What does your electric bill look like?!

[higorc]

Just trying to get an idea of what people's electricity monthly bill looks like.

My house is around 1200 square feet and I have taken every thinkable steps to cut down on my electric bill. Every bulb in my house are LEDs, wifi smart thermostat, weather proofing the heck out of every door/window (outer walls very wall insulated), Heat usually set to 63 in winter and AC set to like 77 in summer and on, and on...

I live in Saugus, MA and my bill is usually around $250 ($270 this past month), sometimes less sometimes more depending on the weather. That's an average of 1100 kWh a month @ $.2532/kWh including delivery charges.

What doesn't change too much is what the Reef tank uses per month. According to my Apex, it uses around 645 kWh. That amounts to $165 of electricity a month!

National Grid reminds every month how I am the least "efficient" energy user in the neighborhood. Which I always tell myself if I didn't have a Reef tank, I would also be an "EFFICIENT NEIGHBOR" National Grid!

I guess the point of this thread is to see what everyone's electric bill looks like so I can feel a little better about paying $270 a month in electricity.

Rants over, thanks guys

 

[MarvinsReef]

My bill is $325.00 a month on a 500 gallon system and separate 55 gallon system. I feel this is outrageous also but my biggest issue is only during the winter heating the tank water which combined between both systems is easily 1000 watts (heaters only) running most of the time. Granted I have a 1st floor setup with all sump stuff in the cold basement this could be part of the problem. I plan to take some efficient measures this summer and enclose and heat if necessary my basement fish room in an attempt to cut this electricity in half. By the way not to rub it in I only pay $.08 a KwHr in New Hampshire If I was paying your rate I would not be reefing.

 

[kgstei]

Your bill is twice mine similar-sized house. I think I average around 16 kilowatts a day . I have a 120 gallon tank set up for soft corals so I don't have my LEDs cranked up all the way. I also run my tank relatively cool at about 74 degrees.

 

[Arsalan]

What equipment do you use? (Wattage of pumps, heaters, lights, etc)
I’ve been thinking of downsizing for this exact topic. My electric bill is around $400 a month. The things we do for this addiction we have..


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[Arsalan]

My bill is $325.00 a month on a 500 gallon system and separate 55 gallon system. I feel this is outrageous also but my biggest issue is only during the winter heating the tank water which combined between both systems is easily 1000 watts (heaters only) running most of the time. Granted I have a 1st floor setup with all sump stuff in the cold basement this could be part of the problem. I plan to take some efficient measures this summer and enclose and heat if necessary my basement fish room in an attempt to cut this electricity in half. By the way not to rub it in I only pay $.08 a KwHr in New Hampshire If I was paying your rate I would not be reefing.

This didn’t sound right until I read the last sentence. Too many times I’ve asked myself why I don’t live in the Shire.


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[this is me]

How about $545 sound?

 

[higorc]

My bill is $325.00 a month on a 500 gallon system and separate 55 gallon system. I feel this is outrageous also but my biggest issue is only during the winter heating the tank water which combined between both systems is easily 1000 watts (heaters only) running most of the time. Granted I have a 1st floor setup with all sump stuff in the cold basement this could be part of the problem. I plan to take some efficient measures this summer and enclose and heat if necessary my basement fish room in an attempt to cut this electricity in half. By the way not to rub it in I only pay $.08 a KwHr in New Hampshire If I was paying your rate I would not be reefing.

$325 just for the tanks, or the whole house?

The base energy price in Saugus is .013 klwts, but then there are delivery charges and other bull crap that almost doubles it [emoji53]

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[Arsalan]

How about $545 sound?

Haha sounds like you’re crazier than most of us, and I completely understand it.
Believe it or not, this was a major reason I just had solar installed.


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[higorc]

How about $545 sound?

All u guys quoting your whole electric bill for the whole house? Or just what your tank uses?

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[kgstei]

Mine's for everything. Oil heat and hot water so not much electric used th there.

 

[kgstei]

How about $545 sound?

Um......nuts. you have a big setup though. I toy with the idea of getting a bigger tank.

 

[this is me]

That's my whole house. 3500sq ft total. Tank in finished basement has its own heat pump to heat for the winter. Dehumidifying in the summer. That's the driving factor in my electric bill. I can safely say the tank is about $200 a month. I could've done natural gas to heat the basement but I didn't want to lose the headroom due to the duct work.
I'm not sure I get $200 plus other cost a month for the 15mins enjoyment I get every night to feed the fish. I probably get much better excitement doing drugs at this point.

When the previous (smaller) tank was on the first floor, I didn't have to heat the basement. It was about $100 for that tank a month. But It was always in front of me and I get more time with it. However, I don't like water in a glass box on hardwood floor riding on wooden joists. I still believe for a tank this size, it belongs on tiles backed by solid concrete. So I don't regret putting it in the basement but it just the cost of managing/heating another floor.

 

[this is me]

I also believe National Grid raise their price in the Winter months...

 

[Reefer508]

With oil heat & hot water, winter is the cheapest months for me, around $300 a month, little over 1000kWh. When we get the pool open and the ac's running it jumps to1500kWh+/ month but don't have to buy the oil so kinda evens out around $450 energy costs/ month

 

[Arsalan]

If anyone of you doesn’t plan to move any time soon and doesn’t want to keep paying electric bills, I suggest looking into solar panels. And if you don’t feel like looking into it but you know you want it, let me know because I spent a lot of time looking into it and found a company that beat dozens of other quotes substantially with top line components and got the job done in 2 days.


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[higorc]

If anyone of you doesn’t plan to move any time soon and doesn’t want to keep paying electric bills, I suggest looking into solar panels. And if you don’t feel like looking into it but you know you want it, let me know because I spent a lot of time looking into it and found a company that beat dozens of other quotes substantially with top line components and got the job done in 2 days.


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I've considered this many times before, but I'm not sure if would work for my house, I have alot of trees around my property [emoji53]

Do you have batteries? Or does the solar power go to the electric company and you get the klwts refunded on ur bill?

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[Zach77]

$270 a month winter (oil heat), 2100 sq. ft. Two tanks (130 and 40), about $400 in summer. I looked into solar, but I wouldn’t qualify for the incentives unless I cut down trees (even though I'd meet my immediate needs). People don’t have back yards like mine in Boston and it would ruin the look by cutting them down.

 

[afboundguy]

I live in Ipswich and we have a town owned/run electric department and I believe they are usually slightly lower than the big electric companies. That being said my electric bill is around $50-$60 without A/C for my 1200 sft2 house. Tank is only 25 gallons with LED lights and no sump. It usually bumps up to $100-$150 in the summer when we throw in the window A/C units...

 

[reefer125g]

How about $545 sound?

Dam Kid ! My wife is going to kill me for getting back in to the hobby !

 

[dz6t]

How about $545 sound?

Peanuts


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