Complaining about your electrical bills

[Anonymous]

Had your home set to 68+ and are complaining about your Jan/Feb electric bill... do these people not understand basic math?

Yes, rates have gone up. Yes, it sucks and yes the energy companies are greedy. But setting your house a high temp when it was 9 degrees outside and then complaining about your bill... is moronic.

[Anonymous]

I set mine to 63 and my electoral bills were still insane

[Anonymous]

68 is not that high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:68 is not that high.

+1 That's like an average, normal temp for winter.

I'd say 70 and up is high this time of year, 65 and below is low and a little too chilly for me and my arthritis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:68 is not that high.

+1 That's like an average, normal temp for winter.

I'd say 70 and up is high this time of year, 65 and below is low and a little too chilly for me and my arthritis.

I'll also note though that I haven't found our bills that high, and we keep our thermostat at 69. This last month was definitely our highest bill ever, but it was only like an extra $10 over what we paid last year. Given the cold, that doesn't seem like a big deal?

Now our water bills are absolutely astronomical and it has nothing to do with our usage. It has to do with DC Water tacking on these massive fees to every bill. I know a lot of the fees are connected to the Clean Water bill but this is crazy. I'm sure there's a better way to collect funds for river clean up than just charging everyone an extra $50-80 on every single water bill. It feels usurious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:68 is not that high.

Came here to say this. We keep it at 70. DoE recommends 68 for people looking to reduce energy usage. Research suggests that 69 is best for offices when people are wearing a lot of layers (suits and stuff). For home I find it a bit cold because I want to wear casual clothes and take my sweater off.

https://operations.cufo.columbia.edu/content/too-hottoo-cold-building-conditions

[Anonymous]

We have gas heat so our electric use is fairly static throughout the year and our bill has gone up significantly without regard to the outside temperatures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:68 is not that high.

+1 That's like an average, normal temp for winter.

I'd say 70 and up is high this time of year, 65 and below is low and a little too chilly for me and my arthritis.

-1000

When winter is 40 degrees, sure. Not when it's in the single digits.

[Anonymous]

It's a basic human need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I set mine to 63 and my electoral bills were still insane

How big is your house? 1500 sq ft townhosue - we kept ours to 63 as well, and our January bill was 90-something. All electric, except for gas stove/oven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have gas heat so our electric use is fairly static throughout the year and our bill has gone up significantly without regard to the outside temperatures.

+1

[Anonymous]

Thermostat setting is talked about way too much on DCUM. It isn't closely correlated to how warm or cold you feel in your home. It's just a setting for the temperature in one area of your hallway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I set mine to 63 and my electoral bills were still insane


How big is your house? 1500 sq ft townhosue - we kept ours to 63 as well, and our January bill was 90-something. All electric, except for gas stove/oven.

Are you an inside unit or an end unit?

[Anonymous]

I like a cold house and keep it at 67.

I dont understand this post, are you saying people should adapt to colder temperatures when its unreasonably cold out? Or they should agree to pay more for their comfort to remain the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thermostat setting is talked about way too much on DCUM. It isn't closely correlated to how warm or cold you feel in your home. It's just a setting for the temperature in one area of your hallway

It's also highly dependent on how your house is situated with regards to sun or wind, age of house, and how well it retains heat. Two houses could have the same thermostat setting but totally different energy usage because one system has to work much harder to maintain that temp.