ConEd sticker shock

Questions:

- How many A/C units, and for what fraction of the time were you running it/them?
- Central, in-wall, or window units?
- Is that the actual reading or an estimated reading?

In summary, yes it sounds high. On the other hand, it was the second hottest July on record, so it might be right depending on how much cooling you were doing.

For comparison, I live in a 2 bed. 3 window units. We run the 2 bedroom units all night, though at high temperatures (75), and someone is around most of the day b/c we have 2 small kids, so I presume at least the big one is running most of the day. Our shoulder season bills are high (around $175 - W/D, dishwasher, etc). For July we came in at $370.

marymt - that seems rather high to me. Like printer, we have an AC running most of the day in the LR, then at night one running in each bedroom. I try to keep them at 74 on moneysaver mode. Most recent bill was twice the usual amount, so about $280ish.

theres a chart on the bill that will show ur usage for the same period last year

jeez i must be really lucky. my con ed bill is still only $65 a month (650 sq ft prewar). i was sure it would double in the summer.

I will check my latest bills when I get back to town. The last one was very high, and I don't run the a/c all day/night. (In-wall units, bedroom and livingroom).

Do you unplug all appliances when you aren't using them? It's a tip to lower power usage, but not very practical.
If you have young kids you need outlet protectors.

ConEd adds all of those taxes and fees.

I estimate a few hundred dollars total, between Memorial Day and early August.

I'm not even home in Manhattan that much.

marymt1990, I'm pretty sure the way electrical billing works is that there are several usage step-points, and as you pass each one you pay a higher and higher rate per unit. So it's not straight-line, and it's well worth putting every incremental little energy-saving trick in play during the summer.

Thanks for the info. The apt has in-the-wall units (1 in BR, 2nd in LivRm/dining) - they changeover to the heating units in the winter. I don't think the A/C is terribly efficient, as I've lived with central AC in larger spaces and had much lower bills. Average use: BR A/C unit has been on about 10-12 hours per day, usually early-evening thru the AM. Generally, the living room unit is on during the day only when outside temps are 85 or higher (which was most of July 2010!?), and maybe at night for a few hours. Household consists of two adults, we're mindful to turn off lights, power strips, etc when not in use, so were a surprised at this recent $$ amount.

When I was a kid, my granny would yell if we kept the fridge door open, while looking for snacking inspiration:

"Shut da door -- you're vasting the lectric!!!"

You are correct: through-wall is the least efficient of all standard a/c types -- it can only exchange air via one surface (window a/c exchanges via 5 surfaces and more total surface area).

Central a/c is much more efficient, ground-source geothermal even more so, split-ductless a bit less so, but more than window units.

Given that usage, it sounds very high to me. How many kilowatt-hours did ConEd put your usage at for the month? Do you know what the BTU or kilwatt rating on your units are?

I think electricity cost in the $0.10 - $0.15 per kilowatt-hour, it'll be written on your bill. A 110 volt window AC unit, even at 15000 BTU, will not draw more than 12-ish amps (constraints from typical wiring), so 1.32 kilowatts, let's call it 1.5 kW. If you run 2 of these 12 hours for 30 days, you get 1.5 * 2 * 12 * 30 = 1080 kW-hours. At 15 cents per kW-hour, you get to $162.

Your A/C's could be on 220 volt, in which case they could get up to 30000 BTU (and 3 kW), but that's unlikely. I believe a total of 30000 BTU can comfortably cool even 1500 sq ft, so I doubt the units are bigger than than.

So.... Something smells fishy.

Glad to hear we have company. Bills the last too months were outrageous. Really speaks to one benefit of newer buildings with energy efficient windows and air circulation and cooling systems. Better and newer construction has to be worth something!

July was awful. We live on the 5th floor of a 5 story building and the difference as we walk up that last flight is 10 degrees, easy. As such, we left our ACs on for most of July and the bill was under $400 but barely (its a 2 bedroom apt.). Our biggest issue is in the living room, which has a monster old ac in it. I'm considering trying:
http://lifehacker.com/5604571/automate-and-control-your-air-conditioner-with-your-home-network
so we don't have to leave it on all day, but can still come home to a bearable apartment. I'll post here if it goes well.

yo alanhart: what about economies of scale!, shouldn't the utilities best customers get the best rates? I though the utilities were for profit companies these days? you think they would want folks to use as much as possible at a single location.

man this reminds of all the McD workers in Cali that had to sell their Hummer H2s when has hit $5/gallon.....

man this reminds me of the people in the toilet cleaning caste. Oops, time for the afternoon shiFt.

"you think they would want folks to use as much as possible at a single location"

... no, they don't want to have to build more power plants just to deal with occasional spikes in usage; very expensive for very little incremental revenue.

We paid $230, which is more than 3 times as usual for about double the electricity we usually use.

