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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I think the troll is the one who said 73F is not a healthy temperature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Do you have a high efficiency HVAC system?

I have a similar situation. 1960s house, similar size. but I have updated thermal windows and an addition (with insulation issues). We keep the temps set similar to yours.

And our gas bill was $250 and our electric bill was also $250 -- $500 total. I don't understand how it could be so high. The house is never actually warm. My husband thinks I'm being ridiculous for being worried about it and justifies it with "we have an old house" and "it's been really cold," but I think he's being naive. We already have plans to add insulation to the addition, but I don't get why our electric was so high.

Could this be an issue with the smart meter? I've heard problems with the smart meter doubing usage. Our heat is gas, so why in the winter would our electric bill be $250 when all we run is a tv, a computer and some lights (with energy efficient bulbs)? Our water heater is also gas, so it can't be that.

Anyhow have any answers? And if you're going to jump in with "don't buy and old house," just save it. I'm looking for constructive help.

[Anonymous]

We keep our 1200 sq ft house at 75 (new baby) and our gas + electric add up to less than $300/month. OP, you need to get your heating system checked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We keep our 1200 sq ft house at 75 (new baby) and our gas + electric add up to less than $300/month. OP, you need to get your heating system checked out.

Oh yes, and our house is old and super drafty.

[Anonymous]

1538 SF, so drafty you can feel the wind blow through my sliding glass doors. Haven't gone over $300 this year.

I turn it down to 60 during the day when we are not home.

[Anonymous]

OP I wish I knew you to call you and tell you our story. I hope you see this!

Long story short, we moved to a new home and our bills at the end of summer into the winter were increasing. Our bills for nov/dec ended up at around $1500, $1800, and we ran the therms based on ALL the electronics we use and it was physically impossible.

Pepco was the usual DC customer service with Larla or La-a on the phone saying "I don' know u got a fayun running or a rurdiator... I don' know what ur wasting your electric on..." etc and we were explaining we didn't live in an embassy. This is a normal sized DC home... nothing.... also we were all wearing layers, kids in sweaters... we weren't superheating our home like the people on the phone suggested.

Simple question: is your heat coming out of your vents ACTUALLY hot... not warm but hot...?


It took my husband sleuthing... putting a hand on the ducts to realize the heat duct should be warm but was cold and we felt like we could hear the ac unit running outside... but maybe it was a fan... come to realize when we hired a simple elecrician that when the heat was wired it was incorrect so EVERY time the heat was on, the ac also went on... .so the air was instantly cooling after it was heated... and was only ever lukewarm...

Prior to finding the problem we had gone on the monthly average system to pay the extra costs year round and ended up not owing on a bill for 2 years because their estimate was so high based on the incorrect wiring. $100 for an electrician and we were good. My DH was kicking himself because if he'd actually stared at the ac wall thermostat he would have seen the problem... but again we didn't know what the problem was, just that it wasn't possible for us to be sucking that electrical... well if you have your heat and ac running 24/7 it is!

Pepco likes the money, so for all it's bs about saving the environment andlowering usage and costs... there should be a flagging system where they have a reviewer send someone out to review when something like this usage or change in bill happens.

We realized why the electric and gas had been turned off... when we were buying the home and attempting to do the inspection the seller hadn't turned them on so we had to come back several times... the miswiring wasn't caught because sure, the systems worked, but it was summer and no one waited a half hour with the heat on to see if it worked. It felt like warm air was coming out, but who would know the ac would stay on?? So we never will get $ back from the seller, or pepco, or the inspector... 'no one's fault'....

the sellers realtor was explaining that there was a dispute with a past renter who didn'[t pay the utilities and the seller didn't want to be on the hook for it.. my dh and I realized he must have owed thousands and had to pay it because the renter took off... and I can understand why... You rent a home and the utilities are that crazy? I'd be gone too... and this was probably why the seller was so cheap when we were asking for money back for other piddly things... because he got stuck with the bill

[Anonymous]

I used to live in an internal TH and also had bills like that sometimes in winter or super hot summer. We replaced the windows and the HVAC and then our bills were normal. Think you will have to turn the temp down and check your system OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You have a point. Our home is about 35 years old and I need the temp at 74 to be tolerable in this weather.

Very true!

We got a new HVAC and windows and have ours at 69 and it is very comfortable.