What's pulling so much power? My electric bill is $90 higher than last year!?

If you have the old style meter on your house (it doesn't work well with the new digital meters) you can measure how much electricity everything uses and compare that number to the amount of power it is supposed to use.

1) locate meter

2) turn off all circuit breakers

3) turn on 1 circuit breaker and time the amount of time it takes for the wheel to make one revolution.

4) use the formula :

3.6 x Kh factor

----------------- = kW

number of seconds

where Kh factor is on your meter and will say Kh X.X or just X.X (it is usually 7.2

multiply 3.6 by the Kh factor and then divide by the time it took for the wheel to turn once.

For example, let's say that you're measuring a light, your Kh factor is 7.2, it took 259 seconds for the disc to spin once. Your check showed you were using (3.6 x 7.2)/259 = 0.1 Kw or 100 watts. You should have a 100 watt bulb in the fixture.

Find the circuit that is drawing more power than the rating on the name plates (remember that a stove, freezer, etc is only drawing power when it is actively working) then find the offending unit good luck!

Those are kilowatts?? I can't see a freezer pulling that kind of power. It would generate so much heat you would notice that.

About the only thing I have seen that could change and pull that much power has been a hot water leak with an electric water heater.

You might want to make a list of everything in the house that is running and what you may have added since last year. Like a pool or hot tub? A/C units? Running a battery charger all the time? Is your neighbor growing pot and stealing your juice? lol.

Good Luck.

I think your husband is right the freezer is more likely the culprit the unit will run way more than it should with a bad thermostat ,the gasket around the door is probably leaking also put a dollar bill over the gasket the close the door ,then try pulling the bill out if it's real easy the gasket is leaking causing the unit to run too often. a new one would cost much less to run.

I know in Illinois we had a rate hike in January. My bill has went up like 40 percent! Some of my winter bills were hitting 350.00 for a 2 bed room trailer! Last year nothing over 250.00. You know I am glad that the heat has broken and the windows can now be open.

Do you have central AC? You have to look at your usage. Compare the kwh readings on your current year to the previous year. Since the cost of fuel has increased so dramatically, the power company is no doubt adding on a fuel surcharge. Monitor your freezer and see how frequently it runs. I don't think it would make you bill go up by $90. Feel free to email me if you want to further discuss.

Beccasmom. Turn off all everything except deep freeze, and check your meter and I think you will see your culprit. The deep freeze probably has shorted winding in compressor causing it to pull to much power and getting ready to go bad.

Good Luck

The deep freeze sounds suspicious. Besides the above suggestions, go to the following web page on how to save energy...(Top Ten Tips) - we did an experiment with heating last winter and watched our electric bills take a nosedive!!

http://www.building-your-green-home.com/how-to-sav...

Also, you might want to check on your insulation levels. See the following for more info:

http://www.building-your-green-home.com/types-of-i...

http://www.building-your-green-home.com/insulation...

Hope this helps!

buy an amp clamp and check the circuits for unusually high amp draw. Check to see if you have a crankcase heater running in your AC unit when it's not on.

Pendeltton...how can an element that is not working cause a $90 spike in utility bill?

do you have electric water heater if so , it may be running all the time or an element might be out, might want to change elements ?