On summer hubby likes to sleep at night with the AC on a very low temperature while covering himself with covers. I know, he doesn't belong to the green party, he kind of makes up his own igloo. Luckily he changed that habit for a fan on the face after I asked him if the bill was covering 2 months instead of 1.

Here's what I understand of ConEd and utilities in general. They get to increase prices (which are regulated) in response to infrastructure improvements. They build more, they get to offset the cost, plus a margin for profit. The regulator decides whether an improvement is needed.

Or maybe I'm wrong on this. Anyone care to inform?

inonada, I can't say for sure how the various charges are accumulated, but I did I more-closely inspect the charges on my recent bill. Apparently we used 1331 kwh for the 32-day period, which was almost double our use during the same time last year (when we had a much cooler summer season). So I'm almost able to digest those charges for use of electricity and air-cond during the warmer months, until I add up all of the surcharges and taxes, and the agita quickly returns: $65.93 in taxes/surcharges alone - nearly 20% of the bill! sigh...the economic penalties for living in NY never end

OK, the kwh usage seems right. The fact that you're effectively at $0.295 per kwh, assuming no gas usage, probably includes some level of penalty for using too much electricity. This was probably happening in aggregate and beyond ConEd's control, so the costs were passed onto you: I don't think ConEd gets to make more money if electricty becomes more expensive.

Maybe buy some ConEd and/or energy company stock? It might reduce the agita. (Full disclosure: I own some.)

On the tax-based agita, maybe try to take advantage for more of the free stuff available thanks to the public dole in NYC.

$400/month here. Two A/Cs running.

This is our first time paying an electric bill in New York (previously included in rent), and I was ready to faint at a $200 bill for a 1.5 bedroom apartment where everything is electric -- cooktop, 40 gallon water-heater, central air kept at 76 from 7p-9a and 83 from 9a-7p.

I guess we did fairly well, all things considered. (Northern exposure helps.) This electric bill is still double what I've paid in other cities for larger spaces that required more cooling due to exposures.

Base load (generally generated by Coal and/or Nuclear) is the cheapest. For variable demand they fire up the nat'l gas, which is more expensive, so the marginal cost, when above base load, is more expensive for them, so that is why you pay more when your use exceeds certain amounts.

wow, I guess its just the price one pays for views, light, and windows.

Many new buildings supply central air via chilled water. All the occupants pay for is a fan to circulate the cold air. In the summer months I have 1-3 units operating 24/7 and have an electric bill of under $60

Riversider - you are definitely right about the economic advantage of having water cooled A/.C (I have 11 units basically running 24/7 and the July electric bill was just over $400). BUT, the disadvantage is that the A/C can only be used when the building switches over from heat to A/C, unlike A/C's with condensers, which can be used at any time durint the year. That may be why the latter type of unit is in a lot of buildings - it looks like a major advantage for the occupant (say, heat wave in April), until they move in and get the electric bill.

Riversider - an electric bill of only $60? Are you walking around in your apartment with a flashlight? Candles??

Energy efficient light bulbs and the building bypasses Con Ed.

glamma, I remember a listing in your building years ago that mentioned a project in place to take it "off the grid" with solar panels on the roof or something. Did that ever come to pass?

And hello!

anyone try one of those services where you get your power from someone else? does that work in a multi-unit?

from what I understand, its same delivery, its all just backend credits and how they bill you.

Something sounds wrong there. I live in a 700sf prewar one bedroom and have had the AC pumpin' since the hot weather began. My normal ConEd bill is about $60 and in the summer months it doubles to about $120. It is probably worth looking into with ConEd as I have heard of a few instances where individual apartments were accidentally billed for the whole building(their own unit plus hallway, communal laundry rooms, etc). I have heard this happening with other utilities too, i.e. a single apartment getting a water bill for the whole building. Apparently these mistakes can happen because of the inconsistencies of old addresses and new ones. If a row of townhouses is razed to build a few low-rises, the units in the new buildings have one address but the utility companies might still use the addresses of the now-nonexistent townhouses(which did not have unit #'s). My new condo is still described officially as located on Northern Ave., which has not existed sine the name changed in the 1920's.

somewhereelse
'anyone try one of those services where you get your power from someone else?'

you mean like this? http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24451472/detail.html
you need to be pretty careful....

My assistant tells me that my last ConEd bill for 132 bucks is the result of my Hoovering too much.
I love to vacuum. Every day that I'm home in Manhattan. With my Windtunnel.

> you mean like this?

no, the services in question don't change anything physically on the site. I think its just an accounting thing, coned still does delivery.

Somewhereelse- some bildings buy electricity at bulk rate from ConEd - then bill to each apartment's metered use at the advantageous bulk rate.

Buildings may buy electricity anywhere and then pay con-ed for the cost of transport(use of power lines) bypassing con-ed's cost of acquiring the power.