Electricity

[refonpit]

Was wondering... I started saltwater 2 yrs. ago, the same time APCO started hiking thier rates. I knew it was raise my bill, but I'm astonished by the amount. Have 1200ft.sq ft. Monthly budget was 150.00 monthly, now it's 344.00. Think it's the lighting? 16 plug ins running all the time? Does it cost 100.00$ extra a month to run one of these things? It's only 75gal, how do you afford a bigger tank? Like alot of people Im beginning to think the economy is hurting me. Debbie

 

[J. Montgomery]

$344! Something ain't right . . .

You can use this handy calculator to determine how much electricity (money) your tank is consuming, you just need to know your rate (cost/kWh).
http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/tank-electrical

Something to consider though is that a lot of things feed back on either other, like running more lights will heat up a room, which can make the A/C run more often, etc . . .

Where do you keep your thermostat? A/C and heating are usually the two biggest energy consumers.

 

[J. Montgomery]

I (and my wife) live in a townhouse thats 1800 sq ft. My 'typical' electric bill is around $120-150. During Snowmagedon, my bill peaked out around $280 (I about died) b/c the heater was working so hard that month.

Start looking around for ways to cut your electric costs: insulating doors and windows, raising the thermostat, turn down your hot water heater, close curtains during the day to block sun light, turn off appliances that aren't in use, etc . . .

 

[dadyoj21]

your 75 is not the main problem, my electric bill has almost doubled from 4 years ago for identical kw usage.

my home is about 2200 sq ft with another 600 finished down in the basement where my 220 and 90 reef are along with the 40 fuge and the 40 frag tank. I am also running pumps for a 20000 gal swimming pool and my AEP bill just came in at $322. this is higher than I expected but I am burning some electricity and the rates keep going up.

 

[coolfish5]

I'll second the rate hikes being a pain. You can always check the actual power consumption with a Kill-A-Watt meter plug in and it will tell you the power use. I'm running about 1300kwh this past month which equates to a $148 bill, I have several aquariums, AC, lights, dehumidifier, chest freezer along with the typical appliance load. I think its really just the rate hikes that are the worst of it.

 

[4adam12]

344! I will quit complaining about my 112. It did go up 40 this month but its nothing compared to yours.

 

[visiontech4x4]

My 58g running dual 150w metal halides cost me about $35 per month.