I got an absurdly high electrical utility bill.

[PlanetaryOrbit]

It's hundreds of dollars - for one month.

It claims I used over 2,500 KwH in one month.

I'm a single person in a 1-bedroom apartment. I have little sense of proportion for electrical terms like kilowatts, but is 2,500 KwH absurdly high for one person? I really doubt I used THAT much!

Can I insist that the power company examine the meter?

How much is a reasonable monthly "average" electricity consumption for one person in a 1-bedroom apartment? Again, I really doubt I used 2,500 KwH.

[joeglow3]

1. How often do they check the meter?

Our local carrier only checks it once every few months. They estimate it for off months and true it up when they check it.

[itsrobert]

2. where are you?

Are you using electric heat? Are you on a tier system where they charge more when you exceeded a set amount of energy?

[PlanetaryOrbit]

5. I am in Texas.

Yes, I am on a tier system.

[LanternWaste]

34. You're not the only one...

Same thing happened to me over the past two months. I live in a small apt. too, and my bills for the past two months have been app. double their normal amount. A few discussions over the past few weeks have shown this to have happened to quite a few people.

My guess is that it's been the unusually cold winter spells we've had here in north TX over the past six weeks.

[aikoaiko]

3. Look out for the DEA.

And watch out for your dog.

[TDale313]

4. I'm in a similar living situation,

And had a heater once that a couple times did actually send my bill that high. Got rid of it. Is there anything new/different this month? If not, I would definitely challenge it, ask when they were showing the usage. Sorry for the hassle

[PlanetaryOrbit]

8. I figured heating or A/C would consume a lot of electricity.

This is my first month. I am curious to see my 2nd month's bill.

[TDale313]

11. That's hard when there's no track record.

Is it all usage or could they have added on charges to start the account? Also, could it be a bit more than one month? I would definitely question it. That's very high. My insane heater aside, my bill's usually around $50 and rarely over $90 even in the winter.

[madokie]

6. We're totally electric

and we average a tad over 1000 kwh a month

To use that much you'd have to have a leak that would be flooding your house and spilling killawatts all the way out into the street
Just being silly there with that part.

[elleng]

7. Sure you can insist,

and you should. Tell them you've compared your current bill with past bills, and doubt that you actually used so much.

[PlanetaryOrbit]

10. I moved into this apartment in December.

I don't really have comparable bills for this apartment to compare it to. This is a new place to me.

[elleng]

13. You can probably get the comparable past bills.

Tell the company you need an explanation for the high amount of the bill, and wonder whether there's anything you could change, re: usage.

My recent is $270 for a small house/cottage, higher than past months due probably to cold weather even tho I'm not there all of the time, and I turn heat down when I'm not there. I use space heaters when I am there and its unusually cold.

[House of Roberts]

14. We were in an upstairs apartment, and the unit below us was vacant.

Not getting the heat from below made ours spike one month.

[LeftyMom]

9. You're in an apartment? Try to find out if anybody else's stuff is connected to your wiring.

The easy way to do it is just start flipping your breakers in the evening when people are home and their lights go on, and see if anything that isn't yours goes off.

I did that and it turned out I was paying for some outside lighting because some idiot did a lazy repair job. Needless to say I raised hell.

[Warpy]

12. Start asking questions

about whether the bill is for the whole building. Also question the utility, ask them why this bill was so incredibly high. You can request to see previous bills for that unit.

If you have electric heating and it's been cold, that might account for a large part of it.

[roody]

15. My home uses around 6KW per day.

That's around 180 KW per month.

[Lil Missy]

16. I have a 3 bedroom house with a basement and I have never used that much.

During the hottest part of last summer I did get up to about 2400 KwH. I use electric for A/C. Does your heat run on electricity?

[PlanetaryOrbit]

29. Yes, I think the heater/AC is electric.

Still, 2,500KwH?

[PowerToThePeople]

17. 640kwh here

But my heat is natural gas.

[Change has come]

18. That happened to us several years ago.

Our bill was $200.00 more than it had ever been for that month. The checked out the meter and told us it was fine. We had no choice but to pay it.

[Fumesucker]

19. Probably a surcharge for the extension cord

You know, the one up to PlanetaryOrbit.

Welcome to DU!

[Drew Richards]

20. Sounds like they tacked on previous tenants unpaid bill to me. I have a 5 bedroom home all electric

And my bill averages 140 a month.

