How many KWH/month used in your household?

[Turtle]

The poll is straightforward; how much juice per month, in kilowatt/hours does your household use? Feel free to post qualifiers to the thread such as whether you heat with electricity, make hot water with it, what you pay for it, etcetera. :phones:: :naughty:

[Cedars]

Average over the last two years is 642.5 per month with 3 people living in house, all working different shifts. Average monthly use expected to fall this year due to a few planned changes coming up (unless things dont work out).

 

Gas stove, water heater average of 12 gallons per month (delivery guy commented on how little its used compared to other customers).

[Turtle]

Average over the last two years is 642.5 per month with 3 people living in house, all working different shifts. Average monthly use expected to fall this year due to a few planned changes coming up (unless things dont work out).

 

Gas stove, water heater average of 12 gallons per month (delivery guy commented on how little its used compared to other customers).

 

Nicely done Cedars. :doh: I lack an informative delivery person, but my curiosity about the electricty usage of others is what prompted the poll.

 

I checked the 1001 -1200 KWH/month category. I live in a newer 4-bedroom home with 4 other people. We have natural gas heat & hot-water, and an electric range. Biggest user in my house is simple waste in my opinion, with the refrigerator in the lead. :

[Zythryn]

About 1000Kw a month although I need another year to get a good average. In Nov and Dec we had construction on our deck and the house next door using some of our power. All electric, water heater, heat pump, stove, oven, washer and dryer.

I would guess our refridgerator is also the biggest single waste.

Although the heat pump uses about 100Kw a month, it serves as our heat, AC, 75% of our water heating needs. 3500 sq ft

[Cedars]

Nicely done Cedars. ;) I lack an informative delivery person, but my curiosity about the electricty usage of others is what prompted the poll.

 

I checked the 1001 -1200 KWH/month category. I live in a newer 4-bedroom home with 4 other people. We have natural gas heat & hot-water, and an electric range. Biggest user in my house is simple waste in my opinion, with the refrigerator in the lead. :):

 

I think thats a pretty good number with 5 people and electric range. I am also sure if I bought a new fridge my use would drop some. Mine is nearing or at the 20 year old mark.

 

During the 1.4 years that I lived alone and worked days, my electricity use averaged 334.6 KW per month (average of the two years).

[Cedars]

About 1000Kw a month although I need another year to get a good average. In Nov and Dec we had construction on our deck and the house next door using some of our power.

 

Yes, looking over my billing, I can see where I was using the power tools for projects. For me, a typical project seems to add around 100 KW hours to a bill. But when we did the living room, it added 250 KW hours to that months bill.

[Buffy]

We seem to have dropped 100kWh when we switched the old tube TVs and monitors to much bigger LCDs...Who knows what the switch to digital TV might do to US energy consumption!

 

As I've said elsewhere, we long ago stopped using central heating and switched to just having lots of computers running in the house... :)

 

CALIFORNIA: From Latin 'calor', meaning "heat" (as in English 'calorie' or Spanish 'caliente'); and 'fornia', for "sexual intercourse" or "fornication." Hence: Tierra de California, "the land of hot sex," ;) ...and Happy Valentine's Day everybody! :evil:

Buffy

[REASON]

On my last bill, we used 933 kWh over 31 days. Personally, I think this is pretty high considering we use natural gas central heating and water heating. In the summer, this amount goes up significantly when I switch to air conditioning. I wouldn't be surprised if we were up in the 1,300 to 1,400 range during the hotest part of the summer, but I'm not sure.

 

According to my bill 933 kWh is down nearly 40% from this time last year when my ex was still living here. I'm not sure what she was doing that was using up so much energy. I imagine it was because she liked to fiddle with the thermostat. If she felt chilly, in her mind it was necessary to raise the ambient temperature of the entire house. Obviously, a couple more layers or a sweater wouldn't have been sufficient. As you can probably tell, it was something that irritated me, and considering a 40% reduction, it appears I was right.

 

But even with this reduction it still seems high here.

