OT- Power Bill

[RocketDawg]

I have two heat pumps (gas not available in my neighborhood). One of them was installed this past October because the previous one was destroyed by a tree during a storm. Long ago, I decided not to freeze during cold weather, so I keep the temp set on 72. A couple of mornings during this past cold spell, the temp dropped to 66. Long story short, the installers didn't do something right and the heat strips weren't coming on. So the heat pump was keeping a reasonable temperature when it was 5 degrees outside, and in the teens during the day. That's pretty good for a heat pump without aux heat, even though it was running constantly. My house is insulated to the max though - R60 in the attic, 13 in the walls, and 25 in the crawlspace. The crawlspace is also encapsulated, and the lowest temp under the house was 55.

If you'll recall, just over a year ago it was even colder around Christmas. Low near zero, high one day only about 10, but we didn't have the ice and sleet then. I think much of Mississippi did though,

Just got my power bill. It was for 31 days and was read Jan 31, so essentially for the entire month of January. Electric part was $228 not including tax. Something around 2000 KwH at 10.08 cents per KwH for the first 1400, then about 10.9 cents for all over 1400.

That was pretty darn good since I keep my house at 73 all the time on the lower floor, and 70 during the day/67 at night on the second floor (where all the bedrooms are). Average temperature for January was 39.0 with 796 heating degree days.

 

[RocketDawg]

the amount of hate over a new product is astounding to me. There are so few EV's on the road in this part of the world and that includes Texas and Az that they will not be the problem.

My cousin got so tired of the blackouts in Texas years ago that he put in a Solar Panel system as did many in Texas. Texas does a terrible job of managing it's grid.

I am considering my options and I live in MS where we have started to have issues now. I am considering a propane generator as I already use propane for fire place, cooking and hot water (on demand). I am not sold on the solar panels just yet. I have a buddy that installs them. I give him a call every now and then to discuss but I am leaning toward generator for backup. Solar panels take so long to get a pay back.

I don't think that the product, electric cars, are hated; it's being told what to do that's the problem. I don't have one, but I wouldn't mind having one for "around town" use but it would be a waste of money to have both kinds (there are two of us and we have two ICE vehicles. That's all we need). Buying an EV would never be financially feasible.

 

[99jc]

yeah the electric bill at my house was 750 last month. Its getting ridiculous.

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

Guy I know just had his go up by over $400 this month. $250 last month and over $600 this month.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Just to add a counter opinion, I lived in Texas for more than 40 years and I could count on one hand the number of blackouts that occurred. Texas has a grid problem because of its culture of fierce independence, which manifest itself in Texas separating its power grid from the rest of the country. The separation put a limit on the power available in its grid during high stress events such as the freeze of Feb 2021. On the other hand, deregulation of the energy market was great, allowing the consumer to pick his own power provider at highly competitive pricing.

I live just north of Austin and we've had one moment that the electricity went off during the giant freeze when we had temperatures of around zero. We have not had the rolling blackouts as bad through here on the north side of Austin. We also turned a lot of things off we didn't need, and our electric bill is the same this year as it was last year.

 

[paindonthurt]

You better check w/ Goat, he's the authority on Capital Gains. He'll be along here any minute to fill you in I'm sure

He’s the damn authority on everything!

 

[RocketDawg]

Guy I know just had his go up by over $400 this month. $250 last month and over $600 this month.

Good grief. Is his house not insulated at all?

 

[LordMcBuckethead]

I got my Power Bill in the mail. Holy Smokes. Can I deduct that from my Capital Gains Taxes?**

My house is properly situated and insulated. My power bill never goes above 400, and I was sweating in my house when it was cold. Insulation is the cheap part.

 

[L4Dawg]

I have a gas furnace and a natural gas grill. Everything else is electric. My gas bill was high, but not out of line with other years when we had cold like that. My electric bill was a bit higher than normal for January, but not drastically so. I expect most of that was due to us being home for a solid week unexpectedly. The combined electric and gas was not as high as it always is in
July and August.

 

[Hot Rock]

I don't think that the product, electric cars, are hated; it's being told what to do that's the problem. I don't have one, but I wouldn't mind having one for "around town" use but it would be a waste of money to have both kinds (there are two of us and we have two ICE vehicles. That's all we need). Buying an EV would never be financially feasible.

Never is a long time. When it comes time to purchase a car. Just run the numbers for each mile turned for yourself. I loved the F150 lightening but could not make numbers work. I kept a yard truck and bought an EV at almost half the cost of the F150 EV.

just never say never as you have no idea what tomorrow brings

 

[thatsbaseball]

Friend of mine owns a heating and cooling business. Back during the cold snap he was super busy and had to go in several attics himself to thaw some pipes for folks. He told me attics with open "ridge" vents get unbelievably cold due the constant flow of air, actually colder than attics with power vents which generally don't run in the winter. My house was designed and built with power vents and we change to "ridge" vents when we put a new roof on a few years back. I can't honestly say I have been able to tell the difference....but it is thought provoking.