HOLY COW!! ECECTRIC $ went way up. Does this seem right?

[madreefer14]

Got my electric bill this month and it went up by $80. Here is a list of my equipment. Its been running since 11/5/07 December bill was $85 this bill was 165.

54w t5s x 4 off 660 ic ballast.
300 watt heater.
4000 HH return pump
15W fuge lights x2
tom aqualifter pump
via aqua 388 skimmer

just added a #4 Korilia yesterday.

Wife's threatening to make me tear it down if this is how much it's gonna cost in just electric. This just doesnt seem right to me. What's your guys oppinion. Used 2322 KW from 11/28-12/31.
Cost for first 1000 KW=$0.069 over and above 1000 =$0.059. Thanks for your help.

[mfp4073]

they make a device call "kill-a-watt" that can tell you exactly what everything you have draws (or anything else you want to plug it into). Think they are like $20, but you may have to go online if you cannot find them locally.

[madreefer14]

bump

[auntynatal]

I'm in the uk and my electric went up by about £7 a week ($15 ish) so it wouldn't surprise me one bit!

[CompNrdCR]

Could be your local power suppler decided to get more money for Xmas... Get the Kill-o-Watt and look on your bill for your kill-o-watt price this month and then last month...

See if there is any changes...

[Freed]

Time of use meter

[paveking1]

LOL that electric is small ,wish i had that mines 800 to 1000 a month.

[madreefer14]

Originally posted by Freed
Time of use meter

What do you mean how long things are on? if so most is on 24/7
except the t5/s and the fuge lights which are on 12 and off 12

[Deb91]

That sounds like a lot to me .Shorter daylight means lights are on a lot more. Christmas lights can add a lot .I hope for a 55 gal tank it is not 80 bucks to run it. When I had my 46gal up,it didn't really go up all that much. But then again I didn't have good lights.

[Freed]

Off peak I pay $0.019 per KWH
On Peak I pay $0.109 per KWH
Most of my useage, obviously, is during off peak hours. I save so much money that way.

Kill a watt sounds like a waste of money to me if you are using electric items and you know you are using them. Turn them off.

With a time of use meter you can use the same amount of electricity and pay loads less.

[coraljunky]

Thats HIGH for that light of equipment. From not having any tanks to having:

90g 8x54w T5, 3 Koralia 4, 40g sump w/pc's, ETSS skimmer, fans
24g Aquapod with a 1/15hp chiller and 2 Maxijet900
3x20g frag tanks with a 55g sump, 3x175w mh, 3x Maxijet 1200, skimmer, 2x96w fuge lights
70g tall with 6x39w T5's

Less than $100/month more than not having any tanks.

[weereef]

You should expect some increase in power consumption but I dont know about an $80/month increase. Also, with it being winter if you run any kind of electric heat that would bump up your power consumption. Part could be from heating your house, part could be from heating the water in your aquarium.

[MR PALM BEACH]

I compare my monthy bills from last year and only a couple dollars difference, and that's factoring an outside freezer also I just bought. Did you hang christmas lights up this year?

[classclownfish]

Buying a kill-a-watt will definitely be worth your time. It sounds unlikely your tank is the main culprit in this. There are a lot of factors at play. Compare your bill from last year to see how much you were using. Also make note of the difference in cost of your electricity between the two years too. As gas prices keep rising so will electricity costs since it costs the power companies more money to produce the power. These additional costs will be past onto their customers. You may also have a faulty electrical appliance too. Again, i can't recommend the kill-a-watt enough. You can use it on any of your standard out let devices and figure out what may be accounting for the additional cost. Also keep in mind that sometimes they mis-read a meter. On top if everything else myself and others have suggested take your bill out to your meter and compare the numbers to make sure they read the correct meter.

Amazon sells the kill-a-watt for $20. It also describes more about it.
http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation.../dp/B00009MDBU

Originally posted by madreefer14
Got my electric bill this month and it went up by $80. Here is a list of my equipment. Its been running since 11/5/07 December bill was $85 this bill was 165.

54w t5s x 4 off 660 ic ballast.
300 watt heater.
4000 HH return pump
15W fuge lights x2
tom aqualifter pump
via aqua 388 skimmer

just added a #4 Korilia yesterday.

Wife's threatening to make me tear it down if this is how much it's gonna cost in just electric. This just doesnt seem right to me. What's your guys oppinion. Used 2322 KW from 11/28-12/31.
Cost for first 1000 KW=$0.069 over and above 1000 =$0.059. Thanks for your help.

[Fraggle Rock2]

Definitely check the meter and investigate what the power company is doing.

I was getting majorily screwed when I lived in Boston for a few years. Somehow my bill in the winter was much higher than in the summer - I ran AC in the summer but my heat was a couple of water boiler radiators. Those companies are seriously messed up.

Also, given that it is the holiday season were you home much more than in November? When you're home you use more electricity.

[SNAKEMANVET]

My 55 setup was similar to yours except I had 2 250 mh's, my bill only went up maybe 30 to 35 per month, but the cost of electricity varys from state to state.

[MichaelRyanSd]

our electricity bill has steadily gone up over 200$ for the past couple months....all my roommates think its my fish tank, but I can assure them it ain't

[madreefer14]

Originally posted by Freed
Off peak I pay $0.019 per KWH
On Peak I pay $0.109 per KWH
Most of my useage, obviously, is during off peak hours. I save so much money that way.

Kill a watt sounds like a waste of money to me if you are using electric items and you know you are using them. Turn them off.

With a time of use meter you can use the same amount of electricity and pay loads less.

Freed, what's a time use meter, Ive never heard of one of these.

Electric shouldnt go up too much with the cost of oil as we have a hydroelectric power plant only 40 miles from us where we get all of our electric from. As far as I know we dont have peak and off peak rates.

[madreefer14]

Not running too many xmas lights, just what was on the tree and ran only when we were home. Furnace has been kicking on alot more. Whent arround the house and sealed all the drafts today and changed the air filter on the furnace.

[Deb91]

Did you compare your watt usage from last year? Where I live they go back a whole year and list month by month what the wattage was for each month. The good news is it sounds like from all the responses that it is not your tank setup. The bad news is what the heck is going on. At least you can show your wife this thread so she won't keep blaming you for the high bill! Hope you figure out the problem soon.

[flyguy7150]

well you're overdriving your t5s with the ic660, so those are running at 80w ish, not 54.

[thebradybunch]

My December bill is always alot higher than the rest of the year. We have a few lights outside along with the Christmas tree. Then there is the extra cooking my wife does over the holidays. Also we both have time off during Christmas so we and the kids are at home alot more during the week. Plus here in NC it's just getting cold enought that we are starting to need the heat more often.

[madreefer14]

this is what im figuring on usage for the tank. Let me know if im miscalculating but I think I'm pretty close to the money.

skimmer.....................................................45watts
heater if on about 2 hours a day...............20watts
t 5 lights 80x4=320..................................320watts
fuge lights 15x2..........................................30watts
return pump...............................................120watts
koralia 4.......................................................12watts
aqua lifter.......................................................3watts

total wattagr/hr..............................................500watts=20 for heater
520x24=12648watts/24 hrs
30 day avg bill cycle=379440 /1000=379.44 kwh x $0.069/kwh=$26.18/month in electrical costs to run the tank.

[madreefer14]

and thats if all but the heater were running 24/7

[zotzer]

Go online, or call the electric company and look at last your bills from last November and December. I bet there was a jump there too.

Tracy