Just got my electric bill and it's just about 1,000kw more

[Jasper7821]

I just got my electric bill this morning and it's almost 1,000kw more than last month and my bill went from $85 to $280.
I don't get it, it's hotter this month so the AC was running just a bit more and my car probably only used 300kw or so.
I only charge the car about 7-10kw a day. I know some juice is lost through the line but to have my bill go up 1,000kw over last month is surprising.

 

[WattsUp]

Assuming you mean that "300kWh" was the total you stored in the FFE battery over the month, even with an 80% charging efficiency, charging your FFE with 10kWh per day for 30 days is only 375kWh "out of the wall".

So, the remaining 625kWh (of the increase of 1000kWh since last month) is attributable to your increased home A/C usage? Or, about 21kWh per day.

 

[Jasper7821]

Assuming you mean that "300kWh" was the total you stored in the FFE battery over the month, even with an 80% charging efficiency, charging your FFE with 10kWh per day for 30 days is only 375kWh "out of the wall".

So, the remaining 625kWh (of the increase of 1000kWh since last month) is attributable to your increased home A/C usage? Or, about 21kWh per day.

Actually the car since I've been charging at work the last few weeks. I get home and the car has used around 8-9kw. And for the 2 weeks I didn't have a charge at work it was about 17kw total for the day. So 2 weeks at 17kw and 2 weeks at 9kw is only 260kw a month and with the the weekends maybe takes it to 300-350kw

I had my fiance read the meter this morning and it's gone up 70kw since yesterday when the meter was read by the electric company. so something is wrong. My avg for a year is only about 850kw a month.

 

[WattsUp]

Hmm, maybe you have something consuming power you aren't aware of?

I had a shorting wall socket for a while that only made a mild electrical "smell" (not really burning), until it finally shorted out (it was only then that I realized what had happened). That was probably like having a toaster plugged in all day. (Not to mention dangerous... I was lucky.)

Maybe you should get your home wiring check out?

 

[Jasper7821]

Hmm, maybe you have something consuming power you aren't aware of?

I had a shorting wall socket for a while that only made a mild electrical "smell" (not really burning), until it finally shorted out (it was only then that I realized what had happened). That was probably like having a toaster plugged in all day. (Not to mention dangerous... I was lucky.)

Maybe you should get your home wiring check out?

Thanks,
Something is for sure wrong if I used 70kw on a day. I have a newer small (1,500sf) house and everything is energy efficient.
This morning when my fiance looked at the meter to read it she said the wheel seemed to be spinning faster than normal. She has rental properties with guest houses and she has to read the meters every month to split the bill between the renters of the main and guest house so she knows how slow the wheel should spin.
The only thing running in the house when she red it was the fridge, all lights were off and AC was off.
I bring my charging station to work so it can't be that.
Oh well, another problem to solve :shock:

 

[danholl]

It is possible your electric meter is faulty - contact the power company and have it checked

 

[v_traveller]

Yeah, that's what I'd do in this situation. While waiting for them, I suggest shutting off all the breakers, then turning them one at a time to see if one circuit gets the meter spinning wildly again. Hopefully that would isolate the issue to one circuit if your meter isn't the culprit.

 

[Jasper7821]

Thanks.
It seems to be spinning about the same speed as the neighbors when our AC is on and when off.
Also with the AC off and the car plugged in it seems to spin the sane speed as the AC makes it spin.
I measured yesterday at 5pm and again at 7am this morning and it's gone up 50kw.
My car had 15 miles remaining so I figure the car used maybe 15-17kw so the AC maybe uses a ton of juice.
We keep it at 81 at night so I wouldn't think it took that much to run may night.

 

[jeffand]

I would check the air filter on the air conditioner. This could cause it to run excessively. Is your house electric everything? You need to do a home energy audit to determine were the power is going. I drive about 900 miles a month. This only adds less than $40 to my electric bill.

 

[Jasper7821]

I would check the air filter on the air conditioner. This could cause it to run excessively. Is your house electric everything? You need to do a home energy audit to determine were the power is going. I drive about 900 miles a month. This only adds less than $40 to my electric bill.

The AC filter is pretty new. Yes the whole house runs on electric, no gas at my home. I drive about 2,000 miles a month but charge at work also.
I think it's the heat that's causing the huge spike. Our rental hone usually runs the renters about $200 a month and their bill just came in and it was almost $600.
My parents bill is usually about the same as mine ($80) and there's is $201. Mine was $275.

I'm having the electric company check everything for a $20 fee. Also going to have the AC system checked for its efficiency.

 

[jeffand]

To reduce your air conditioning cost try keeping the blinds closed. This will help reflect some of the sun heat back out of the house. Make sure the AC blower motor is running on high. Try switching all you’re lighting over to florescent or LED. Incandescent lighting is less than 20% efficient. This wasted energy is in the form of heat. Try charging your car at off peak load times when ever possible. This will reduce the stress on the power grid.