Your highest power bill?
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Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19280
Printed Date: 01 July 2024 at 4:40pm
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Topic: Your highest power bill?
Posted By: Snappy
Subject: Your highest power bill?
Date 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?! ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Replies:
Posted By: ellen
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:37pm
| OMG you poor thing! Our highest so far has been about $520 and I had a heart attack at that! |
Posted By: AliaDawn
Date 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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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 3:48pm
| $495 BUT that was underestimated for two months....and dryer on constantly and oil heater on constantly. that sounds huge! |
Posted By: Maya
Date 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. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
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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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 4:12pm
| 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 |
Posted By: Kelpa
Date 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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Posted By: Andie
Date 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. ------------- Andie |
Posted By: .Mel
Date 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. ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3) 
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Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:19pm
| 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. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date 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. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: SMoody
Date 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. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 5:36pm
| 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 |
Posted By: ellen
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:03pm
| 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! |
Posted By: LeahandJoel
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:22pm
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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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Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 6:47pm
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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!! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |
Posted By: 2bmumof3
Date 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 ------------- Sara Corban (22/11/04) Connor (18/04/06) Chelsea (21/05/08) 
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Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:07pm
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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! |
Posted By: ellen
Date 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. |
Posted By: my4beauties
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:27pm
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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!! ------------- My babies: R (9),G (7), J (5) http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: pekemoemum
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 7:46pm
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FREAKY bill!!!!!
Our highest so far was $198 (discounted amount) and that was for 40days (we'd just moved house and had family staying part of that time).. NORMALLY it's around $140 max in winter..... then the next bill was $176 discounted. We have used dryer about 4/5 times a week and it's a really old dryer.. and a dishwasher? try to have 2x baths a week and the rest shower.... far out it's expensive!!! ------------- Gina, Reef 15/6/03, Tyde 12/2/07 http://www.pekemoe.co.nz - Peke Moe - Unique NZ Made Baby Sleeping bags for babies who get out of swaddle/wrap |
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 8:14pm
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This thread has made me feel really good about our power bill- last month it was $160 and was it with the oil heater going all night in Ellas room and then in the living room for around 3 hrs in the morning and again in the evening. We don't have a dryer,dishwisher or heat towel rail through, so that probably helps a lot. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: Bubbaloo
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 9:28pm
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Our is normally around $220 thats with a heat pump on every night and all the time in the weekend and Jame's heater in his room when he goes for sleeps and saving way more money than last year with buying firewood and using gas. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  Was danni-chick Mum to James My Angel 28/07/08 |
Posted By: Candkids
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 9:37pm
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our highest at the house was 600! when we first moved in it was 600 for 4 mths in a row! (with trustpower) and no one was ever home either!
it was even higher than our business! which is 2 huge industrial buildings, with 3 flats, 4 kitchens and has compressers, lights, and eletrical stuff going 24/7! we swapped to genesis and it instantly dropped our highest with them is this month $320 will be interesting next month tho as weve just had the heatpump fixed. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD 10.5yrs DS 6yrs DS 11mths 5 little angles watching from above |
Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 19 July 2008 at 10:13pm
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hmmmm.. I sometimes have the oil heater running 24/7. We dont really have a choice in terms of heating as we are renting, this place has no other forms of heating. (Apart from an ancient open fireplace)
Our last bill was an estimate - $160 and i thought that was rather high! The one before that was an actual reading, $120 and that was the month jackson was born so the heaters were on 24.7 too. We pay $40 weekly so we are lucky we dont have to find the money to pay for it. Thank you all - cant wait till summertime! ------------- Mummy to two beauties... Formerly Kaiz. |
Posted By: Glow
Date Posted: 20 July 2008 at 7:30am
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OMG Id die if I got some of the bills others are getting My highest so far is $61 for electricity used, & then the line charges are usually $40, so $100 odd. Normally Im paying around $80 for both
------------- Mummy of Two Boys B: 2004 K: 2007 |