My NStar bill came the other day, and it was the lowest bill I have ever had since moving into this house in 1997 — we used an average of 13.1kWh per day; last year for the same period was 14.5kWh per day. That’s a reduction of almost 10%, year over year. Yes, it’s true that we were away for 6 days, which is why this period is historically low, but last year we were away for over two weeks. The vacation is the main reason that our consumption fell from the prior month’s average of 16.8kWh/day.
What did we do? I’m honestly not sure. It was about a month ago that I installed the new TED 5000, but we still have been mostly using the PowerCost Monitor from the year before to keep an eye on our electrical use.
I guess all those little changes we keep making, even in our fifth year of working at it are still adding up.
Here’s a section of the bill. Cool, isn’t it?
The Interesting Part of Our October, 2009 Electricity Bill
So I got my bill this month and it was 50% of last year’s use. 27 kwh last year, 13 this year. Main changes were window replacement, led bulbs in bathrooms and bedroom, and higher day-time temp settings (80F).
Comment by Eli — September 20, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
Eli — way to go!
So are your numbers kWh per month or per day? (If per month, then … wow!).
I assume the window replacement affected things by reducing your A/C demand. That’s impressive.
Which LED bulbs did you find? I had an LED nightlight in our bathroom, but for light for reading, etc. I haven’t found any LEDs that fit standard (medium base) sockets, or produce sufficient light.
Comment by Tom Harrison — September 21, 2009 @ 8:27 am
Tom,
Did you compare the average monthly temperature this time last year vs. this year? That could also have an impact. Of course, if the avg. temp from this year was hotter and you still used less energy, than your conservation changes probably had a greater impact than what your bill shows. It would be nice to be able to separate heating/AC on your energy bill just so you could see how much energy use is directly related to outside forces.
http://blog.mapawatt.com/2009/09/13/outside-temp-energy-consumption/
Comment by Chris Kaiser — September 23, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
Well, take that back. I just realized you don’t use AC, so unlike me down here in Hotlanta (no, nobody really calls it that) your bill isnt dominated by the AC beast so summer temperature fluctuations probably dont impact your bill that much.
Comment by Chris Kaiser — September 23, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
Chris –
A fine guy I know pointed me to DegreeDays.net, a degree day calculator by zip code where I have downloaded the data and loaded it into a spreadsheet, and … well that’s as far as I have gotten. But that’s more about heating for us in Bean Town (nobody calls it that here).
As you say, AC is not an issue for electricity, although we do have two window units that we no longer use.
Tom
Comment by Tom Harrison — September 24, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
The largest user of energy in your house is the heating and cooling system. Just switching to geothermal could do that if you are heating with electric.
Comment by Charles — September 26, 2009 @ 7:38 pm
[...] Lowest Electricity Bill … Ever [...]
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