Electrical Usage and cost

[DUD]

30 days service last month cost Me $121.37 for 2158KWH. I was very happy with the bill as We had some very hot weather in that period time. Our CWL fired up there jet engine powered generators and sold power to other utilites. They seem to be looking ahead all the time. Bill

[LCHIEN]

5 cents per KWH, that's a bargain, Dud. What's a CWL?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

3080 kwh @ 5.9 cents per KWH.

HOWEVER, my bill is $313.71 which works out to 10.1 cents per kwh including all the add on crap.

Man, my usage is WAY up! Last year was a little under 2200 kwh for July!

[DUD]

Loring
City Water and Light company, and they have good management. Like I say, other electric utility companies were willing to pay for the higher cost that CWL generates locally. CWL owns part of a coal fired plant and part of a nuclear plant. Bill

[Ken Massingale]

I cringe to think what ours will be for August. 95+ every day till the last couple of days, more than one week above 100 every day.

[jackellis]

We pay an average of about 15 cents per kWh in summer. However, we're also (voluntarily) on a time-of-use plan that charges us 48 cents per kWh on summer days between 1 and 7 PM. LOML doesn't cook, run the dishwasher or do laundry during those periods. We don't have air conditioning (and don't really need it except one or two days per year). However, we have four computers that run all the time.

Depending on how cool it gets at night, you could use a whole house fan to cool the place down. Make sure your attic is well ventilated. We run two window fans all night and most mornings it's a feeezing 68 degrees. By afternoon it's warmed up to 75.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Little thread hijack here . . . . what is likely the cause of my increased consumption? 3-5hp 220V shop equipment used for average of 2 hours per day OR 4 household computers with 8 monitors and projection HDTV? LP water heater and most other things have stayed the same. Wife tends to think it is me in the shop.

[Alex Franke]

what is likely the cause of my increased consumption? 3-5hp 220V shop equipment used for average of 2 hours per day OR 4 household computers with 8 monitors and projection HDTV? LP water heater and most other things have stayed the same. Wife tends to think it is me in the shop.

I'd have to agree with your wife...

Ideally you could set up all your computers in your shop while you work so that they play a game against eachother and display it on the projection TV. Use the eight monitors as shop lighting, and keep the whole set-up nice and warm with water from the water heater.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I'd have to agree with your wife...

Ideally you could set up all your computers in your shop while you work so that they play a game against eachother and display it on the projection TV. Use the eight monitors as shop lighting, and keep the whole set-up nice and warm with water from the water heater.

Traitor . . . .

How long would it be until I cut a finger off with those monitor flashing?

[Zenaca]

$48.18 for 710 KWH this month was a little high cause it has been HOT and running the AC. It is usually about $35


Bud

[LCHIEN]

Little thread hijack here . . . . what is likely the cause of my increased consumption? 3-5hp 220V shop equipment used for average of 2 hours per day OR 4 household computers with 8 monitors and projection HDTV? LP water heater and most other things have stayed the same. Wife tends to think it is me in the shop.

Its not about peak consumption its about avergae consumption and duty cycles.

Depends on...
Are the four computers 8 monitors and projection HDTV left on full power or are they shut down for 8 hours at night but on all day and do they have power save mode enabled after a few minutes... Is the HDTV on all day or what number of hours?

And for the power tools, are you spending 2 hours per day in the shop or is that 2 hours ripping 4x4 end to end continuously with the table saw maxed out and the DC running? If you are spending 2 hours in the shop and you're like me then actual wood against blade time might be 10 or 15 minutes, at the very max. Crosscuts take about a second. Rips or jointing I feed maybe 3 seconds a foot or 20 feet per minute. A 2 HP DC will take 2 HP all the time when its on. A 3 HP table saw will rarely take 3 HP, when its spinning with no wood, then it might take 1/2 HP, but whne its cutting it could take anywhere from 1/2 to 3 HP depending upon the feed rate and hardness and sharpness of the blade.

A TV might draw 250-300 watts for a big screen projection
Computer pull about 100 Watts running but probably drop to 10-20W when in standby. Monitors, LCD generally take less power than CRT, but might be 30-40w when running and 5-10 when in standby.

So its easy to make a spreadsheet but I need to know more specifics about usage habits. I'm really guessing you shop time doesn't use that much power when totalled at the end of the day compared to the other stuff if left on 16 hours a day.