Talked to the electric company several times about the base line issue. They don't set it, some commision does. It's not based on comfort, ie food, cooking washing clothes etc, only the bare necessities, heating.
As for cutting down your bill, also try turning off some of your pumps at night, However, do not turn off your main return pump or you'll wake up with some dead fish. I'd also question turning off the skimmer. I have a C/L pump that only runs during the day when the lights are on.
Small fans over the tank and sump can help lower the water temp as well. Yea you do need to do something with the chiller to get it some cool fresh air, otherwie it's doing nothing to pull the heat out.
I use a dual tem controller to run my heaters and fans. No chiller. Tank is 400G w/ 3 X 400W DE Mh bulbs and it was sitting in my garage w/ no vents. Tank didn't get above about 82 max during the summer days.
Speaking of bills, I currently have everything out of the 400 and in a 200g holding tank while I move the 400 into the house. I'm running some PH and only 1 400W DE Mh light on a light mover. My bill dropped over 200 bucks in the last few months. Don't know exactly why but I'm sure it was some from the tank, some from changing to more efficent pumps in the past.
and probably a huge energy HOG!!!!!!
