I have a 6800 sq ft 5 yo house that has excellent insulation and windows, and we get our systems serviced regularly. We do not have budget billing, but do have two zoned nest thermostats that adjust for efficiency. We generally keep our house 65-68. Gas heat, stove/oven, water heater. Our gas bill last month was $185.

So I really think OP needs a systems check.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is insane - I just checked and my bill for the month of January was $164. We keep the house at 64 at night and 67 during the day. 2600 sq ft house.

Electric bill was $165. So total for January was $329. Not too bad although way higher than it used to be!

We have 2000 square feet and had the following bills in the last month: $108 for electricity, and $180 for gas. These are the highest bills we have experienced in our 10 years in this home. It wasn't a cold month, and we are conservative with the thermostat, so I'm not sure how we ended up using so much power.

All the $160 or $180 folks probably have budget billing where it's the same bill all year, which spreads winter heating costs across all 4 seasons. Nobody is incurring $160 per month right now to heat a home over 2000 Sq ft.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe your hot water heater is set too high? But that bill is absurd. You should fight it!

That would make only tiniest difference, basically negligible

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:new boiler, new h20 heater.


these fxxxxkers are just screwing us

it hasnt even been cold

we dont even take hot showers wtf.

what can we do?

Awe, the frustration that "build back better" and company are causing. Suck it up buttercup, you most likely voted for this if you're on this board. Wasn't it Obama who said utility bills would sky rocket for things to change, oh well.

Still waiting for OP to come back with their Sq Ft before we decide its all evil government fault. You buy a 5000 sq ft house you need to understand it will cost a LOT to heat and condition. It should not be inexpensive to do so.

I have a 5,000 sf house and I don't spend even a small fraction of what OP is citing. I've got bad news for you. It's not the size of the house, it's the 50 or 75 year old poor or nonexistent insulation that causes large amounts of heat transfer (or it's bad windows, but OP said those are new).

Anonymous wrote:Why do people think that new windows makes their house more efficient.

My new insulated-glass fiberglass-framed windows are visibly more efficient than our original 1960s non-insulated glass windows with a wood frame. Gas usage dropped, year on year. Payback for the new windows will be about 6 years. We don’t expect to move, so we will save money long term, and we have a more comfortable house immediately.

File a complaint with the Public Service Commission

Anonymous wrote:I checked my this month bill and this month last year bill. Cost per unit this year increases 25-35% from last year.

It's a new normal.

Washington Gas has sent numerous emails etc about donating to fuel funds and going to a billing method where it averages the costs because of the rate increases. Never saw a barage like that before. For OP with new windows [can't feel a draft] and 66 degrees I would check the accuracy of the thermostat. Sounds like all other options have been explored. After my massive shocker bill those things went down to 64 and 65...


DISTRIBUTION SERVICE 2023-1st 3 used to vary and 2022 rates on all 4 would have been about $255 for the same usage.
Distribution Charge 25.0 TH x .5730 $14.33
Distribution Charge 100.0 TH x .5730 $57.30
Distribution Charge over 125 ex 80 TH x .5730 $45.84
205 * .8984=$184.17+above=$301.64

This thread is alarming. We have a new build about 4400 sq ft including an unfinished basement with gas heating and cooking and we paid $900 per month in Nov., Dec., and Jan. The thermostat ranges from 68-74 max but it sounds like something is way wrong with our system. Sheesh!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your gas usage (usage, not your bill amount) has actually more than doubled since installing new windows and furnace/water, then you've got a problem. It's a leak or a billing problem. Or you got some really bad windows and and a terrible furnace installation. I know that you said they already checked for leaks, but Wash Gas is pretty incompetent. I've called them for several leaks on my street (where you can clearly smell gas at specific locations) and they come out and say it is fixed (and never is).

the boiler was well installed. it got inspected too

new windows.

its not a leak, i'd be smelling it to high heaven

its the meter

I would check the settings on your boiler. I recently moved into a house with a boiler and did research on why my gas bill was so high.

Even though I have a high efficiency, condensing boiler, the water temperature was set at 180 degrees like an old-style boiler. This means the return water was too high to actually kick the boiler into condensing mode. If your boiler installer actually installed the outdoor reset (and many don't), make sure that's on.

Your meter may be haywire. But I don't think most homeowners know you have to make sure a new boiler is set correctly by the installer, unlike a high-efficiency furnace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:new boiler, new h20 heater.


these fxxxxkers are just screwing us

it hasnt even been cold

we dont even take hot showers wtf.

what can we do?

Awe, the frustration that "build back better" and company are causing. Suck it up buttercup, you most likely voted for this if you're on this board. Wasn't it Obama who said utility bills would sky rocket for things to change, oh well.

Still waiting for OP to come back with their Sq Ft before we decide its all evil government fault. You buy a 5000 sq ft house you need to understand it will cost a LOT to heat and condition. It should not be inexpensive to do so.

We have. 8300sf new build house all gas heating and fireplace, cost me 250

Square footage is just the wrong measure. Two houses of the same size, one can cost ten times as much to heat as another depending on how they're built and insulated.

A new house, built to the latest codes -- and really following them, including air sealing -- will use about a quarter the energy to heat and cool of what was considered a well-built house 20 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:new boiler, new h20 heater.


these fxxxxkers are just screwing us

it hasnt even been cold

we dont even take hot showers wtf.

what can we do?

Awe, the frustration that "build back better" and company are causing. Suck it up buttercup, you most likely voted for this if you're on this board. Wasn't it Obama who said utility bills would sky rocket for things to change, oh well.

Still waiting for OP to come back with their Sq Ft before we decide its all evil government fault. You buy a 5000 sq ft house you need to understand it will cost a LOT to heat and condition. It should not be inexpensive to do so.

We have. 8300sf new build house all gas heating and fireplace, cost me 250

We keep our thermostat at 72

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:new boiler, new h20 heater.


these fxxxxkers are just screwing us

it hasnt even been cold

we dont even take hot showers wtf.

what can we do?

Awe, the frustration that "build back better" and company are causing. Suck it up buttercup, you most likely voted for this if you're on this board. Wasn't it Obama who said utility bills would sky rocket for things to change, oh well.

Still waiting for OP to come back with their Sq Ft before we decide its all evil government fault. You buy a 5000 sq ft house you need to understand it will cost a LOT to heat and condition. It should not be inexpensive to do so.

We have. 8300sf new build house all gas heating and fireplace, cost me 250

I checked my this month bill and this month last year bill. Cost per unit this year increases 25-35% from last year.

It's a new normal.

Anonymous wrote:Why do people think that new windows makes their house more efficient.

Because mine did.

To OP, buy a thermal detector and point it at the new windows. Try to find leaks around the house.