Electric Bill Came - How Am I Doing?

[somecobwebs]

Got my first electric bill today after moving to my own place, and I was wondering how I stack up from a Mustachian perspective, and where I can improve.

Over a period of 60 days, in a two-person apartment, the bill came out to $39.

We have conscientiously avoided using the AC all summer, even when it hit 88 degrees in the apartment, and some of our decorative lights are solar-powered. We do have mostly electric lights though, and I don't think the bulbs are that modern (not sure how to check). Plus, I work from home, so there's the electronic drain of computers and internet. Oh, and a refrigerator! No internal washer/dryer, and no television.

What do you guys think? Am I getting a face punch, or are we doing okay?

[Travis]

$39 for each month, or total for two months?  Either way those are very good numbers.  Where do you live, and what is your electricity rate?  Is that all of your energy or do you have a natural gas service to go with it?

[MayDay]

Average for a household in the US is something like 900kwh per month I think.

We were 585 last month for a family of 4. Average household is 2.5. But we live in a place with above average prices, so that bill for 585kwh was 80$.

Highest electric usage in the US is a/c.

[Ottawa]

It is best to state what your kWh usage is in addition to the cost.  It's not very useful to compare how much people pay since rates vary widely globally.  Also, the size of the place that you are powering (square feet) is a good number to show...as it puts the kWh usage into a certain perspective. 

Good on you for not using AC though!  That's a huge step towards lowering the bill. 

Having said all this...I'd agree with Travis that if you are paying $250 per year for electricity costs...pretty good! 

[skunkfunk]

You know damn well how you're doing. This is bragging.

Good job.

[somecobwebs]

@skunkfunk - Heh, I hoped it was good! God knows I didn't do all that sweating for nothing. But I'm brand new to living on my own, so I'm still figuring out averages.

@Travis - $39 for two months. We do have natural gas service to go with it, though, for cooking; if we had an electric stove I am sure it would be higher.

@MayDay - Wow, really! Now I DO feel like bragging :p

@CBDIS - 215 kwh! But it's not a very big apartment, so that probably diminishes the value of the number a bit.

Thanks guys. I just showed these numbers to my roommate and she got really excited.... converting her slowly but surely to Mustachianism. She was really suffering in the heat this past week, so it was great to see her face light up. When I pointed out how we were stacking up to the national average, she said, "Oh, speaking of which!" and ran over to turn off the unused hall light. Winning flies with honey....

[Ottawa]

@CBDIS - 215 kwh! But it's not a very big apartment, so that probably diminishes the value of the number a bit.

Thanks guys. I just showed these numbers to my roommate and she got really excited.... converting her slowly but surely to Mustachianism. She was really suffering in the heat this past week, so it was great to see her face light up. When I pointed out how we were stacking up to the national average, she said, "Oh, speaking of which!" and ran over to turn off the unused hall light. Winning flies with honey....

Hey, that's pretty good - maybe you could get your roomate to accept the challenge of getting the apt usage to under 100kWh per month - that would be kick-ass!  Nothing like a little  competitive juice to lower the juice :-)

[somecobwebs]

Hey, that's pretty good - maybe you could get your roomate to accept the challenge of getting the apt usage to under 100kWh per month - that would be kick-ass!  Nothing like a little  competitive juice to lower the juice :-)

Haha, very true!! And we'd only have to ease it down a little.... I bet we could make it!