# High Electricity Bill



## SteveBayshore (Apr 7, 2013)

A bad water heater element would cause high electric bills. You don't have that with a gas heater. Another cause would be an underground feeder or circuit that has a high resistance short to earth. I have also seen electric heat tape equipment fail and run continuously. If all circuits are off and you still see the utility meter registering, there is a problem with the meter.


----------



## big2bird (Oct 1, 2012)

Ditch the electric range for one.


----------



## rewire (Jul 2, 2013)

is your bill 40 a month every month? We set up budget billing so our bill stays the same year round at the end of the year they adjust your next years bill based on past year.


----------



## Insomnia (Jan 15, 2012)

I'm impressed. My monthly bill is usually $140 a month in Toronto.


----------



## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

Electric hot water tanks quite often can be the cause.
A short to ground, on a 240 volt element, can result in some low wattage continuous heating.
But since you have gas, that idea is out.
Electric ranges don't add up to a $100 per month difference, unless they cook a lot.

A high resistance short to ground somewhere? Not enough to trip, but enough for power draw. Problem with that idea, is there would be some heating, which would be noticeable.

Let us know if you find your power draw with everything turned off.


----------



## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

big2bird said:


> Ditch the electric range for one.


Congratulations big2bird on your 1000th post !


----------



## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

Insomnia said:


> I'm impressed. My monthly bill is usually $140 a month in Toronto.


286 kWh * $0.13/kWh = $34.84.
This is my typical bill regardless of season.


----------



## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

you only run a refridg and a couple of lights, or are you on solar panels?:blink:


----------



## swimmer (Mar 19, 2011)

papaotis said:


> you only run a refridg and a couple of lights, or are you on solar panels?:blink:


No solar. 3 hours of TV a night and a fish tank. Computer on for 4 hours. Not much lights.


----------



## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

i think i wanne be there!:laughing:but im not a real good swimmer, the ocean could get me!


----------



## Spark Master (Jul 3, 2012)

I have the same problem, but I know it's a fast meter.


----------



## dthurmond (Feb 7, 2011)

Any hot water leaks can make your electricity bill go sky high . I have found pin holes in the hot water lines and the pop off valves leaking on several hot water heaters .


----------



## xlink (Mar 12, 2012)

An old deep freeze with a stuck thermostat and running the furnace fan all the time can contribute. Or, maybe you aren't paying enough.

I did hear about a main breaker that was cracked and conducting out the back onto the panel enclosure.


----------



## SteveBayshore (Apr 7, 2013)

wcord said:


> A high resistance short to ground somewhere? Not enough to trip, but enough for power draw. Problem with that idea, is there would be some heating, which would be noticeable.


Faults in underground runs aren't always apparent. We found a shorted cable burried in the sand, under a amusement pier a few years ago. The maintenance guy (pronounced carney) asked if we could find out what this three pole 60 amp breaker was for. It seems that they would turn it on every day before opening and it would trip 5 or six hours later. We located the end of the cable burried under a couple of feet of beach sand. It was from an old ride that they had removed a year or so ago and just dropped the end of the cable onto the beach at the end of the season. There was a football size piece of glass/sand molded to the end of the cable.


----------



## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

I have seen buried UF wire leaking to earth run as much as 18 amps steady and trip the breaker once a load is applied at the end.


----------



## shadowcaster44 (May 6, 2013)

I had a neighbor with a bad door bell transformer that had an above average constant draw.His bill was $400. a month.For your customer,you should do a load test on the circuits in his panel.


----------



## scott1 (Oct 12, 2012)

swimmer said:


> 286 kWh * $0.13/kWh = $34.84.
> This is my typical bill regardless of season.


Mine was 624.00 this month. I live in a double wide mobile home in the middle of a field in the south. Would LOVE to have a 40 dollar bill!


----------



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

shadowcaster44 said:


> I had a neighbor with a bad door bell transformer that had an above average constant draw.His bill was $400. a month.For your customer,you should do a load test on the circuits in his panel.


Bull vhit


----------



## guest (Feb 21, 2009)

shadowcaster44 said:


> I had a neighbor with a *bad door bell transformer that had an above average constant draw*.His bill was $400. a month.For your customer,you should do a load test on the circuits in his panel.





mcclary's electrical said:


> *Bull vhit*


Exactly. A doorbell transformer drawing enough current to raise a bill by any appreciable amount would get so hot that it would either catch the house on fire or totally melt down in minutes. :whistling2:

You'd need a transformer this size: 










to even make an appreciable dent in the average electric bill. 

What was more likely in that case is the teenage son disconnected his grow-op lighting when he found out an electrician was on the way to investigate the high bills. :laughing:


----------