[PADemD]

21. Absolutely, have your meter checked.

And make sure you weren't switched to an alternate electricity supplier. I tried that in PA for six months and found out that the quoted lower rate was a teaser rate. In June, the supplier charged $0.12/kwh; and in July, the rate was $0.15/kwh. They adjusted my bill after I complained and switched me back to the default rate of $0.082/kkwh. Our last month's usage for a whole house and two people was 743 kwh.

We read our meter every month and phone in the reading. Otherwise, the reading is over estimated by the electric company. My one friend's electric bill was $400 for a house used by two people who work all day. There is no way they used that much electricity.

[Recursion]

22. My December bill was $1500

Oy. (Yes, that's dollars, not rupees.)

(AC, electric cooking, electric water heaters, large municipal fees on generation, and a fee/transaction structure that ignores the recent collapse of the rupee relative to the dollar.)

Maybe I should just make friends with mold and keep the AC and dehumidifiers off...

[aroach]

23. 3 Bedroom, Family of 4 - 812 KwH

Last bill was for 812 KwH. Highest bill in last 12 months was in August for 1414 KwH. Our central air went out and we were running several window units so that is very high for us. I can't imagine you using 2500 under any circumstances.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

24. 4 bdrms, 4 people, 1502 kwh last month

Something is definitely wrong with your meter.

[durablend]

36. 2500 kwh for a small apt sounds WAY OFF

Something isn't right there.

[Lex]

25. I have a whole house 1500 sq feet, all electric, and temps in the single digits last month

for several days and my bill says I used 1,910 KwH last month. The bill was for $187.00. If that helps for comparison?

[DesertFlower]

26. when i lived in a 3 family house in new york

i got really high bills. i think the hall lights and possibly the ground floor apartment (small studio) where the landlord's mom lived might have been connected to my meter. i know my thermostat controlled that small apartments heat. thank goodness i didn't have to pay for the gas or oil -- whatever was used for heat.

i only lived there for about 2-1/2 years. they kept raising my rent. that's when i moved to a large apartment building where i had free gas and electric. just paid $5.00 extra a month for my 3 air conditioners. the rent was higher but with the free utilities it worked out. when i lived in the other apartment i lived on the 3rd floor -- the landlord was on the 2nd. i always felt like i was living in their house. wasn't very comfortable with that. the final straw was when i asked for permission to get a 2nd cat. the landlord had a cat. he said "2 cats are enough" -- like their cat was mine. he did escape every morning when the landlord left for work and as soon as my door opened he ran in to play with my cat.

now i live in a 2700 sq. ft. completely electric house -- that includes the well and septic. i'm on an equalizer plan and my monthly bill is $227. it was $267 but after my husband passed it went down. it's just me. my summer bills run over $300 but the winter is much less -- that's why i went on the equalizer plan -- my bill is the same every month.

i'm in phoenix.

[2pooped2pop]

27. elect on my vacant house goes up in winter

they tell me it takes more to run the frig in winter coz that is all that is on but one light. No heat. I think they are just scamming because most people use more elect in winter.

[durablend]

35. They all pull that nonsense

No matter how little you can realistically use they'll 'claim' that you used WAY MORE electricity than some fictional neighbors.

[LibDemAlways]

28. I had a similar situation with a water bill. My bill

actually went up when I was gone for a month and used no water. I could not convince the water company that the bill was in error.

[ohheckyeah]

30. That's almost exactly

what we used, 2,500 KwH last month. We have a three bedroom house with a den in the basement that is used almost all day. There are two of us in the house all day and night. Our bill was $278.00.

[Uben]

31. I'm in Texas and my bill was much higher

I live in a 42 yr old huge two-story house, alone. I only heat about a third of it because that's the part I "live in". I have a wood stove that helps, buts its mostly for asthetic purposes. I keep the thermostat at 70. My bill was $275 when its usually around $150 to $175. Not so bad. I do turn the thermostat down when I leave the house and at night. My parents bill was $600, but they keep theirs at 75 and keep their propane fireplace going constantly. They heat the whole house (about 2500 sq ft).

On the other hand, my brothers electric bill is usually around $60/mo. HE is a minimalist and uses his propane stove sparingly.

[NutmegYankee]

32. I have a 4 bedroom house plus basement, highest ever bill was for 900 KWh.

And that was running inefficient box ac units nearly 24x7. I normally consume roughly 500 KWh in winter.

My heat and hot water are gas fired though.

[DURHAM D]

33. If your hot water heater is electric

have the elements (2) checked. If one is not working it will run up the bill.