current electric bill under $100

[terracore]

Granted February is a short month, but there were 29 days in the billing cycle (same as previous month) and our bill was $90.84. I know the rate has gone down due to lower fuel prices but our consumption was also lower than any other month in the last year. One of the changes we made was I installed an appliance timer (free from the Hawaii energy rebate web site) that cuts the power to the internet router (I had been manually unplugging it at night but it was easy to forget) and any parasitic draws from the computer equipment that was turned off but likely still drawing some power.

I know I've posted this before but for those who don't know we have no PV solar etc (other than an attic fan), I've invested nominal amounts of money on conservation, much of that funded by rebates, and we run the same appliances etc as a typical "mainland" home though we don't have heating or cooling (other than ceiling fans).

[PunaMauka2]

what's your household water heating situation?

[macuu222]

Mine was $275.00....but then again we keep our Jacuzzi at 102 degress.... 24 hours a day! [8D]

[terracore]

quote:

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Originally posted by PunaMauka2

what's your household water heating situation?

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Solar hot water.

[terracore]

I guess I'll run through some of our conservation measures:

* Solar hot water (mostly paid for through rebates and federal and state tax credits)

* LED light bulbs (discounted price through rebates)

* Energy Star clothes washer and refrigerator (you guessed it, we got rebates. saves not only power but also water)

* Appliance timer (free through rebate)

* Cooling through whole house solar fan (there was a rebate available but I did the DIY process instead)

* Energy star ceiling fan (100% free through self installation and rebate)

* We do most of our baking with this (not only cheap to operate but also doesn't heat inside of house) http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Camping-..._1_1?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1426648305&sr=8-1&keywords=camp+chef+oven (haven't refilled 5 gallon propane tank in months)

* 90% of our clothes drying is done on lines

* Eliminating vampire/phantom loads

Here's the rebate page again: http://hawaiienergy.com/for-homes/rebates

Almost anything that plugs into the wall has a "phantom draw" even when it's turn off. Sometimes its doing something somewhat useful (like a TV drawing power to detect if a remote control is supposed to turn it on). Each appliance is different. For example our TV only draws about 1.5 watts for this purpose (about the same as an appliance timer... no gain in hooking that up). My "energy star" laser printer draws 40 watts when it's off! Because it's listening for a wifi signal to wake it up. I have to unplug it after each use. You need to get to know everything that is plugged in and find out exactly what it is doing. Unplugging my laser printer was about $3/month! $36 a year waiting to wake up when I didn't want it to. Now multiply that by every possible phantom draw in the home. Some cell phone chargers use almost as much power when they are plugged in but not charging the phone than they do when they are charging the phone. When in doubt... unplug. An "energy star" microwave burns about 3 watts powering the touch pad waiting for you to turn it on. That is an expensive clock. Even items that ARE completely off can burn a watt of electricity just from the resistance of being plugged in. Power strips are your friend.

Here is a phantom/vampire page: http://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/doc...gloads.pdf

ETA: fix URL, add info

[PunaMauka2]

i'm impressed. our electric bill is also consistently below $100, mainly through conservation and some energy frugality. i really ought to consider savings from taking steps against vampiric phantom appliance draw. i see at least one power strip i should get in the habit of turning off when not in use.

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[ericlp]

Mine was 65 bucks... Just the two of us tho.. We don't conserve much, and we are on temp, so half that was in fee's alone! I guess we are doing pretty good. I suppose if I turned off the 47" more it would be lower. Thankful for the 5 watt raspberry PI. Beats the 100 watt PC.




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[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

5 watt raspberry PI. Beats the 100 watt PC

Here's a new low energy, low cost computer for folks off grid, the HP Stream at $180:
http://gizmodo.com/hp-stream-mini-review...1692158242

[kalakoa]

Intel NUC, some versions at 8-10W, costs a bit more than the RPi but it's also a "generic PC", even runs Windows (there's a convenient "all the drivers" download from Intel).

http://ark.intel.com/products/series/704...s-and-Kits

[Midnight Rambler]

terracore - what about your refrigerator? I know from taking trips where I've disabled nearly everything that over 2/3 of my electricity is going to that, even though I have electric hot water and an electric range and am somewhat sloppy with phantom draws. I'm pretty sure mine isn't very efficient, but my total consumption is still only 100-120 kWh/month. I'm currently on Oahu where the rate is about 3/4 that of HELCO, so that translates to about $45.