My power bill has been all over the charts for the last 3 months:
June $295
July $83
August $205

I had my landlord get the a/c checked and all was well there. I had the power company check the meter speed and verify the meter readings after the first horrific bill, but that was ok too. I also had the power company tell me what the previous tenants' power bills were, and they were consistent with mine until these 3 bills (summertime norm in this house is $100-$120 per month).

So what could the reasons for this be? What should I have my landlord's electrician checking? I can't imagine what would make it spike like this some months and not others when it has been a pretty consistent 100 degrees outside everyday for the last 3 months. I don't know if it bears any importance to the issue, but this house blows light bulbs like no one's business too....

 

Wonder if someone is somehow tapping into your electrical lines and stealing electricity from you.

 

I'm with Mark, that was my first thought.
What i woud do is turn off every electrical appliance in your house. Unplug the ones that you can. ( even when they are off the can still drain power) then go out to the meter and see if its moving. it will always will, but it should be moving so slow it will be obvious.
Once you have done that you can determine that something you are using in draining more power then it should. Check for any shorts or anything that seems to be running hot. Transformers when not fuctioning properly can drain a fair bit of electricity.

Also another thing to check is ask you hydro company to see when your max or peak usage was. some comapnies can track this, and you may find it jumps at 5 pm...what were you doing then?

short of that, double check that the hydro company didn't make a mistake in thier billing. They screw up all the time, and most people don't challange it.

Hope this helps. I'm curious to know the answer though, so make sure you post back.

Mike

 

Oh... one more thing, I just noticed. Check when thier billing dates are. does it cross over the month end? this may be the case as well and while you may not have used 295 bucks worth in june alone over the 3 months while they hemmed and hawed about billing cycles your average was 194. perhaps you use more power then the previous tennants.

 

I Sondra... I don't think you have an electrical problem. Recently I read in the dallas paper that the current ongoing electrical deregulation is wreaking havok with billing systems, causing (mostly) business customers to experience huge swings in billing. Do you live in a house or appt? Do you get billed directly or through a co_op? Look for a energy multiplier on your bill... is it changing? Drastically?


The paper did mention someone in San Antonio with a $100k electrical bill for a private residence.

Good luck.

p.s. I also meant to ask if your useage (shown at the amount of KW's consumed) changed drastically as well.

 

Keep your eyes peeled for a guy in a ski mask carrying a glowing suitcase.

 

Maybe her neighbor is running over with an extension cord when she's out and plugging in to one of the ouside outlets. I've heard those "grow-lights" need a lot of juice.

 

Yep, deregulation could be the culprit. The Texas Choice pilot program kicked off on June 1 and they've been having all sorts of goofy problems with their computer systems, including, I believe, the system which is supposed to track usage for billing purposes. You might want to check out a couple of sites for the program to see if they mention this issue ---

http://www.powertochoose.org and http://www.ercot.com.

However. since these sites are run by the guys who are supposedly screwing up, I wouldn't be surprised if they were silent on the issue.

 

Sondra,

You're not alone...my last 3 elec/water bills have been ~ $300, $310, and $340, a good bit higher than in previous summers. I think part of it is related to rising fuel costs which are passed along in the form of higher utility rates.

I need to turn my sprinkler system off, too...that doesn't help matters much.

 

Don't forget to change your AC filter.