HELCO bill

[bystander]

Thanks to this thread, I think I plugged an energy leak in my house. I few months ago, my bill shot up to over $200 per month. I have a conventional water heater with no solar. I recall that I set the upper thermostat higher because it wasn't turning on some years ago. After reading how low everyone's bill is I decided to check it out again. Lo and behold I discovered that there's two thermostats and two heating elements. The upper element was still working but the lower was not resulting in inefficient heating. I drained the heater and replaced the element which was corroded. I should have done this years ago. Who know how much money I could have saved. I just never bothered to check it out or read the manual which recommends not to turn the upper thermostat higher than the lower one.