Idaho Power - normal bill? (Nampa, Idaho Falls: appliances, house, refrigerators)

[dogsmusicpizza]

Wondering if IP has increased rates, or i'm simply not accustomed to house living.

I've lived in my Twin Falls 1200 sq feet house for about 4 months, and my recent bill was 175.00.
Is this kind of high ? It's central heating.
I'm single, live alone, and I kept my thermostat at 61 for overnight, and 64 otherwise rest of time.

( it's now set at 60 all the time though Lol after this bill - this should be high enough to prevent pipes freezing )

[banjomike]

Hard for me to say. I live in Idaho Falls, and the power in cheaper in town than IP's power. Idaho Falls generates its own power, but it's all tied to the power grid, so while we residents get a discount, it's less than if I.F. was completely independent.The grid keeps all our power rates lower in Idaho than our neighbor states.

At least for the present. Our power stations were over-built to meet projected population increases 20 years ago, and I.F. has been growing faster than the projections.

My last power bill was high too, and my house is almost exactly twice your size. Your bill was about $30 higher than mine at 1200 sq.ft.

But this past November was unusually cold, and the cold came very early in the month. My gas bill didn't increase as much as my power, which tells me the big fan on my furnace ran a lot longer than it ran last year in November. Everything else in my home is low-usage stuff. I also keep my temp constant, but I'm old now, so 69º is my minimum. 20 years ago, it used to be 65º.

A constant temp did save me money. This big barn's air circulation is poor because it's a split-level, and the design doesn't allow for good internal air circulation. Once it's at one temp, the house wants to stay there. It's always as slow to cool down as it is to heat up.

[Ret.InAmmon]

Are you running electric heat?

[dogsmusicpizza]

Originally Posted by Ret.InAmmon

Are you running electric heat?

yep thats what led to the bill

[oregonwoodsmoke]

As cold as it has been, with electric heat, I'd say that is a very reasonable bill.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by dogsmusicpizza

yep thats what led to the bill

Strip resistance heat or heat pump (not sure heat pumps are realistic for Idaho)?

[dogsmusicpizza]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

As cold as it has been, with electric heat, I'd say that is a very reasonable bill.

That's what I'm thinking. I've since dropped the thermostat to 60 degrees 24/7. Moved my space heater to my bedroom, and moved my tv into my bedroom as well as mini-recliner. Most of my life is now lived there for now.

[zed42]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Strip resistance heat or heat pump (not sure heat pumps are realistic for Idaho)?

Have been using a heat pump for around 10 years here south of Nampa. Have not had any problems and it seems to be more efficent than strip heaters, although if we program the thermostate for 70 degrees at night an 73 degrees during the day the heat strips kick in to bring the temperature up 3 degrees (since have changed night to 71 degrees). Our electric bill ending Dec 8 was around $250 (72kw avg daily use) and our home is about 1400 sq ft. Now we are running 2 refrigerators, one freezer, have a 220VAC heater with fan in the insulated garage set to 62deg, and all of the other household appliances including the pump for our well. Idaho power says we are using more than the average home but with what we are running I can understand. Note: no natural gas available in the area

[BellaDL]

Originally Posted by dogsmusicpizza

That's what I'm thinking. I've since dropped the thermostat to 60 degrees 24/7.

We kept our 2-levels 4,815 sq. ft home at 60F 24/7 during our vacation the week before last. Our average power usage was 47 kWh. The average after our return is 62kWh at normal setting (60F at night and 65F during the day time). The difference between the two weeks is about 24%. I don't think that it would be too comfortable to keep the thermostat at 60F during the day time. I can live with 63F but 65F is my husband's limit.

We just received our December power bill. It is the highest bill ($203 for 1837kWh) that we have received in the last 4.5 years living here. November and December this year are much colder than previous years so it is not a surprise that our power bill is high.

In the last 4 years, we averaged about $125/month with high bills from November to March, moderate bills in July/August and low in April, May, June, September and October. Idaho power provides usage chart with average temperatures and it is clear that the colder it gets, the more electricity it takes for our geothermal system to heat up the house. When buying this house, I was quite concerned about heating/cooling cost but glad to find out that the house is well insulated (8-in outer walls, 1 ft insulation on ceiling, double-pane windows). The geothermal system definitely help to lower the power consumption. We were considering solar panels but it would take at least 10 years to recover our investment. We decided just to pay a bit extra (10c/kWh vs. 8c) for green power from Idaho power.

We have 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers. They seem to consume much less power than our two well pumps. In the summer time, the power usages go way up whenever the irrigation system is on. We stopped irrigation in November but our main house pump has to work hard to provide water for the geothermal sytem (it is not a recirculation system!).

Bottom line is that Idaho power cost is still quite low in comparison to the previous 3 states which we had lived in (Michigan, Massachusetts and New York).

[NORTY FLATZ]

Originally Posted by zed42

Have been using a heat pump for around 10 years here south of Nampa. Have not had any problems and it seems to be more efficent than strip heaters, although if we program the thermostate for 70 degrees at night an 73 degrees during the day the heat strips kick in to bring the temperature up 3 degrees (since have changed night to 71 degrees). Our electric bill ending Dec 8 was around $250 (72kw avg daily use) and our home is about 1400 sq ft. Now we are running 2 refrigerators, one freezer, have a 220VAC heater with fan in the insulated garage set to 62deg, and all of the other household appliances including the pump for our well. Idaho power says we are using more than the average home but with what we are running I can understand. Note: no natural gas available in the area

You use 72,000 watts per day?

Holy Hell, are you energizing a stadium?

1400 sq ft and 2+ million watts/mo., is enough to make a 1400 ft house, a blast furnace.