Heating/ac Bill for New Home with Babies

does your electric company offer an equalizer plan? where they take the average usage and make your monthly payment the same every month

I'm in the DFW area of TX and we are in one of the hottest times since 1980.

We have 4000 sq ft, we do not skimp, we stay comfy with air, usually on 75, I run the washer/dryer at least once daily, maybe more on big days, dishwasher at last once a day.

About 5 yrs ago we ripped everything out of our house that the builder used for heating and air. We dropped about $20,000 for the upgrade and extra insulation.

We built our house in 2000. Before we revamped the system, summer bills were at $700 highest. 2 yrs ago we signed on with Champion energy. With all the heat... My last months bill was $334. We just got the recent bill and it was $322. We were shocked! We expected it to be right up there with the $630 water bill!!

Check your electric and gas company options and rates.

We are still shocked at our bill. It hasn't been over $400 since we revamped and changed electric companies. Our gas bill in winter at it's highest runs less than $400. That's our heating and water.

Good luck

This isn't what you're looking for, but I'm finding this discussion quite interesting! I live in Texas - DFW area. We just got our electric bill, and it was $333 (it's been over 100 degrees, often around 110 degrees daily forever). Our house is only 1860 sq ft. We keep our temp at 77. In the winter we keep it at 67 degrees (and wear sweatshirts and warm pants/socks!). Usually our bills are around $220-300. Our house in not very energy efficient. We're hoping BADLY to move to a new home soon. It's built to be energy efficient and supposedly will be considerably less expensive - especially when you take into the size different (new home 3700 sq ft).

I hope your home is energy efficient enough to help keep your heating/cooling bills reasonable. They really do build some homes like that. If they claim yours is one of them, then odds are, your bill won't be too much different. As I mentioned above, a house over twice the size of ours actually has less expensive heating/cooling because of how much better it's made.

I live in Manassas, VA. You're new home should have zone heating and cooling which means that you can keep the different areas - sleeping, living, etc. - at different temps. Yes the bills will be slightly higher, but there are options.

Talk to your provider about if they do 'levelized billing'. NOVEC does this for us. Your yearly bill average is determined, and you pay the same amount each month. Our bill is around $270. We have approx. the same size house as your new house. We pay $270 - 300 a month, every month. Then in the winter when the bill is higher ($400 ) we still pay the lower amount. Then in the summer when we've only used $100 worth, we still pay $270 - 300 and that goes towards what was left from the winter. It tallys out the last month of the cycle, so that one may be a bit higher depending on what the remaining balance is.

Check your appliances, computers, cable boxes. Even when off, they still use power, so turning off the power completely, or unplugging can save money too.

Best thing you can do for your home is call the electric company and ask them what the average bills have been for the home. We did this for the house we bought last Jan and the quotes given were pretty close. Oops sorry I thought i read that the new house was built in 1970...new house you can't just call and ask. Our home is kept in the 78 degree range during the day in the summer and 73 at night and we pay roughly 160 for gas/elec on a 2400 sf home (half is underground though not sure if yours is) in the winter we pay roughly at the highest 260 (mainly in jan/feb) we keep the home at 68-70 in the winter. Bump it up on the days it is negative degree weather. But we have half the home underground which stays a constant 65 degree's.

I'm in NoVA, so not too far I think. We are in 1300 sqft, so this might not be really what you are looking for. Everything here is on electric, no gas bill. Our bill in the winter was $200-$230, now for summer it has been around $130-$150. Winter we keep the house around 75, and summer we have kept it around 72. We don't ever turn it off either. If it gets too hot or too cold, then we just adjust the temp because I heard that if you keep turning it off and on, then it will cost more. My guess is for a home your size, it would cost a lot more

I could not tell you what its like in MD but you may want to look into going geothermal H/C. we live in IN and are in a 1400 sf old farm house. New windows but the doors to this place leak like mad. Our heating bill for the last winter and it was a cold one was average of $130 a month. The highest was $160 and that was in Jan with those blizzards we had back to back we keep the house at 69/70 winter and summer 73/74. Our highest bill this past summer for July with it being super hot is $125. That is also including our above ground pool we have running for the filter.
Geothermal is very economical to run. It is expensive to get it installed for our house it was 10g but what were were paying was over the top like the 300 a month. Its not a bad idea to look into. gl

We live in Maryland and our house is about 2200 sq feet. Our average BGE bill is about $180 a month. We have new windows and energy efficient appliances- including a new heat pump. We are a family of 3. We keep our ac at 70-72 and heat around 70. We also run 2 ceiling fans all day long in the summer. Best wishes in your new home!

I also do not live in Maryland, but our home size is similar, and at least for the summer time we probably run the a/c as much as you (or more). We live in SE Georgia (26 miles from the Florida line) right on the coast (close to Jekyll Island). Our home is 5 years old and we have approx 2340 sq.ft. in a one story ranch, with an 80 gal hot water heater. Everything is tile floors except the bedrooms are carpeted and we have and use ceiling fans in every bedroom and both family and living rooms. I am home all day, and we have an inside dog, so the thermostat doesn't get bumped up much during the day. This summer, we have been keeping it around 77 degrees (sometimes 78 during the day, and 75 or 76 at night). We also have an in-ground pool that the pump (and auxilary for the pool vac) run several hours a day.
Our last electric bill was around $280. I think we have only had 2 or 3 that topped $300... and those were probably this past winter (we had a long cold winter here last year, for our area anyway) or once during the summer when the freon was low in the a/c and it ran almost non-stop for a day or so until the a/c guy could get out here.

Depending on the heating usage in the winters there (which I really don't know too much about, except that MD and PA got a lot of snow last winter), I wouldn't think your elec bill should double to $600 at all. Townhomes are much less efficient heating/cooling wise than a single floor home. And even though it was smaller, the homes that age (without extensive renovations) just aren't as energy efficient or well insulated.

If your home was a resale (you didnt buy it brand new never lived in by anyone), then the electric company out to be able to tell you what the usage for last winter was (or an average for the year or something).