High Electric Bills

Does your electric bill seem unusually high? Following are some things to consider or look for. You can also visit our Save Energy page for measures you can take to save energy on future bills.

See how many days you are being billed for. The PUD makes every effort to read your meter at the same time every month. However due to weather, scheduling and holidays your bill may fluctuate in how many days you were billed for every month. (See Estimated Readings). You can see how many days you were billed for under Meter Reading Dates on your bill.

Did you have any guests? Kids home from college? Holidays and guests can cause losing your heat to opening your doors several times, extra cooking and laundry and extra bathing and showering.

Were there any unexpected seasonal changes? In the colder months, you may heat your home more and take longer and hotter showers to warm up resulting in excessive water heating. Are you baking more? Leaving the crock pot running all day? Even if you use primarily wood heat, your heating and water heating could be where your usage has gone!

Are you heating at unnecessary times? Do you turn your heat on in the evening and off again in the morning, heating your home all hours of the night? Consider installing a programmable thermostat that will allow you to choose when your home is heated.

Were you gone? When you leave your home and leave your heat running even at a low temperature your heater will be working upon your absence to keep the temperature at your desired degree. Each person’s body generates about as much heat as a 100w light bulb and moving around your home keeps heat circulating. You can safely go down to 55° without worrying about mold or frozen pipes. Consider looking in to upgrading your heating system! Ask our Conservation Department about heat pumps.

 Do you have vampire electronics? Are there appliances and electronics plugged in throughout your home? Unplug what is not in current use!

Kitchen appliances: Coffee pot, toaster, blender- are they plugged in? Make sure to fill your dishwasher to capacity before running it and choose the appropriate cycle and change the drying setting to no or low heat. Check the seals around the doors of your fridge and freezer to make sure cold air is not escaping through worn-out seals.

Computer accessories:  Printers that may be rarely used, scanners, speaker systems (especially if they have powered subwoofers”, etc.

Entertainment systems:  Game console, blue ray player, etc. – keep all TV accessories plugged in to one power strip and power it off when not in use. Your flat screen TV can cost you up to $160 per year when it is not in use! New TV’s are always partially powered as they are now made to power on the instant you push the button. Unplug your TV when not in use.

Chargers:  Cell phone, iPad, tablet, MP3 player, electric razor, electric toothbrush, laptop, etc. The charging cords are using power even when the item is not being charged!

Guest room or garage:  Do you need the fan plugged in? Cable box, clock radio, TV, tools- unplug them!

Heat pump:  Consider having your heat pump inspected regularly by a heating contractor to ensure it is functioning properly and efficiently for your needs.