OP, do you have electric heat? If not, there no good reason why your Pepco bill would be that high. (Unless you're confusing Washington Gas with Pepco, which I doubt). Did you just move in? Check the 12month utility bills from the prev owner to see if this is comparable.

Go to PEPCO.com. If you have a new smart meter, there's a link on the website to tell you exactly the electricity usage is per hour (might be to the minute). Check to see when it spikes and plunges to see what appliance/use might be the cause.

Check your outlets and plugs to see if anything was left on accidently. Your electricity bill should not be doubling unless there's an energy hog somewhere.

If you do find that your heating system is the cause of high bill (it's always running), check the following:

Single Pane windows do cause loss of heat, but nothing like lack of insulation would do on the ceilings and air coming in through the basement/ground floors. If your top floor and lowest floors have a huge temp range (greater than 15degrees), that might be the cause.

#1 solution is to air seal - Caulk and seal around doors, window frames, etc.
#2 - check the ceiling insulation to see if you have adequate insulation (should be about 9inches of loose fill insulation or more around here).
#3 - check ceiling penetrations (overhead lights, vents, ceiling fans, etc.) that might be leaking air into the attic/joists, and seal them.

When those are ruled out as the cause, then go for the windows. Changing windows aren't cheap, and the above "fixes" are usually cheaper and better.

We are like OP in that this month's bill looks like it is over $450 for a DC row house. The kicker is that we have gas heat. Not electric. I can't imagine what is causing such a high bill. The a/c heat pump is definitely turned off.

Ask Pepco when their meter was last calibrated, particularly if it's one of those "smart" meters. They tried to charge us something exorbitant last year; turns out it was their mistake.

If/when you confirm it's not their error, have an audit done and do what you can to reduce your energy usage. $400 for a townhome seems pretty darn high.

i thought the free audit was a complete joke. didn't need to stay home from work and wait for a few free lightbulbs. the $100 of course had more but again i thought it did give me much useful information at all. they walk around with some equipment that tells you where air is coming in and where it's colder. some energy company came in and did it and i felt the whole thing was a scam and sales job. they wanted to charge me 3x what non-Pepco certified/rebate contractors wanted to charge me for insulation. i think it's best just to have an insulation company come in or a window company or an HVAC company - whoever you need - and pick their brains and get estimates.

yes, go to Pepco's website. You can get a free basic energy audit, or a more thorough one for $100. (both subsidized by Pepco.) I've forgotten which one we used, but there is a list of authorized contractors that Pepco provides. I will post if I find it. You get a whole bunch of things with the audit (like free flourescent lightbulbs).

Anonymous wrote:OP (and others) think about how long it's been since you had your system serviced. You could head off a major disaster right now (and lower your bills).
Last winter our bills were astronomical, but so were everyone's, so we just grumbled and went about life. But through the spring we noticed our bills were still really, really high and the unit was running constantly, like it couldn't keep up. We are really good about changing filters, etc, but I finally called for a tune up when we realized the air coming out of the vents was no different from the ambient temp. Turns out our outdoor unit was slowing dying / had slowly died and probably started back over the winter. The consistently high bills should have been a clue, but were masked by the general hysteria of "wtf Pepco?!"

+1
This was us as well. We noticed it over the summer though and had our units serviced. 2200 SF 4 level townhome with 2 zones. We keep our heat at 70 at night and 68 during the day. Bill last month was $150.

OP (and others) think about how long it's been since you had your system serviced. You could head off a major disaster right now (and lower your bills).
Last winter our bills were astronomical, but so were everyone's, so we just grumbled and went about life. But through the spring we noticed our bills were still really, really high and the unit was running constantly, like it couldn't keep up. We are really good about changing filters, etc, but I finally called for a tune up when we realized the air coming out of the vents was no different from the ambient temp. Turns out our outdoor unit was slowing dying / had slowly died and probably started back over the winter. The consistently high bills should have been a clue, but were masked by the general hysteria of "wtf Pepco?!"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our electric bill was $134 and the gas was $68. 2011 new build. 5500 sqft. 2 zone heat pump/furnace combo.

what temp

71 while we are home, 69 during the day. I have had house guest for 2 weeks now so it's more like 71 al the time.

Anonymous wrote:Our electric bill was $134 and the gas was $68. 2011 new build. 5500 sqft. 2 zone heat pump/furnace combo.

what temp

$400/month is SFH territory. We have a ~2k sq ft townhouse, temperature gets left at 71 degrees 24/7 (have a baby less than a yr old). Last month's bill was $150, that's w/ someone home all day. Last winter before the child was at home and when it was set lower when we're at work it was only ~$120/month, and last winter was cold.

Our townhouse is nothing special.. 80's built townhouse. Windows have all been replaced and insulation was added in the attic, but it shouldn't make a difference of >$100/month.. Something has to be off. Are you an end unit?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try running your fan all the time. Helps even out the heat in a town home.

We got a free energy audit from the DC government. They advised against new windows and for some minor, inexpensive changes like caulking and closing up our laundry chute.

We keep our thermostat set at 67 all the time and temporarily bump it up if we are feeling cold.

PP clarifying: I mean run the whole house fan all the time.

MY HVAC guy told me to use the whole house fan in the summer but not in the winter.

Our electric bill was $134 and the gas was $68. 2011 new build. 5500 sqft. 2 zone heat pump/furnace combo.

We had an energy audit done, which resulted in some very reasonably-priced improvements, such as insulating the attac, garage wall, and buying a 50 cent plug for an open pipe they uncovered in one of the closets that was blowing cold air 24/7.

Anonymous wrote:Do you have forced air heating? Costly and inefficient are two of the many disadvantages of forced air.

What's the solution Crapo rads?

We got an energy audit and made some changes based on that. It has made our house much more comfortable. Here are the things we have in our home. Programmable thermostats, new double pane windows, new front door and storm doors, added insulation in our attic (biggest difference). started using a humidifier in each bedroom room -it makes the rooms warmer. ,