We're all electric too and rates are similar to yours here in rural eastern Ontario. We've also become 'mole people' and I haven't yet seen a bill this year less than $190 - and it ticks me off to no end that our kW usage is actually quite small and that the bill is 50% taxes on average. Thank you HydroOne....
The biggest savings we managed to implement was turning down the temperature on our hot water tank....dropped the bill by $20 from one month to the next, hence also saving the taxes on the funds not spent. May want to try that if you haven't already.
How?! That's a monthly bill? We're on HydroOne too, I guess the rural rates are a bit higher? But still, what is actually.. I mean.. how many kWh?
I'm happy to post the details....I'm a bit lost as to why we can't get it down myself. We've taken Kill-O-Watt meters (multiple units) and tested every appliance we've got that needs to stay plugged in (ie fridge) and everything else gets plugged in when we need to use it (think stand mixer and food processor) and then unplugged again. TV and all other assorted gadget are on a power bar that is turned off at the source when not in use. We're also both out of the house all day from 7am to 5pm and the little one goes to daycare, so there's no one home during peak usage hours, and all but the minimum required are off.
Latest bill: May 31-Jun 29 2013 = $200.55
Avg kWh/day: 36
Electricity: On-Peak: 156.3563 kWh @ 12.4000 ¢ $19.39
Electricity: Mid-Peak: 204.9040 kWh @ 10.4000 ¢ $21.31
Electricity: Off-Peak: 689.2442 kWh @ 6.7000 ¢ $46.18
Actual electricity usage = $86.88
Non-electricity usage charges on the same bill:
Delivery $81.61
Regulatory Charges $6.13
Debt Retirement Charge $6.73
HST (87086-5821-RT0001) $23.59
Total charges not actually related to electricity usage = $118.06
Total of your electricity charges $204.94
Ontario Clean Energy Benefit: 10% off applicable electricity charges and taxes*** $20.49 CR
New total of your electricity charges $184.45
Adjustments Real-Time Billing Payment Plan ($80.51 remaining) ** $16.10
Total adjustments $16.10
As you can see, the taxes and other assorted charges are worth more than the actual electricity used. Considering that it's the summer months, even $86 is quite high in my opinion as we don't have A/C, we haven't used the dryer since the end of April, the furnace has been turned off since the end of March, and the hot water tank has been dropped as low as it can go. Dishes are mostly washed by hand and the washing machine is only used during off-peak hours with cooler temperatures. We do have two fridges and two chest freezers because DH is an avid hunter and we need the storage, but we did check all the appliances with the Kill-o-watt meters and calculated that right now there would be no savings in replacing all four appliances with two bigger ones. (Although I would like to do that eventually just to free up the space.) We've rewrapped the hot water tank to prevent any heat loss. We've recently replaced 90% of our windows with higher efficiency glass (which made a big difference in heat loss last winter) and anything that wasn't changed gets covered with heavy drapes or plastic if we want the natural light, but the winter bills are still horrific. Any suggestions or ideas welcome; we've been pretty thorough, I think, but somebody out there has probably done something else we haven't thought of.
I do a fair amount of baking, but only during off peak hours, and try to multi-task to use the residual heat.
HydroOne has recently been in the news, though, with a lot of people wondering if there's a problem with the smart meters they're making everyone go to - a lady wrote in to her local MP after her usual monthly bill of $123 came in at $644 with no change in usage. The MP himself got a record high bill while he was working in Toronto 4 days a week, his wife was out west, and his kids were away at college, so who knows what's going on there.
Sorry about the thread hijack!