How Much Is Your Electric Bill Each Month

You mentioned you live in a trailer.....that's the reason your bill is so high. No matter how new it may be, mobile homes are not built with hardly any insulation. I lived in one and in the winter the walls would ice over on the inside!

My mom (yes, my mom) framed in the inside of the walls, installed insulation, and then new drywall over that. She also insulated the ceiling and reroofed the trailer. It made ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

Look at what you can do to improve the insulation and windows and doors(most windows in trailers are only single paned and metal). It may be worth spending the money up front to save on the heat bills.

GOOD LUCK!

1 mom found this helpful

Our house is 1400 sqft. We heat with gas heat pump and cool with electricity. In the winter our gas bill avg. about $120 and power bill avg. $30, in the summer our gas bill avg. $50 and power avg. $80 - $90. So combined throughout the year on gas and electric we avg. about $150.

Your gas bill might be up because of the insulation in your home.

We live in California on the beach and our gas runs about $120 each month and electric has been between $150-$220. We live in a 2,000sq ft.

When we lived in an older home with lath and plaster walls with brick on the outside the gas and elec bill were each about $400. per month in their peak months. Now that we live in a 16'X80' our gas is about $70 per month on the average monthly billing. Our elec is about $275 per month on the average monthly billing. If we didn't do the averaging program it would be too much for us to handle in Summer, because the Summer Elec. bill can easily be over $575.

Our H/A unit is only a 2 ton and with our trailer the minimum size unit would be a 3 ton, so it runs from about noon until midnight without cooling below 80 degrees.

We have gas stove/oven, dryer, and heat and it can easily be $400 in the Winter months.

There have been times we just let the gas go and use the microwave, electric griddles and skillets, portable electric heaters, etc...and the elec. bill doesn't change much, but without the gas bill it is much easier to manage. Since my grandkids have come to live with me I can't make those same choices but we still manage to pay the bills.

i would definitely agree tht it's the insulation issue. also maybe the windows if they aren't insulated, too. i live in fl 1200sq ft and mine runs btwn $140-$180 this winter.

Hello M.,

how old is your water heater and how well insulated is it during the winter? Also, check the windows, doors, etc.
Good luck! ~C.

Hi M.,
Our house is much bigger and the bill is about the same as yours.
We switched to Stream Energy and locked in a rate. You may want to check that out.
V.

Is the GAS bill or the Electric? Are they different bills there?
Here in Round Rock we pay about 12 cents per kwh. In Austin (10 miles south) it was 6. Check your rates to see if you have the "variable" rates. They change from month to month and are generally higher in the winter due to the cost of heating oil.
We end up paying about 170$ in winter.

Well I am feeling a little better about our Energy bill, but just a little. We run at about $260 a month for 2800sqft, that includes an inlaw apartment that is on our bill. But we also shell out close to $300.00 a month for oil.

We only get billed every other month and it's about $350 for our 750 sq feet 1940's rental house. Our house is basically a cardboard box with no insulation whatsoever and EVERYTHING is electrical.
Your best bet is to find all drafty spots first and plug those. Also switch to energy saving light bulbs and get extension cords with switches for all your electrical items such as TV's and Computers. Its only makes a small difference on the individual bills, but adds up over the year.
In the summer when the heat is off (no AC in the PNW) I also line dry my clothes when the weather allows and lower our bills to $75.
Good luck!

Has your bill gone up from prior months/years? If it has, you should try to see if you can find the root cause (e.g. change in habits, change in rates etc). Mine has gone up in the past year and I called the electric company. Although they had a few tips for lowering the bill, it appeared my bill was correct. It might be worth calling your electric company. Sometimes they will do a house evaluation and give you a breakdown of what appliances are utilizing the most electricity.

Here in Spring Branch, Texas (north of San Antonio) we paid at most $220 this winter for our 1200 sq foot home. Insulation here is awful. We have all electric as well, with one water heater. But we close off the vents and close the door to the room we don't/rarely use. We keep the heater at 65 during the day, turn it off when we leave the house, and turn it down to 63 at bedtime as the covers keep us nice and warm. When weather is nice and springy, I open windows and open shades so that warm sun can heat the house. Perhaps insulation is bad, plus you're probably on cinderblocks, so al the cold air is blowing under and over and all around your house.

Are the bills actual or estimated? Here they can estimate the bills and can be very out of whack until you get them to come out and take an actual reading. Something to check into just in case.