What do you pay for electricity? Impact on appliance decisions...

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bhelms

Retired & lovin' it!
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Feb 26, 2006
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Central PA
Happy New Year all! My holiday break featured an unscheduled (but imminent) water heater replacement. Since I was facing this for some time I had already done some research. You might recall my query a few months back about heat pump water heaters. I couldn't make any headway on that one. (Looks like those units went the way of the proverbial buggy whip!) Some here suggested looking into tankless water heaters with the caveat that the electric versions are not really worthwhile, and that was my conclusion as well. I'm rural and don't presently have propane or LP so I would be faced with a major conversion cost to go to gas.

An electric tankless unit that would replace a 40-gal. tank unit (marginal in my opinion) was available for about $600, and we could possibly cut that in half with the current tax credit. (I found that the gas-fired tankless units quailfied but I couldn't determine that definitely for the electric versions.) So the replacement cost might have been attractive at face value, but then I learned that I would also need to upgrade the service to the unit to 120 amps! (3 x 40-amp circuit) I figured that would add at least another $200 - 250 to the job, but the disqualifier is that I don't have that much capacity remaining in my 200-amp entrance. And then, the tankless energy savings were something like only $40 per year at the national average of (IIRC) 8.6 cents/kW-hr. So the payback at those rates probably exceeded the life expectancy of the unit. In my case, I only pay about 6.8 cents, so that extended my payback even further.

Long story short, we went with a replacement "Energy Smart" tank unit. The installed cost was about $650 (80-gal. unit, I installed it myself) that included some additional plumbing upgrades. The annual operating cost difference for the 80-gal. unit vs. the 50 (smallest I would consider) was only about $13 at our rate so the wife and I agreed on the higher-capacity unit. We both ran out of hot water on many occasions over the years and thought the greater "insulation" from that was worth the additional $100 up front and $13 per year! We might even improve on that difference with additional insulation around the tank - I left enough room for a 3" blanket if I can find one.

So how many of you make these estimates? How do your utility rates influence your decisions? Frankly, at 6.8 cents/kW-hr it's very difficult to justify a conversion to gas for any appliance, or an "upgrade" to a newer technology.

Anyone else experience this first-hand?

Tks and BRgds...!
 
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Yeah, if only I had that option! Of course that will be based on what one is paying per mcf or however they meter it. I have also been scared a bit over the years with the volatility of natural gas costs in our region whereas electricity has remained low and steady.

I grew up with mostly gas appliances and would prefer a gas stove for certain, but the conversion cost always scared me away. Maybe if I took that plunge 20+ years ago adding additional LP or propane appliances would be a no-brainer now. It would take a major rate hike in electric for me to consider it at this point, tho' it has been quite a few years since I did the math on the conversion...
 
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In my case, I only pay about 6.8 cents, so that extended my payback even further.
WOW!!! I just checked both of my electric bills and I pay WAY more than that.

TXU 15.20 cents/kWh
Garland Power & Light 11.68 cents/kWk

Deregulation did absolutely NOTHING to lower electric rates in Texas.
 
Yeah - makes "cents". If the average is 8.6 there will be half paying more. My mother in FL pays something like 12. It seems to be higher in many metro areas. In our case, we're primarily coal-fired in a bituminous-rich area. I think it might be even cheaper than my rate where hydroelectric capacity is high like the NW...?
 
I hear you guys in Texas. I want to say ours is at 13.5 cents per kWh but it may be closer to 15 cents.

We're switching anyway. Direct Energy doesn't have online pay, and we want that, plus we're about to lose the price savings here in a month or two.


$300+ a month in the summer really sucks.
 
You will NOT recoup your costs if you have to pay to have a gas line run to your house, assuming it's more than 100' away. This is not pulled out of nowhere, I work in this field and have asked experienced people. Propane will likely be too expensive also. Solar hot water is more of a lifestyle than a savings. Ever see one still working 10 years out? If so, the owner is "meticulous."

