas?

DannyT

in my search to find the reason my uncles heat pump was using a lot of electric i found 2 main reasons.

1 low on freon
2 the emergency heat strip is shorted and is on whenever the heat pump is on.

he had a 600.00 bill but his was in winter and heat pumps arent good under 40 degrees where he is it was about 15 degrees for over a month. he was only heating about 1,000 sq ft with it

joed

Some of the common causes of this issue. are.
1. Electric water heaters with failed/shorted
2. shorted underground cables leaking power to the ground.

Go to your meter and see how fast it is spinning. Start switching off breakers until you find the one that is making it spin fast.

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sdsester

At one time a submarine communications system was implemented to allow submarines deployed in the Atlantic to communicate without surfacing. It was quite an accomplishment at the time and involved burying equipment and cable under the Great Lakes Region. One of the drawbacks to the system was that it home power meters in Michigan (and perhaps other locales) to run at about 4-5 time normal speed when it was being used. Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute developed a filter to remedy the problem.

I doubt it is your problem but you might see if their is any other sort of potential nearby interference anyone will talk with you about. I doubt news of the submarine communications cables were openly disclosed in their time.

Have you checked with your neighbors? Are their meters running fast too or is this just your problem?

jbfan

Also check the emg. heat on the heat pump, as was mentioned.

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rodeo

Some electrical item is about to burn out.

Same thing happened to me.
My electric went up 4x.
I thought it was a billing issue
until my well pump finally bit it.

fabrk8r

As DannyT said, emgergency heat strips...I am willing to bet your heat pump is low on charge or the reversing valve is stuck.

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rjniles

Reread the meter and compare to the reading on the bill. It would not be the first time the meter reader transposed digits.

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joed

Stuck sump pump could be another issue. It could be either stuck on and running constantly or siezed and trying to run. Same with an attic fan.

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vsheetz

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Vince

vsheetz

Any pumps on timers? My pool pump timer decided to go bad - found it after getting a extraordinary electric bill.

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zootjeff

Where are you on this? Any new info?

Have you set back your thermostat at night or changed the set points? What kind of thermostat do you have, model number, etc.. Did anything like that change that you know of?

Jessidog

My mother-in-law had this same situation a few months ago. However, she was expecting a higher bill because her A/C was running continuously due to what turned out to be a refrigerant leak. But she did not expect to use 3X the normal amount of electric. I make a quick check on the efficiency of my A/C by measuring the air temperature as it passes through the evaporator. I have read on several sites that the air temperature should drop about 20-22F, which is exactly what I find.

I also had a higher than expected electric bill a few years ago due to a leak in the hot water line. In Florida the plumbing is routed under the concrete slab. The leak was under the slab so there was no obvious leak anywhere in the house. I also had a water bill for 17,000 gallons of water over our usual amount.

David

Bmc

I have the same issue in my rental. Our electricity bill this month was 2 and 1/2 times higher. I meant to call the company but autopay makes it hard to remember.

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Done That

A heat pump is very capable of heating into the single digits much cheaper than the strip heat or even a 90%+ gas furnace. You may not like the lower discharge air temps produced, but you have to find you gas and electric rates plus plot the COP of the unit in question to see where the real economic balance point is.