I tried to search for a thread on this, but the search function kept freezing. If there is a good thread, feel free to link.
My wife and I bought a new house in 2015, lived there for about 6 months, and then embarked on a ~16 month remodel NIGHTMARE (long story short we got royally screwed by a general contractor...not the point of this thread though so I won't derail).
Anyhow, we did not add any square footage, just updated the 1960s tile, buffed the floor, new cabinets / countertops / appliances, opened up the kitchen...standard remodel to a 1960s rambler. We switched out all of the lights from incandescent to LED, we switched out the 1980s fridge to a brand new energy star version, and so on and so forth. We did not add anything that is a specific energy hog (we used to have a gas stove, we still have a gas stove, we used to have an electric dryer, we still have an electric dryer). We did not have any big lifestyle changes (we don't now work from home, we don't have a child, we didn't start a home business, etc), no big habit changes that would use energy.
Comparing our February 2015 electric use (in kwhr, not $$$s since I know that changes) to our February 2017 electric use, it literally doubled. It's a direct comparison before and after remodel, we switched to all things energy efficient that we could during the remodel, we added nothing that guzzles energy, and our use DOUBLED.
It's driving me crazy. I'm not sure if something is wrong / broken / installed incorrectly such that is burning electricity 24/7, or if I missed something that is just guzzling.
Which brings me to my specific question. Anyone ever used a whole home energy monitor? I'd be interested in something like Curb. It plugs into to your circuit breaker box and lets you monitor 18 different circuits, so it would specifically tell me at least which circuit is drawing all of the energy. Any other ideas / brands / thoughts?
The big thing that bothers me about Curb though is the price, $400. My monthly energy use even after doubling is about $100, so I guess the payback would be a little under a year IF, IF, I directly find and fix the problem using it.
https://www.amazon.com/CURB-Energy-Monitoring-System-Solar/dp/B015IY0Z3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489530266&sr=8-1&keywords=curb+energy
