Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were probably using auxiliary heat during the cold stretch which is electric and really expensive.

Stupid answer. They have gas heat.

Auxiliary heat is electric...

Why would you have auxiliary heat with a gas furnace?

Can’t tell you that but it’s what I’ve got.

You have a heat pump with a gas backup. Very different from a gas-only system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were probably using auxiliary heat during the cold stretch which is electric and really expensive.

Stupid answer. They have gas heat.

Auxiliary heat is electric...

Why would you have auxiliary heat with a gas furnace?

Can’t tell you that but it’s what I’ve got.

You need to look at your usage, not just the $ owed. Our bill was up sharply. Our usage was only up 2% over last year, but our bill was up 12%. We are feeling the rate increases.

I have BGE, but I download my monthly data and calculate the effective kwh rate. The available data shows the month/year, kwh used, and monthly bill amount. If you're using a similar amount of kw, then the increase would be in fees. Here in MD, lots of people are being hit with BGE delivery fees, especially for gas.

My parents in NY had an outrageous bill. A few years ago, the wonderful liberals in NY decided to shut down a nuclear power plant because it was "bad" for the environment. A few environmental activists got their way. Now energy bills are so high in Westchester, the liberal politicians are hiding and the environmental activists nowhere to be found either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were probably using auxiliary heat during the cold stretch which is electric and really expensive.

Stupid answer. They have gas heat.

Auxiliary heat is electric...

Why would you have auxiliary heat with a gas furnace?

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=why+is+electricity+used+for+axillary+heat+for+a+gas+system

Anonymous wrote:170 in December, 286 today. It's never been this high.
3200 sq. ft house with gas heating, 3 occupants, all LED, no excessive lighting etc.
Is this due to rising rates associated with proliferating AI data centers we're forced to subsidize, or am I missing something else?

What is your usage? You give all kinds of information except the important information.

looking at the numbers, from last billing period of jan 14- feb 12, i used 30% more electricity than i did in the previous billing period which was actually 3 days longer.

i have gas heat, so much of the energy use was due to the fact that we all were home all day. the daily power usage graphic on our bill jumped significantly right after the storm.

but also while the heat is gas-powered, the circulating pumps for the radiant are electric powered. they were working a lot harder (and we were heating more of the house) when the temps were in the teens and we were home than when it's normally 30+.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were probably using auxiliary heat during the cold stretch which is electric and really expensive.

Stupid answer. They have gas heat.

Auxiliary heat is electric...

Why would you have auxiliary heat with a gas furnace?

you wouldn't. aux heat (internal resistive electric heat) only exists for *electric heat pumps* that start to struggle meeting the requested temp when the outdoor temperature is significantly below freezing.

a gas furnace does not have aux heat.

I paid $126 for January-Feburary, but bill was 180 and a relief fund paid for 53 of it. Pepco, Coco, 5500 Square feet. Extraordinarily cheap for us.

I really don't understand electric auxiliary for natural gas heat. We have gas auxiliary for heat pump heat. Or we can just switch to gas and it is toasty even in very cold weather.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Data centers

Why are we paying for the electricity data centers are using? Shouldn't part of their business model be paying their own electric bill?

Oh, honey!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were probably using auxiliary heat during the cold stretch which is electric and really expensive.

Stupid answer. They have gas heat.

Auxiliary heat is electric...

Why would you have auxiliary heat with a gas furnace?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:170 in December, 286 today. It's never been this high.
3200 sq. ft house with gas heating, 3 occupants, all LED, no excessive lighting etc.
Is this due to rising rates associated with proliferating AI data centers we're forced to subsidize, or am I missing something else?

I got a 912 sq ft house and paid $282 in February. Which I thought was a lot for keeping the house at 68. I have electric. What was your electric+gas?

68 is pretty warm, given that we had mornings in the single digits. 60-65 would have probably cut your bill in half - it's ok if you don't like it that cold, but the complaints about high bills when keeping your house pretty warm is kind of dense.

No way that cuts the bill in half.

One of the oldest national magazines did a cover story about this a couple of months back. It is many things - data centers yes by pushing aggregate demand without matching supply, but the main is state regulators just agreeing on any increase the utilities ask for. Looked at pepco bill in 2025 vs. 2024 and there was 10% jump in the kwh cost. Too many fees to compare. Nobody is really regulating the industry. Some states (NY, AZ) experiment by bring utilities under state ownership to control costs. It is not a competitive market - I cannot pick anything but pepco, so we are really dealing with monopolies here. Same with Verizon/ATT/Tmobile. History teaches us about those. Cost will continue to go up.