Electric bill trhough the roof... ouch

[jeffreylam1132]

Man, what a very expensive hobby!!! Expensive equipments, expensive corals and fish, take a lot of your time and countless headache. Now, the biggest thing, ELECTRIC BILL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm starting to wonder if I should even setup a tank now. As of now, my electric bill is around $40 bucks a month. Imagine with the tank running, I think my wife jaw is gonna drop! Huh...........

 

[WarDaddy]

I am sittingon the verge of going FOWLR. The Lighting needed to keep the coral alive and thriving is killing me.

Current Usage is like this:

Lighting:
Display
4 x 80 watt T5 (9.5 hours)
2 x 110 watt VHO (11 hours)

Cube
1 x 70 watt MH (9 hours)
2 x 35 watt CF (11 hours)

Refuge
2x15 watt CF (11 hours)

Pumps:
Main 40watt
Secondary 40 watt
Skimmer (unknown)
CA Reactor (unknown)

Additional Elect:
2 x 120 mm fans
2 x unknow fans
1 x AC3
1 x OZONE (never turns on)
1 x CO2 regulator
1 x OceanMotions squirt
1 x Tunze 6000 with controller

I think that is all I have plugged in.

 

[H22ATypeS]

I think you can reduce your lighting cycle down....I think you can shut down the VHOs in the middle of the day...Just keep essential lighting on unless you have guest over and you want to show them some Eye Candy.....

 

[gcarroll]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7743385#post7743385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H22ATypeS
if you guys haven't already done so....slowly reverse your lighting cycle to after 6PM....wash and dry your clothes at night, and if your are not home during the day set the A/C on a timer to turn on half an hour before you get home.....This knocked my eletricity bill down a lot...

These tips really work, but only if you have signed up for the "time of use" program.

 

[NicoleC]

My bill was $96 and I have 5 tanks going right now plus the AC. 800 sq ft; I keep it ~80ish in the front where the AC is and ~85 in the back.

I think you guys need to stop blaming your tanks.

 

[cozmo1]

I think you guys need to stop blaming your tanks. [/B]

I agree. Every year someone is always crying about their electric bill. It's only 3 months out of the year, so why not plan ahead

 

[H22ATypeS]

gotta pay to play....

 

[Wilafur]

suckas! my last bill was $84, and i am billed every 2 months so thats roughly $42/mo.

oh yeah, i have no tank.

 

[marcrothschild]

Nicole, you have 5 tanks in an 800 square foot home:lol: That is hard core:rollface:

 

[Wilafur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7743981#post7743981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NicoleC
I keep it ~80ish in the front where the AC is and ~85 in the back.

thats not very fair because women tend to keep their environs wamer than guys. i keep my pad at 72-74.

 

[NicoleC]

It adds up fast:
Main tank
goby broodstock tank
baby tank (usually two)
two QT's (breaking those down today)

Sometimes also buckets of rotifer cultures.

I think the breeding thing sort of burned me out. I'm thinking of downsizing, or maybe just keeping the gobies and pistols and maybe the yellow tonga leather. Yeah, I know, I just rebuilt my tank.

If you think tanks take up time and money, try having a geriatric cat and dog.

 

[badbones]

I agree. Every year someone is always crying about their electric bill. It's only 3 months out of the year, so why not plan ahead

I don't think crying is the issue here. Its the rate that we are paying for electricity, especially those with SCE. I used less this past month than last year and my bill went up 300. How can you plan ahead on that??? Three years ago my summer bills were around $200 ish. Ever since this "Energy Crisis" we all have taken it in the shorts thanks to those crooks of Enron. I wonder if they have AC in Hell?

By the way SCE is to raise the rates 8% in August. I also understand that it is retroactive from January 06. How can they do this? I have no clue.

 

[IsaaX]

So SCE is raising the rate JUST for the month of August? Or in general?

I'm in SCE area and I'm being spanked.

 

[LPSgirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7744439#post7744439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NicoleC
I think the breeding thing sort of burned me out. I'm thinking of downsizing, or maybe just keeping the gobies and pistols and maybe the yellow tonga leather. Yeah, I know, I just rebuilt my tank.

I can sympathize, very hard work for the non-commercial!!!

p.s. how is the new pipefish?

 

[NicoleC]

By the way SCE is to raise the rates 8% in August. I also understand that it is retroactive from January 06. How can they do this? I have no clue.

Do you have a source for this? CPUC approved rate increases for 2006 were already applied on Jan 1 and Feb 4.

 

[NicoleC]

p.s. how is the new pipefish?

He didn't make it. He was doing really well, eating frozen and went through his prazi bath like a champ. About day 15 he got some sort of sudden infection and was gone within hours despite all my attempts to intervene.

I had a home for him with a breeder in SD, too.

 

[badjuju]

My bill keeps going up evfery month. We havent changed anything thing for our usage. I have ac and all but dont use it and cut back alot of things and now use less but they charge me more. They have raised my rate all but one moth this year. I had them check my meter and all they did was read it. But I think I got them. The meter guy wrote down and signed what the meter said and gave a copy to us. Our bill was 100 kilowatts higher. We are in the middle of getting this straightened out. I mentioned my lawyer and wow what a chenge in attitude, they get all nice and want to work with me now. HMMMMMMM... what to do. All I know is this rate hike has got to stop. This is robbery, with or with out a tank.

 

[Konadog]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7744529#post7744529 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IsaaX
So SCE is raising the rate JUST for the month of August? Or in general?

I'm in SCE area and I'm being spanked.

When my wife called Edison, they told her that over the last few months, the price of power has gone up 55% !! So even if you are using less, it's still going to cost you more.

BTW, my bill that was $418 was a mistake, they read the meter wrong. It turns out that my bill was only $266

 

[BONDQ]

Bryan,

Don't feel so bad my bill is $600 this month, but I run the house at 72 all the time and have 2 AC units. On top of that, I keep my spa boiling hot and this bill doesn't even account for the new tank!

A couple of things:

1. Edison is just a plain rip off. When we lived near you, our house was 1,500 sq ft. and our bill was $300 to $400 regularly.
We had all the same things there, that we have at our new 2,500 sq.ft house which is in the San Diego Gas Electric territory. Our power is about 25% less now. Why?? Because Edison is a rip off!
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about your rates.

2. You should consider reducing your photo period, and you'll save some there, but I really don't think that it's your tank.

3. AC units are notorious for being inefficient POWER SUCKERS.
AC units have efficiency ratings called SEER. The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient it is. You should check your rating on your AC unit. It's usually on the badge.

I think it is now illegal to sell AC units in California that are under 10 SEER. The highest SEER units I have seen are 18, but you end up paying extra money for them.

I'm considering changing our 2 AC units to higher efficiency Trane AC units. I'd like to get 14 SEER units or higher.

I've also been considering getting solar panels. They're an expensive initial investment, but there are several state rebates depending on the power company rules, and in some cases I have heard that you can sell power back to them at the higher rate that they are charging you.

It can make some real sense in Southern California where it's almost always sunny, and just think FREE POWER.

You could run everything on all the time and not feel bad about it.

 

[NicoleC]

Edison doesn't buy back power from residential solar systems. Some power companies do, though.

Solar takes a long time to pay for itself even with all the rebates, but if you are in a house you plan to stay in for 10+ years, it'll be worth it.