Very High Utility Bills....the Norm in Dunedin/Clearwater?? (Palm Harbor: appliances, tile)

[ijabit]

Originally Posted by rezfreak

How big is your house? Pool? Lots of electronics? How old is the AC? How thick is your insulation?

These are all things that affect your bill.

Our house is ~1,500 Sqft., not exactly huge. No pool, a fair amount of electronics. The house was built in 1981, I'm not sure of the age of the AC or the state of the insulation.

[LKJ1988]

Talk about LALALAND.

[ijabit]

Originally Posted by MeInDenudinFL

Your water seems high. How much gallon it says that you used? How big is your family? We can easily tell with that, if it makes sense. Do you have a sprinkler on drinking water or reclaimed?

The water bill says we used 20,000 gallons in 33 days. So they charged us $105 for that water usage. Then they charged $55 for sewer usage. Another $10 for "Res Stormwater". Another $15 for "Unit charge".
Finally, another $18 for garbage service...so total for water is $185 (excluding garbage).

We have no sprinkler and drink bottled water.

[gulfer]

To me your water usage seems high. That sure is a lot of water!

Your electric bill sounds a little high, but that could be with the 1981 home build. Can you take a look in the attic and see if there is anything glaring (holes, light shinning through, etc...) How is your insulation up there?

Just a few things to check. You could always get more insulation in there if that is a problem. Hopefully you can move around and do it on your own to save some costs.

GOOD LUCK

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by ijabit

The water bill says we used 20,000 gallons in 33 days. So they charged us $105 for that water usage. Then they charged $55 for sewer usage. Another $10 for "Res Stormwater". Another $15 for "Unit charge".
Finally, another $18 for garbage service...so total for water is $185 (excluding garbage).

We have no sprinkler and drink bottled water.

Now I can tell you there is almost no way that you use 20,000 gallon without having a leak. Average use is about 6,000 to 8,000 gallons in Bay area. Look for a leak, and if that leak is hot water, then you have high electric bill too.

Good luck!

[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by ijabit

Our house is ~1,500 Sqft., not exactly huge. No pool, a fair amount of electronics. The house was built in 1981, I'm not sure of the age of the AC or the state of the insulation.

With that size house, your bills are way too high.

[BucFan]

Make sure you have ample insulation product in your attic. Might want to do what you can to protect the seals of your doors to keep cold air from leaking out.

My place, built in 2009, is 1500 sq ft, avg h20 bill is $30-50/mo. No pool. No lawn watering. You bill sounds way too high. We have several threads on the topic about leaks - recommend you visit them. Have the electric company come out and do one of those free assessments on your home to check for efficiency and ways to cut down on your use.

[ijabit]

Originally Posted by MeInDenudinFL

Now I can tell you there is almost no way that you use 20,000 gallon without having a leak. Average use is about 6,000 to 8,000 gallons in Bay area. Look for a leak, and if that leak is hot water, then you have high electric bill too.

Good luck!

Thanks I was trying to find an "Average" water usage for this area, that helps. I felt around the entire house for "hot tiles" to indicate a leak but couldn't find any. I'll make sure and read the meter tomorrow morning and try not to use any water for a day to see if it still accumulates. Now I just have to find the water meter....

Thanks!

[ijabit]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Make sure you have ample insulation product in your attic. Might want to do what you can to protect the seals of your doors to keep cold air from leaking out.

My place, built in 2009, is 1500 sq ft, avg h20 bill is $30-50/mo. No pool. No lawn watering. You bill sounds way too high. We have several threads on the topic about leaks - recommend you visit them. Have the electric company come out and do one of those free assessments on your home to check for efficiency and ways to cut down on your use.

Yes, I will try and figure out if there's a leak. Thanks for the tip with the electric company, I'll call them Tuesday and see if they can come out to do an assessment.

We did have an extra guest staying with us for most of the month, so there was 4 people here for that month. Plus we had another "extra" visitor for a week too. Even still, that seems like too large of a bill.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by MeInDenudinFL

Now I can tell you there is almost no way that you use 20,000 gallon without having a leak. Average use is about 6,000 to 8,000 gallons in Bay area. Look for a leak, and if that leak is hot water, then you have high electric bill too.

Good luck!

Agree - you need to check your water meter outside - if the little triangle is spinning when ALL of your faucets etc. are turned off, you have a leak. We had two pipes leaking under our slab (both hot and cold), but even with those our bills weren't as high as yours. I think you have a huge leak somewhere. They do tend to happen more often in hot water lines. You might need a company like "Sleuth" who come out and detect where your leak is (if you are on a slab). It could be in a wall, too.

Good luck!