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electric heating bill qs

musamusa1975

michael1975
Hi everyone,

I just got my electric bill and found out for the past 3 months, my bill has been averaging $765 per month. Over the winter here in northern California, I ran two small electric heaters in my greenhouse. They're each 1500 watts I think. I probably ran them close to 24 hours during the time in question. Does the bill seem right? I know that electric heaters were not efficient--but is 765 seem right or should I be looking elsewhere?

Thanks for your feedback,


Michael
 
2 x 1500 = 3000watts/hour so 3kwh x your rate which is? 15 cents kwh or so? That would give you a cost of about .45 cents an hour x 24hr = $10.90 day x 90 days (3months) = $972

Sounds about right to me based on the info you gave.
 
Wow. Thanks for the math Tony. I'm definitely going to look into getting a gas hook up.

Talk about stupid decisions on my part.....
 
seems kind of high but what are your bills like when not using the heaters.

Look at your bill, it should list the cost per kilowatt hour.

The formula for total cost is:

((watts x hours) / 1000 ) x cost per kilowatt-hour = total cost

or just go to this page and plug the figures in.

So given 3000 watts (two 1500 watt per hour heaters) at 24 hours a day at the national average of 12 cents per kwh cost per hour works out to $0.36 or $241.92/mo.

Be aware that some power companies have tiered rates depending on total kilowatts used per billing cycle.
 
Wait--Tony, NaN's math is right. 765 is what the company is saying I owe for EACH of the last three months. So your number of $972 needs to be divided by 3 which is 324. Still pretty high, but not near the 765 they are quoting.
 
If you fill in your g/h and local temp. details to this page http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/heat-calc.shtml it will show you at the bottom the approx usage of electricity/natural gas/propane. So you can use that to compare to your current expenses, but also what it will be in either gas once you switch over.
Andrew
 
er hmm yes I forgot about that calculator thingy too..

I was using .15kwh and yes I gave a total for all 3 months of 972 (324/month). You are saying your bill is $765 for each month?? That is alot and not possible if you were running 3000 watts 24hrs a day for an entire month. now if your electric bill is normally $300-400 or so without the heaters then it is certainly possible. Sounds like your electric rates are very high? You need to look at your bill and figure out how much they are charging you and if the rate is changing at different times of the day or increasing for amounts used.

---------- Post added at 12:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------

What size greenhouse, type of covering, and temperatures are you running?

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------

Lets see .. your total heat usage/month 5,100btu/hr per heater = 10,200 btu/hour x 24hr = 244,800 btu/day

Propane at 85% efficiency and $2.70/gallon = 96,000btu x .85= 81,600 btu/gallon
244,800/81,600 = 3gal/day x $2.70 = $8.10/day for propane x 30 = $243 month for propane
 
Thanks for the heating calculation link Andrew. If I plugged in the numbers right I do owe the amount in question--or near it anyway.
Tony,
I have two greenhouses--one for succulents and one for CPs. The succulent one is 12x10x10, with polycarbonate panels. The CP one is 8x10x7 (I think) with similiar panels. They are both pretty thin and don't insulate well.
I just called the electric company and ran some numbers. The house's average winter electric bill is about $100. This past winter, with the two 1500 watt heaters going, the electric bill jumped by about $650. The company provided an average cost of using a 1500 watt heater at .21 per hour, or two heaters at .42 per hour. This comes to roughlly $300 per month. BUT, she explained, as NaN noted, that the company charges you on a tiered system. The cost of .21 cents per hour can double to .42 per hour at the higher end of the tiers, if I use a lot of energy--which I apparently did. That might explain the unaccounted for extra $650 charge.
Problem solved I guess--and an expensive lesson learned.
 
Mine is always that high, and in the summer I will be paying in the 600 dollar range for my electric bill. Mine never drops below 300.
 
  • #10
and ppl question why i refuse to run a green house up here......long live basement growing! :D my electric and gas bill runs under $200 a month even when the nights drop to -40 regularly in Jan and Feb and the days hit 100 and nights at 90 during July and August........and im running about 20, 2 bulb, 32 Watt, 4 foot fluorescent fixtures....ild go broke trying to keep a greenhouse warm in the winter and cool in the summer.....
 
  • #11
What's most surprising to me is that last summer I ran a portable AC in the gh for close to 2 months during some pretty warm days and my bill was no where near what it is now.
 
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