Home »
Member Services »
Comparing Your Electrical Bill
Comparing Your Electrical Bill
It is easy to draw a false conclusion if you compare your electric bill with your neighbors.
Your bill may be higher than one neighbor, even though your house is smaller. It may be lower than the neighbor on the other side of the road, even though your house is larger. You pay for what you use – no more and no less.
There are many reasons why one family may use more electricity than another, even though they may have the same appliances and the same, or fewer, number of people at home. Here are a half-dozen reasons:
- One may open a refrigerator twice as often as another. Each time the door opens, cold air rushes out, and warm air enters requiring the refrigerator to cool again. Temperature settings also make a significant difference.
- One family may keep its freezer full; another may have very little food in the freezer. An empty freezer runs more often than a full one.
- Electric ranges use electricity according to the type and number of meals prepared. In addition, one family may cook on high heat most of the time, while a neighbor conserves electricity by turning the burners down when they are cooking.
- No two families have or do the same amount of washing or ironing. One may wash once a week, while the other may wash daily. Every washing and ironing adds to an electric bill.
- The amount of hot water used varies from family to family. Cold water clothes washing and full laundry and dishwasher loads require less hot water. One family may bathe and shower daily – or longer/more often; another may not. One hot water heater may be turned down to 120 degrees, while a neighbor’s may be set at 140 degrees. How far a water heater is from the washing machine or shower can also make a difference.
- The efficiency of heating systems vary. Even a two or three degree variance in the thermostat setting will make a dramatic difference in the amount of energy used.
Add these six points together, for a start, and it becomes obvious that no two families live alike; therefore, no two electric bills will be the same.
The bottom line remains the same; you are only billed for what you use.