Electric Bill

My monthly average for an entire year was around $180.  I have a pond, pool and AC.  Actually finally installing Solar this Thursday.  I bought it rather than lease. 

Rey

We broke the PG&E monopoly by installing solar. We pay them $4.73 a month as a meter reading charge. Gas bill for May was $15.86. Some advantages to living along the central coast with no need for AC and much less need for heating. The hot water heater and furnace are the only things that use natural gas.

In California, thanks to the backroom deal between Enron and PG&E, customers pay double the rate per unit of the same natural gas from Texas that is also being sold on the east coast. Who says crime does not pay?

Solar is not providing 30% of the supply to meet peak hours of demand in the state. Last March total output in the state from solar exceeded 4 GW of power and that is double what it was in March of 2013.

PG&E gets more power from dams than any other utility and with the drought and little snowpack the cheap solar provided to PG&E is keeping rates down for everyone. The excess from my house costs PG&E about 4 cents per KWH but it sells it to people for as much as 34 cents per KWH. Sweet deal for PG&E that has no capital costs to get this power to resell.

If your solar system is generating so much excess power that you cannot use all the credits then you should be angry at the solar vendor who ripped you off rather than the utility that is operating within the regulations that are set fourth by the California Public Utilities Comission. 

If you are mad at PG&E the recourse is the CPUC plain and simple. 

Can you elaborate on that natural gas deal with Enron? I thought they went belly up after the dereglation scandal in the early 2000s.

Between $50-$100. Had one month that was randomly exactly $999.99. Pretty sure that was some sort of error but PGE didn't care...

you can request a re read, even if you have a smart meter that is read remotey.  Obviously if your bill was between $50 and $100, then it jumped to a grand PG&E better figure it out.  Did you actually pay that?!??!

Yes. I had it read. Trust me I kicked and screamed it wasn't right. Made no sense. Paid it once it got shut off. What can you do when one company has the monopoly on electricity?

Did you have a smart meter when this happened?

Yes. Trying to find a picture of the bill but its been a long time.

pm me and I can help you take a look at the data from that month.  the commercial smart meters capture real time demand every 15 minutes, if the residential meters log that same data we should be able to see some huge demand in that month you bill went up. 

One difference between a Smart meter and the old standard meter. Is the meter would miss many motor startup, like the refrigerator. Besides those meters will be able to shut down some of your smart appliances like your A/C. I opted out from my smart meter option. 

One difference between a Smart meter and the old standard meter. Is the meter would miss many motor startup, like the refrigerator. Besides those meters will be able to shut down some of your smart appliances like your A/C. I opted out from my smart meter option.

smart meters have no such capability to operate anything in your house.  They are connected to your main breaker and electricity is distributed to the other breakers from there.  the only difference between smart meters and standard digital meters is their ability to transmit a signal to facilitate reading the meter remotely, and circumvent the need to have a meter reader on your property every month. 

While we're on it, I need a new hot water heater.  What's the energy consumption cost difference between natural gas and electric water heaters?

-Allen

Next time my water heater dies, I'm going tankless. My dad installed one at his house and it's the bomb.

While we're on it, I need a new hot water heater.  What's the energy consumption cost difference between natural gas and electric water heaters?

-Allen

I installed a Noritz tankless water heater 3 yrs ago and have noticed at least a 40% savings on my gas bill during the winter.  Also provides me with endless hot water and freed up a some space in my garage for my other junk.

I don't know too much about residential applications, but I am also in the market for a new water heater.  How much electricity do these tankless heaters require on an average month?  I would hate to add additional usage and get bumped up a tier. 

Allan,

Cost of running an electric vs a natural gas is a no brainer. Natural gas is the way to go.

When I lived in the Sierra's my first home was on electric and it ran me almost 200 a month to run that water heater. My second home was gas and it was like 20 bucks on gas.

Cost of running an electric vs a natural gas is a no brainer. Natural gas is the way to go.

Yup, it took but a few minutes of Googling to figure that one out.

-Allen

While we're on it, I need a new hot water heater.  What's the energy consumption cost difference between natural gas and electric water heaters?

-Allen

I installed a Noritz tankless water heater 3 yrs ago and have noticed at least a 40% savings on my gas bill during the winter.  Also provides me with endless hot water and freed up a some space in my garage for my other junk.

My plan as well. Can you ball park the cost for me (labor and materials)?

Cost of running an electric vs a natural gas is a no brainer. Natural gas is the way to go.

Yup, it took but a few minutes of Googling to figure that one out.

-Allen

No doubt.  However I've been thinking about buying and installing a hot water circulator (with timer) in my upstairs bedroom, as its the farthest from the hot water heater.  In the evening and mornings we need hot water up there and we definitely waste gallons waiting for the water to heat up. Anyone know about these?