Hi there. This is my first post - hope I’ve done this correctly.
Believe it or not, until reading MMM I never even thought about our utilities bill and just accepted them as unavoidable. Well, turns out that’s not the case (duh!) and I’ve been able to reduce my electricity consumption by 50% from last year (most of the saving were from switching our heat source from our heat pump to our natural gas furnace which I just found out is cheaper. I know I know).
Anyway, while I’ve made good progress I just can’t seem to crack my “base” burn rate of 0.5 kWh every hour. Our electricity provider allows me to see my usage broken down by the hour, and even in the middle of the night when nothing is on I’m still burning 0.5 kWh. I’ve done experiments where I unplugged everything (I’d already addressed most of my vampire load) and it didn’t even make a dent. Of course, when the tv is on or laundry is being done we are higher than that, but it never seems to go below 0.5.
So, my question is - is 0.5kwh every hour (so 12 kWh per day or 350 kWh per month) normal consumption for a freezer, fridge, modem, furnace fan, and standby power for a stove and microwave? It seems high to me. Our appliances are all less than 10 years old. Do I have some big drain somewhere I’m not aware of? It seems like the equivalent of five 100watt bulbs going 24/7 is excessive. I would really appreciate any advice.
UPDATE: I got a Kill A Watt meter from the library and I found some vampires, and I also discovered the thermostat was set incorrectly and the fan was running almost constantly. My usage was down to 0.2 kwh per hour overnight. This will translate into a $15/month savings approx. Still conducting testing on the freezer to assess that consumption.