Electric Bill (Portland: house, landlord, live)

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by lac098

yes, it is a ground floor apt. I didn't even think about that, but it would be colder being at the ground level. My husband is going to check out some heaters at home depot. might be cheaper using one of those.

If each room already has its own heater that can be run independently from the heaters in the other rooms, then buying plug-in heaters from Home Depot wont save you any money.

[lac098]

thoughts? I'm a cheapo, but I just can't justify spending $100/mo especially with such a small apt 700 s/f

[lac098]

can someone also explain this distribution charge to me. We don't have such a thing here in Fla. Anyway...does this mean that even in the summer, when we don't use the heat at all, PGE still charges this $26 dist. fee on top of the $10 "basic charge", so in other words the elec bill will never be less than $36??? Hoping to hear from some customers of PGE. thanks again!

[Jimrob1]

PGE had put a notice in the Jan bill I think it was ,that there would be a rate increase. There certainly was, my bills were noticeably higher and I was only home 4 days in Feb and had set the thermostat on 60 before I left. I have a 580sq apt, no washer/dryer or elec water heater in the unit, the bill was $59.00 for 30 days. The bills were around $40 when I was home the previous winter with the heat on part of the day.

[HiggsBoson]

You should see the electric bill for my 3200 sq ft home in Phoenix, in the summer, now that is scary. I am looking forward to wearing layers of clothing in the winter.

[lac098]

Ha! Higgs...I know what you mean, we used to live in Phoenix and had a home at the time and our A/C bill was insane! Seems out there you have to run your A/C pretty much 24/7 most of the year!!

[jojo4]

My March bill is $26 for 240kwh from Pacific Power.
My condo is 1000 sq ft.
My secret is a Kotatsu table and electric blanket.


Kotatsu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lac098]

hummm..interesting, I will look into that! btw...I called PGE and they said that 98% of the apts and complexes in Portland that use baseboard are on a system where the heat turns on automatically whenever the temp hits 50 or below. He suggested that we turn the baseboards off at the breaker during the day when nobody is home. Do we're going to try that for a mth to see if there's a difference.

[2bpurrfect]

um well, my pge elect bill was 100 + for this winter, for three months straight. i do live on the ground floor, not great insulation overhead, the upstairs neighbor gets free heat! i pay for it! i have a 2 bedroom with baseboard heat you can turn on each room individually.

[tiffela74]

my first apartment, we never had to turn on the heat. We had two old ladies that lived below us and man, did they crank that heat up!!! It was amazing to be so warm and toasty and never have touched the heaters! I cant even begin to imagine how sweltering hot it had to have been in their apartment! jeez....
word of caution, dont be TOO stingy on heat. You want to keep it going somewhat and air flow to keep from getting mold. We learned the hard way, No Heat+No Airflow=Mold.
We bought the space heaters, but just used em to put in the bathroom, and crank up during showers, that way the room was way toasty when we get out! lol Otherwise, really not effecient, not in trying to heat an entire house.
Good carpets/rugs will help too. those hardwood floors are beautiful, but COLD on bare feet! The carpets/rugs will help you retain the heat. Storm windows, and/or heavy drapes can help too.
Good luck!
Tiffany