The electric bill arrived in the mail and it was $116, which is $16 more than I hoped. I do have extra money in the budget so I can do this with no problems. That does mean $16 less is going toward the debt though.
I believe it was Ima who had started checking her meter reading. I headed out to the meter myself and wrote down the reading. This month appears to be right on track with last month's use. I am going to adjust the budget for next month to $120. After that it should start to cool down a bit. When I am home alone, I can put off turning on the air until later in the afternoon. Dh has more days off now so that means the air gets run more. He does work out in the heat though so I can understand the desire to be cooler when he is home.
I am definitely going to keep an eye on the meter though and also try to find some ways to decrease the bill. We already use the energy saving light bulbs. I will start shutting the computer down at night to see if that helps any. I already dry clothes outside. I will have to research a bit for more ideas.
Summer Electric Bill
August 6th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
August 7th, 2007 at 04:06 am 1186459593
August 7th, 2007 at 01:16 pm 1186492585
August 7th, 2007 at 05:28 pm 1186507715
March 17th, 2008 at 03:27 am 1205724437
I call in the gas reading, make a point of getting it on the 11th of each month. I can tell what if any reason has made it higher any one day, like very windy or 5 degrees was the high (centigrade - even tho Canada is celcius, I don't relate) At least don't get super high estimates and can have slightly flexible budget.
Hydro, don't call in but if reading is high make a note if had company for dinner i.e. "oven on" like tonight or forgot to turn off a light or two when going to bed.
In the summer is about the same as winter as have a pool pump to run so evens out fairly well to budget barring price increases.
More for my interest than anything and try to make sure don't make the same mistakes again. Computer is on most of the day, tho does "power down" after a time, and if out or to bed goes off for sure. Not sure if laptops use less than our old standard ones.
Just my thoughts
Nancy Lewis
Oshawa Ont.