Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Air conditioning

The house we are renting is 1800 sq feet with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, dining room, kitchen, living room, and utility room. It is an open floor plan. It also has a garage. The garage is kept closed and locked. It is very warm in there and does not have air conditioning. We keep the door locked in the utility room to prevent air conditioning from going through to the garage. The stove is electric and we use the dish washer once a day.

We have kept the air at 78 degrees. We have five ceiling fans running to help circulate air movement.

Our first electric bill came and it is 188 dollars. We moved from a town house of 1333 sq feet, three bedrooms, two baths, no garage, and open floor plan for the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

This bill does not include the dryer that the property manager bought and had installed on Sunday.

Our town house had electric costs of about 150 a month because my husband would keep the air conditioning at about 70 to 75 and we used to use the dryer frequently.

The lease states that clothes lines are not allowed. I used to have a drying rack but it did not come with the move because of the shape that it is was in. It was breaking and falling apart.

Does anyone have experience with a home that is 1800 square feet and know if this is an accurate electric bill for a family of five? Our water is heated by electricity. My son takes a shower every night. I take a shower or bath every OTHER night, my oldest daughter takes a shower every morning, and my middle daughter takes a shower every OTHER night. My husband will take a shower every day or every other day depending on how he feels when he wakes up.

I am considering turning the air conditioning up to 79 degrees and continue to use ceiling fans. I am looking for input from folks to see if this is a reasonable bill or not. We lived in our town house for 15 years in Virginia and are used to the utility payments. This is our first electric bill for the rental home.

5 comments:

  1. There are a lot of factors to consider:
    -what is the kilowatt cost for electricity in Va vs FL?
    -are there additional fees/taxes in one or both states, beyond the cost for the electric and the cost for the supplier?
    -compare the age of both homes
    -compare the insulation of both homes
    -compare the site location of both homes: hilltop? water edge? valley?
    -compare the age of all mechanicals that use electric at both homes
    I am in a 1616 Ranch with attached garage, well UNDERinsulated (addressing that in 2 weeks)in a very expensive (second highest rates in the US) and my recent bill was under $125. I set the central A/C to 78. We use windows and ceiling fans whenever possible in lieu of the A/C. Once the interior temp hits 80, the A/C is on or if it's humid, like today, it's on.
    Your water practices sound conservative UNLESS the shower takers are using the shower for more than 10 minutes. I invested in a propane on demand tankless water heater BUT it along with the well, both use some electric to operate. Look at your cooking practices. Rig up a clothesline in the garage/basement. Even clothes on hangers that are suspended from a broom handle that is placed over the top of the backs of 2 kitchen chairs will work. Buy or obtain thru freecycle, replacement dryer racks.

    BTW-I am very conservative, compared to most in CT as far as electric goes. Neighbors typically are paying well into the $300's every month in the SUmmer.

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  2. should have added: did you reach out to neighbors with similar size and age homes to get a feel on utility bills? did you contact the electric company and ask for what the bills were the past year? (our electric utility will freely provide that info)

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    1. When I spoke to the electric company last month they told me that the usual cost of service was close to 200 dollars a month for a home this size. She told me that she would not be able to put us on a budget plan until a year of use (which at that point we will be hopefully buying our new to use home). The house was built in 2006. I did not reach out to any of the neighbors about their costs of service. I did speak to my husband's cousin who stated that their energy costs are about 300-350 a month based on their square footage of 3600 and use of all electronic appliances, technology, numerous showers a day, and air conditioning set at 70 with multiple fans in their home. Our home is a single floor and their home has two floors. I could not imagine a electric bill between 300 and 350 a month.

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  3. This is not the answer to your question, but do you use LED bulbs? I am amazed at the articles and the lower energy cost of using LED. I never got into the curly bulbs and did not own one that was not given to me by the electric company.

    Since I have injured my right hand and left shoulder, I can no longer hang clothes on the line. However, I try not to use the dryer and hang clothes all over the place. It is just me, so I can do as I please. However, I did notice a jump of $50 in my electric bill in the Spring when I started using the dryer due to my allergies. I cannot have pollen on my clothes. Dryers are expensive to run, but I do when I must.

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  4. 78 degrees is the temperature that many frugal blogs recommend. In high humidity areas the ceiling fans definitely help. I live in the Delta and use a standing fan that oscillating fan when I need a little more air on me.
    My electric bill has gone down since using LED bulbs. If you buy a few at a time it doesn't "hurt" so much to purchase them.
    I was not able to hang out laundry for many years and hung them on plastic hangers on the shower curtain rod and on the wood moldings that surround doors. It isn't very pretty, but it does save the cost of the dryer.
    The Mount Dora area is very beautiful. I hope you enjoy your new home. BTW the Orlando history museum is a great day trip and you will learn lots about the settlement of Florida and Orlando pre-Disney.

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