Help! Pepco bill is over $1200 in a townhouse!

[Anonymous]

Years ago we lived in NoVa and received power bills for about $200-300/mo & suddenly along comes a $900 bill. Thought it was a mistake, called them(Vepco?Pepco?) they had not read the meter in about a year - I think it was in the basement or something? Not sure, we were new renters at the time and didn't know better.

Anyway, turns out our monthly bills were just estimates. It sucked to get a huge bill but at least we knew why after that. They allowed us to make payments monthly for a few months to get caught up.

I also have had 2 friends whose neighbors plugged into their electric/power grid somehow and ran up their bills.

[Anonymous]

My bill is maybe $600, and I have an old house (w/ new addition) -- about 3,000 square feet -- plus a large room behind the (completely detached) garage, that I am heating.

My thermostat is set to 68, but still -- unless they hadn't done an actual meter reading in a long time, it's hard to imagine that that is accurate. If it is, they should allow you to pay it over time.

[Anonymous]

We keep ours at 74 because of kids, the house is 5600sf 2 years old and our bill was $500. The month before it was $375. I think it is mostly heat pump on electric strip because of the extremely cold temps. I guess if we were fatter we could drop the temp but its too cold for our liking. Our water heater is electric and lower level is gas furnace which was $150.

Last year our bill was about 30% less. I guess the polar vortex.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if the power companies are trying to over charge people who are using more energy? Like the bull shit peak water crap?

[Anonymous]

So wrong. 6000sqft SFH , built in 2011. Electric bill = 265. Gas = 110. Furnace 2 lower levels. Heat pump upstairs. Gas also goes to cooking and water heater.
Temps are set at 71 but I have a programmable thermostat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So wrong. 6000sqft SFH , built in 2011. Electric bill = 265. Gas = 110. Furnace 2 lower levels. Heat pump upstairs. Gas also goes to cooking and water heater.
Temps are set at 71 but I have a programmable thermostat.

Once the kids are off to school I plan on programming mine.

[Anonymous]

On the Pepco website, there is a section where you can see your current bill to date, updated daily. It gives the usage and an estimat eof your monthly bill if your usage stays at that current rate. We have been hit with some higher bills this winter (nothing like $1200 though!) so we cut back the thermostat and have been monitoring online to see if it makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

OP - is your whole house on electric?

how old is your home?

what size is your home?

We live in a 2200 sqft., 1960s drafty house with original windows. Heat is gas, the rest is electric. We have every possible gadget known to man plugged in at all times. 4 TVs, 3 laptops and 1 desktop, 4 cell phones charging. we keep heat on 66 during the day (no one is home between 9-4), 68-70 between 4-11pm then 67 from 11-6am.

Our last bill was $138.00. what gives with yours?? that sounds really wrong, including your bill before that.

With Wash Gas, we are on Budget Billing which is set at $65 a month. at the end of the year if there is a shortfall we pay the difference. This year there is a $300 shortfall so we are paying that next month and then back to budget billing again at $65 a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got a solar roof a few years back. Best investment ever.
Pepco sends us a check for a few dollars every few months.


Also got an energy audit. And more insulation. Our house now is so comfortable (after all the measures suggested from the energy audit) that we are floored.

We are now in our forever home and are looking to act now to make it comfortable. We got the energy audit - it was very interesting - May I ask who did you get to do your insulation and were you happy with them.

We also had somebody come and talk to us about a solar roof. My dh wants to do it but we don;t know anyone first hand to ask about it. you are obviously happy about it. Who did you go with? Did you put any $ down or just lease the panels, so to speak?

Thanks!

Solar City. For both (solar panels and insulation). We leased for 30 years. Got federal, state and county rebates. Solar city did all the paperwork...everything. The solar panels actually add another layer of insulation to the roof - making house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. They are responsible for all maintenance. There is a guarantee of how much power it will generate. We are on the grid, so electricity that is produced and not used flows into the grid (so we are selling the extra electricity) - that balances out what we consume at night (when we are buying from Pepco).

Insulation made a tremendous difference to the comfort factor. Our consumption of electricity went down year round. Very happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the Pepco website, there is a section where you can see your current bill to date, updated daily. It gives the usage and an estimat eof your monthly bill if your usage stays at that current rate. We have been hit with some higher bills this winter (nothing like $1200 though!) so we cut back the thermostat and have been monitoring online to see if it makes a difference.

OP, we log in to the Pepco website too, the info they give is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is a pretty high temp to have your thermostat set to. Ours is set to 67. I think if your heat pump can't keep up, it goes on emergency heat, which is more expensive, but still your bill seems ridiculously high.

I would call someone to look at your heat pump to see if that's the problem.

67 would be too cold for me. Not everyone can stand being in a cold house. I keep mine at 74-76.

It really depends on the house. My house is 30 years old, wasn't well built anyway, and 68 feels cool but tolerable. 68 in my sister's house feels tropical.

Maybe her thermostat isn't calibrated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the power companies are trying to over charge people who are using more energy? Like the bull shit peak water crap?

I posted this on pg. 2 of this thread regarding PEPCO:

"Additionally, the meters enable monitoring that could utilize a rate schedule that either charges based on what time of day electricity is being used or charges based on overall demand on the grid. The former example, a “time-of-use” schedule, would charge predetermined rates depending on the time of day. The latter option, known as “dynamic” pricing, would mean that using electricity when there is great demand – like during a heat wave – would cause everybody’s prices to spike.

“If the grid is stressed and all of your most expensive power plants are running, that means that everybody’s power is very expensive at that moment. One option is to charge higher prices during those times and effectively send a signal to customers that this is a time when the grid needs your help, and that you can save a whole lot of money by reducing your load,” Morgan explained."

[Anonymous]

If you are setting your thermostat at 73ºF you are ridiculous and should move to Miami and stop complaining. That is not a healthy temperature for anyone but an octogenarian with poor circulation. We keep ours at 67ºF and sleep with a window open.

[Anonymous]

OMG insulate your homes people. This thread makes me weep for the future of humanity.

[Anonymous]

OP is trolling and probably hasn't paid her bill for 3 months and 1200 is the accumulated total. There is no way that a TH sandwiched between 2 structures has a bill that high after 1 month.