 

After reading Buffy's end quote, I'm thinking about moving out to California. :cup:

[Cedars]

Just got a letter from my electric company. I am apparently among a group of 40,000 randomly selected customers as a part of a pilot program. I am guessing this is pre-emptive Carbon Tax planning.

 

Last month I used 9% less electricity than my 'efficient' neighbors.

Over the last 12 months, I used 2% more electricity than my 'efficient' neighbors, but significantly less than All neighbors.

In all of 2008 I used 21% less electricity than I did in 2007. This has to be due to the kids boyfriend moving out.

 

Efficient is defined by the electric company as the most efficient 20% from the "all neighbors" group (read old people).

 

Last month, the efficient neighbors average was 640 KWH. Mine was 580KWH.

Last month the "all neighbors group averaged 1,362 KWHs.

 

Last year, Jan - Jun, I was higher than the "efficient neighbors". In July I dropped under the efficient neighbors. September I tied them and October thru January, I was under them.

 

The span between the efficient neighbors and all neighbors group tended to be a minimum of 200KWH with 500+ KWH differences in Feb, Aug, Dec 08, and Jan 09. I am guessing this is weather related, hot AC running in August, and electric heat and more indoor cooking the winter months.

[InfiniteNow]

200-250.

 

It'd be lower, but the windows in my house are really old and horribly inefficient. I've caulked and sealed all of them, but that only does so much. The 17 SEER HVAC I put in helps, as does the reflective sheathing I added to the roofing system, and the ridge vent on said roof. It all helps, and I've brought it down since buying the house, but those darn windows are still the bane of my energy saving approaches.

[Tormod]

We moved to a three-floor rowhouse last fall from a medium sized apartment and our energy consumption has skyrocketed. We average almost 2000 pr month even though we have central water heating and no electric ovens. I suspect that our tumbler is a culprit (runs constantly) but having two small kids doesn't help either. I was shocked when I checked the meter this weekend, we used almost 5000 since January 1. Seems I need to investigate!

[Turtle]

We moved to a three-floor rowhouse last fall from a medium sized apartment and our energy consumption has skyrocketed. We average almost 2000 pr month even though we have central water heating and no electric ovens. I suspect that our tumbler is a culprit (runs constantly) but having two small kids doesn't help either. I was shocked when I checked the meter this weekend, we used almost 5000 since January 1. Seems I need to investigate!

 

Is "tumbler" Norwegian for "clothes dryer"? :naughty: I have seen heat exchangers for clothes dryer ducts before that have little fans in them, but all I can find after 20 min of looking is this diverter unit. >> Amazon.com: Dryer Heat/Energy Saver (ACEEX12): Home Improvement http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H5PTI6/ref=asc_df_B000H5PTI6722157?smid=A1SV1BYDTUK2Z5&tag=dealt28673-20&linkCode=asn

 

If you have a metal exhaust duck you can direct a small fan to blow across it when the tumbler is running. :eek2: That's a wrap, from my thinkin' cap. :(

[Roadam]

We average about 800 with 8 people living in the house. The consumption would be lower if I wouldnt be on the comp so much :lol:, thats about 20%, and one of the three fridges is old and uses another 20%.

[Cedars]

We moved to a three-floor rowhouse last fall from a medium sized apartment and our energy consumption has skyrocketed. We average almost 2000 pr month even though we have central water heating and no electric ovens. I suspect that our tumbler is a culprit (runs constantly) but having two small kids doesn't help either. I was shocked when I checked the meter this weekend, we used almost 5000 since January 1. Seems I need to investigate!

 

Sounds like you have some problems Tormod. I dont fully understand euro power, but that sounds like an incredible amount of power.

 

Around here you can request the electric company come and check your meter for malfunction.

 

Do you share this rowhouse with other people? (I am not sure what is meant by rowhouse).

 

Depending on the age of a place, I know instances have occurred in the US where someone divided up a home and did not separate the wiring correctly, so one party was paying for another parties usage.

