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Snappy 
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Joined: 27 August 2007
Location: lower hutt
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 Topic: Your highest power bill?
Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:22pm |
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Please share with me! Im still recovering from the small heart attack I had this morning when I got my power bill. $636!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot understand it one bit! We only use the dryer for approx half an hour a day (we use the clothes horse and use the dryer to air) We have a convector heater and an Oil heater which is on quite a bit. But $21 a day worth?!
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Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz.
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ellen
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Joined: 02 July 2007
Points: 225
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:37pm |
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OMG you poor thing! Our highest so far has been about $520 and I had a heart attack at that!
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AliaDawn
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Joined: 11 January 2008
Location: Petone, Wellington
Points: 1205
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:47pm |
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$500 was our highest, and that was because the hot water cylinder was leaking. Never had anything over $150 a month other than that..
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lizzle
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: New Zealand
Points: 8346
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:48pm |
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$495 BUT that was underestimated for two months....and dryer on constantly and oil heater on constantly. that sounds huge!
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Maya
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Location: Sydney
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:49pm |
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That does sound chronic! Ours is usually around $200, up to $270 in the winter. We are currently running a thermostat oil heater in Chiara's room 24-7 tho so expecting a shocker of a bill next month.
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 Maya Grace (28/02/03)
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The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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kebakat
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Palmy North
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 4:12pm |
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Our last one was $250 I think and that was the worst this year - thats power + gas with occassional use of the dryer and daniels oil heater running 24/7 and the gas heater in the lounge running all day
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Kelpa
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Points: 1488
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 4:16pm |
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OMG..thats hideous...................are you sure you dont have a leak or something????
Ours has been $233....with Trustpower..who I have established after months of researching is the most expensive company to be with.....so as soon as I get my cheque Im back to Mercury or energy online!
I would have died had I received that...We dont have that amount of money floating around! Crikey!
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Andie
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: New Zealand
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 4:46pm |
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Yeeckh that does seem way over the top! And here I was thinking our last one of over $200 was bad bad bad... far out, like others said - was it a reading after an estimation or two? Or is the HWC leaking? Can you see the hot water pipe sticking up on top of your roof? Check there's nothing coming out of it.
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Andie
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.Mel
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Joined: 14 January 2007
Location: Orewa
Points: 9078
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 4:46pm |
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Our most expensive was $191 and thats with running the dryer, two convection heaters (only on from 5pm-10pm) and a heat pump on 24/7.
Why don't you do a test - don't use the oil heater for a month, and only use the convection heater and see if that makes a difference.
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minik8e
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Taranaki
Points: 5838
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:19pm |
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Wow - our most expensive was $330 (last month) but that was only because they'd been waaaaaay underestimating for the last 4 months (no meter reads done and estimating $100 one month and $20 the next). We use the dryer for around 3-6 hours per weekend (1.5 hours per load and between 2 and 4 loads a weekend) and use a LOT of hot water (think 20-40 minute showers every day x 2). We use gas bottles for heating though.
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caliandjack
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Location: West Auckland
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:23pm |
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That is expensive is that for 1 month or 2?
Ours is 200-250 max and thats including gas, we don't have a dryer. Heaters in every room, hot water and lighting.
We pay a fixed charge each fortnight for the whole year its down to $40 at the moment, it builds up over summer, we started winter with a 200 credit.
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SMoody
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Joined: 09 January 2007
Location: New Zealand
Points: 1999
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:26pm |
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$140 and that was for 3 adults and one child and running the tumble dryer about 4 times a week. We dont have heated towel rails however or a dishwasher and dont have a heater on for too long either.
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kebakat
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Palmy North
Points: 10980
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:36pm |
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Why don't you go to the warehouse and buy one of those plug in things that tests how much energy each appliance is using, it tells you how much its costing to run whatever you plug into it. DH got one today and has been going around testing everything. It only cost $20
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ellen
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Joined: 02 July 2007
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:03pm |
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That sounds like a great idea kebakat - I'm going to invest in one of those as I have a feeling something's chewing power in our house!
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LeahandJoel
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Tauranga
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:22pm |
Ours was $360, but we had just moved house and had a spa at the new house so of course had to be using that for a while. We have turned that off and also wrapped the hot water cylinder.
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Kels
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: Lower Hutt
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:47pm |
My last power bill was $594.00 of course I had heart failure but then when I had a look at the power bill a month before it was $120 and that was an estimate so due to having a low estimate the month before has made last month actually reading really high if you understand what I mean lol.
Bring on summer!!
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Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs
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2bmumof3
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Joined: 23 November 2007
Location: Masterton
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:03pm |
Ours came in the other day at $600 (for 30 days)...I was shocked  . But then the previous month was an estimate of $170 and we had been running the heat pump 24/7 and using our dryer alot (between 2 & 5 loads a day). Also teh Wairarapa is known for expensive electricity. I guess that averages ours out to around teh $400 a month which when taking into consideration we don't have to buy firewood it's not too bad.
BTW..we started paying our power (and other bills) weekly (DH paid wkly), so we have $50/wk going to power automatically which puts us in huge credit over summer and means no unpayable bills come winter
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Sara
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peanut butter
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:07pm |
I believe it....ours was $530 last month and a reading not an estimate. it was meant to be an estimate but after the $300 one the month before I thought I would read it thinking it would be over estimated....it wasnt so the real bill was $530
I had palpitations and phoned the company. They told me it is probably the oil heaters. I couldnt believe it. So I turned everything off (except microwave coz I couldnt reach it) and went out to the meter and wathced the dial spin. I timed that it took about 7min. Then I turned everything on except heaters and timed that, then I added the heaters and WOW, it was spinning soooooo fast.
so for the last month I have turned the heater in Toms room on half an hour before he goes to bed for his sleeps and then turn it down when it is warm and off when I get him up. I havent used the other heater at all. We still have our nightstore on. Our bill was $300.
What suprised the girl at Contact was our daily usage had trebled in 2 months and the only thing different was the heaters. It is back down to slightly higher than summer levels. Our night rate is up but thats the nightstore....I can live with that.
Oh and I got fussy with the dryer...lots of things were hung in front of the fire.
Have a good look at your bill and your previous monts and see how the usage has changed. Last month we used on average 37 units per day (day rate) whereas the previous month it was 69!!!!! Also go out to your meter and take a reading once a week so you can calculate how its going.
POWER BILLS SUCK THE BIG ONE!
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ellen
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Joined: 02 July 2007
Points: 225
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:17pm |
We pay everything by AP weekly as well - saves having to find money to pay bills when they come in. Our power AP is $70 pw and still not enough 
I've been really good not using the dryer much and having two clothes horses going full time. We have gas heating and hot water but it's not the gas that's increased much, it's the power. In saying that we have five computers and a laptop going! Serious investigations will be happening here.
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my4beauties
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: NZ
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Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:27pm |
Heck! That's a huge power bill! The biggest we've had was $360, and that gave me a heart attack. We'd just moved house, and our previous bill was around $240 in winter, and $130 in summer. Normally our winter bill is around $250-$300. Was to much in my books!!
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My babies: R (9),G (7), J (5) 
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Your highest power bill?