Now for the bad news. As the carbon tax phases in, your electric rates will increase dramatically. This is not law in this country yet, but it is spreading worldwide. Not a whole lot of choice, really. Your utility can pay the tax or add controls or rebuild using new, very expensive, technology. But at least you will have a reasonably reliable source of electricity. And this is likely 5-10 years out.

So you've made about the best decision you could. The only thing to do now is put a timer on the thing. If you set it up to run maybe twice a day, starting an hour or 2 before you need the water, you can really save some bucks.

BTW, I pay 6 to 9 cents, depending upon time of year and total usage. We now have gas.
 
WOW!!! I just checked both of my electric bills and I pay WAY more than that.

TXU 15.20 cents/kWh
Garland Power & Light 11.68 cents/kWk

Deregulation did absolutely NOTHING to lower electric rates in Texas.

Boy, are you higher up north, Pedernales Coop was $0.096/kWh on my last bill.

Since we just moved and purchased new appliances I got energy star when possible. I also went with electric dryer since our propane charges were higher then what I had hoped for.
 
Here in Michigan, Consumers Energy ( I love how they break this out so it'a PITA to do in your head)

ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY CHARGES
  • ENERGY CHARGE FIRST 0.053718
  • POWER SUPPLY COST RECOVERY 0.009939
ELECTRIC DELIVERY CHARGES
  • ELEC DISTRIBUTION CHARGE 0.026594
  • DELIVERY SURCHARGES£ $5.07
  • SECURITIZATION CHARGE 0.001265
  • SECURITIZATION TAX CHARGE 0.000456
 
If I figured out mine with Georgia Power it comes to 9.2kwh, our last bill was $34.24 with a cost per day of $0.97. This for us is pretty big because our winter electric bill back in michigan averaged $60 - $70 a month and our gas was $90 - $120 a month depending on wether there was a cold snap or not.

Appliances in michigan,
Electric, Stove, hotwater tank, window a/c unit, and all the rest.

Gas, furnace, drier.

Appliances in Georgia,

Electric, stove, drier, all the rest,

Gas, furnace, hotwater heater.

Our gas bill last month was $43.68, this was with the furnace running about 10 times and the drier running a total of 20 hours throughout the whole month, and normal bathing for two adults and a child.
 
I think the electricity runs about 8-9 cents per kilowatt hour here as well. Not too bad considering what it is elsewhere. I am looking forward to the better solar panels that will start being produced at the end of this year that will be much cheaper and much more effecient able to get energy on a cloudy day even. I can see many people going to solar power after that.
 
I want us to go to solar power as soon as it's affordable.

I am not liking $300+ a month electric bills in the summer like we had last year. This is for a brand new well insulated 1327 sq ft house with energy star appliances.
 
We got Radiant Floor heat with a small boiler, the domestic hot water is supplied by a heat exchanger.

The gas bill here is about $60/mo for a 2200 SQ foot home :)

IMG_0326.JPG


IMG_0327.JPG


The blue thing is the heat exchanger for the domestic hot water
 
Claude,

I like all the CAT-5 and RG6 coiled up on the walls. Smart to be thinking ahead!

As far as our utility prices, my wife handles that, so I don't have any numbers. As far as heating things up, gas is my favorite energy source. Fortunately, our house was set up for both electric and gas appliances.
 
Our house is all electric. Most new housing communities in Texas are going away from natural gas for some reason.

We have a heat pump for our HVAC system, which I really like. It's the most efficient all electric HVAC system out there.
 
I want us to go to solar power as soon as it's affordable.

I am not liking $300+ a month electric bills in the summer like we had last year. This is for a brand new well insulated 1327 sq ft house with energy star appliances.

Wow!! have you looked into putting in some shade tree's? also what about additional attic venting such as solar powered vents? There is also reflective coatings for the windows and heavy thermal drapes to cut down on the heat coming in. We use twisty bulbs through out our place here and did so back north, if we hadnt then I suspect that our E bill would have been alot higher.
 
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