 

An issue I encountered while repairing/remodeling was squirrel damage and previous owner damage. We had wires casings chewed that were shorting out against the wall. Loss of energy there (not to mention we were lucky the place had not burned down around us). Another issue was we found out why our ground didnt work in one room. A nail had been hammered thru the ground wire, and with time the connection was broken (pulled away from the nail). We were lucky it was only the ground or the wall may have looked like the squirrel damage area. No kidding, the wood was charred black.

[C1ay]

We average around 600. 4 adults and 2 kids, (mom & dad w/ son, daughter and 2 grandkids) in 2500 sq. ft. 2 Fridges and a box freezer. All heating appliances are gas.

[Tormod]

Sounds like you have some problems Tormod. I dont fully understand euro power, but that sounds like an incredible amount of power.

 

Around here you can request the electric company come and check your meter for malfunction.

 

Do you share this rowhouse with other people? (I am not sure what is meant by rowhouse).

 

Euro power is the same as all other powers I think.. KWH=KWH.

 

Our house is from 1989 and is 150 square meters, or about 1600 square feet if I got the conversion correct. Three floors. A "rowhouse/ row house" is a series of houses which are connected, thus utilizing common piping/cabling etc but each apartment is a separate unit and there is not much chance to "mess up" your neighbor's systems. In our "building" there are three houses, and since we're on one end it's like having a full house but the last outer wall is taken up by the next house...Between each house there is (although not visible from the outside) noise isolation and also about 10 inches of air.

 

This is our house:

 

We have what is called "central heating", which is a public service where we get warm water from elsewhere. It passes through our indoor radiators. We pay for that too but this is not calculated into the KWH we consume through electricity.

 

Let's see what can cause our energy consumption level:

 

1) Heating: Since our heat comes from outside sources, and since we have no electric panels, it shouldn't matter that January and February have been very cold months (down to -20C). But we do have electric cables heating the bathroom floors, this is controlled by a thermostat and set to approx 20C. This can of course be changed and also switched off.

 

2) Electric lighting: Since it's the dark season we do tend to have more lights on during larger portions of the day.

 

3) Kitchen Appliances: We have two fridges (one small for daily use and one full size for storage). One small freezer. Dishwasher. One electric stove which I am sure draws a bit of power when used. Electric oven. Microwave (rarely used). Water boiler for tea etc, used quite a bit. Espresso machine, used a bit. Fan above the electric stove. This also controls the air circulation system in the house which is a basic system.

 

4) Gadgets: We have two LCD TVs, one which is used quite a bit and one which is rarely used. BluRay, PVR/Cable box, wireless router, Internet router, surround receiver. A 24" iMac. My home studio comprising a MacBook Pro, a 22" LCD monitor, two active studio monitors (ie speakers), various other hardware. Most of this stuff is *always on*, some in active state and some in standby. We have an alarm system which uses wireless motion and smoke detectors talking to a central in the basement. This is of course always on (we can't switch it off).

 

5) Bathroom etc: Washer/dryer. Not much else apart from the heated floors.

 

A water heater of about 200 liters which is electrically powered.

 

We have *no gas* appliances (apart from our outdoor BBW). There is no home gas service system in Norway, even though Norway is one of the world's largest exporters of natural gas.

 

I have checked the local power supplier and their charts say that a house like ours should expect a power consumption of approx 25,000 KWH per year. That means that we're only slightly above that so it seems our usage is fairly normal.

 

But I'd still like to see how much I can bring this down, at least to try and understand what it is that draws all this power. I'll start by noting each morning what the meter says, and try to switch off the standby utilities before I head for work etc. I'll also make sure to switch out old light bulbs with power saving ones (we did this in our previous place but haven't got around to it here, silly really).

 

Turtle's idea of the heat trapper for the dryer is cool but our drier simply has a condenser built into it which we empty now and then. No heat is led up in pipes or anything.

[Tormod]

EDIT: A comparison between today's reading and the one I did this weekend shows an average daily consumption of 47,5 KWH which is just about 1500 KWH/month. That sounds more "normal" to me. I wonder if there was a problem with the last reading so that we reported too low usage for the previous period, I'll have to look into the history.

 

I'll still try to experiment and see how I can bring the consumption down.