electic bill price?

[Julio]

Hey GUys,
I was wondering if you guys can share how much you pay a month on electric since i have a feeling iam paying too much.
I have two 175 watts and 2 40 watts aticnics, 125 watt pump, 2 40 pumps and a 1/3 horse power chiller which hardly comes on.
yet i am paying $200 a month.

[rbaker]

Is that your total bill, or is it just the reef portion?

Ryan

[Julio]

that is my total bill. Before i was only paying 75 or less.

[dennis_said]

200 a month..... hmmm.. that can't be right for just the aquarium portion...

Damn, 200!!! my household pays like 80 and I thought it's a lot

[Daveyboi]

I wish my total bill was only $200. I'm paying above $500 here in California.....:(

:D
Dave

[sammystingray]

I am guessing the lights on about ten hours per day at $10.32, and the 125 watt pump 24 hours a day at $7.20 a month. The other two pumps are 40 watts? 4.60 a month....this may be off, but I assumed a rate of 8 cents per kilowatt hour..the lights and three pumps should cost a little over twenty bucks a month to run....don't know about horse power though.

[sammystingray]

Wow, Newyork seems to be one of the worst.....here's survey I found....I used the highest rate we have around here, but I guess that doesn't compare to NY....ouch.


RESIDENTIAL: The survey compared the monthly cost of 1,000 kilowatt hours.
Pocatello, ID $71.18
Spokane, WA $55.80
Portland, OR $81.82
Salt Lake City, UT $71.14
San Diego, CA $160.97
San Fransisco, CA $168.66
New York, NY $177.99

Source: Edison Electric Institute 1/2003

[alkataz]

There's a calculator on the sidebar on reefcentral's home page that calculates how much u will pay a month.

[Julio]

thanks for the list, i will see how what i can do to bring my cost down.

[Julio]

even with the calculator i still think i am getting robbed, because it comes out really low, so i am gonan call the company and see what is goign on?

[Mickie4372]

Mine runs about $80 a month and that is with the tank lights and pumps and the airconditioner running 24/7 in the summer.

[wastwage]

$300 a month:)

[crescent1]

this tank is killing me, my household electric with the tank comes out to $373.78 per month so far this summer.

[Malcolm_C]

my avarage bill is about $350 month, but the last two months I paid over $700, I'm not sure if i'm getting robbed, but I never saw a electric meter spin so fast until I saw my own.

[nk57]

Hi Julio, I'm a Con Ed user here in NY too. With 2 tanks and a 1500 sq ft condo, I pay around 250.00 during the summer and about 120 during the winter. Stinks huh?

Nancy

[Julio]

Yes it does stink we need some solar panels.
Hey Mickey what kind of lighting do you have on yoru tank?
MadDrama, can you share some pics of your tank?

[Mickie4372]

I have 4 55watt power compacts. But I also have REA Electric so it is alot cheaper than the big companies like NYSEG etc.

[Malcolm_C]

I've been looking for a alternate electric company, I'll put a post up asking others in S. jersey.


herre is a link to my website.

http://home.comcast.net/~malcolm.j.campbell/

[delusions]

RESIDENTIAL: The survey compared the monthly cost of 1,000 kilowatt hours.
Pocatello, ID $71.18
Spokane, WA $55.80
Portland, OR $81.82
Salt Lake City, UT $71.14
San Diego, CA $160.97
San Fransisco, CA $168.66
New York, NY $177.99

Damn, makes me want to move to Spokane. :D :p

[Aaron1100us]

Just my aquarium is $25 a month with a 400w halide 12 hours a day, plus three pumps, small refugium light and heater.

[kanankeban]

Hey guys...you don't want to know how much I pay in Mexico...!!!! get's me mad each time I see the bill...last about 400 US and I don't have a central unit, justa a mini plit...and don't have metal halides either....
Regards...
Hector

[bori]

Julio, I'm in Brooklyn & always thought I was being robbed by Con-Ed. Since setting up my reef w/ 2-175w MH, 2-40 NO, 2- MJ1200, 1-Iwaki 70, & ERcs6-c my bill has ballooned to @ $300.00/mo:eek2: Glad to see I'm not alone. --Rob--

[RODSREEF]

Go to your local power companys web site and use their calculator to determine usage for your reef appliances. Simply fill in the info. This will get you a good idea of what these things actually cost us.

[jwhitepnv]

I wish my power bill was only $200 a month. My bill peeks out during the summer around $550 I am in Florida.

[Julio]

Hey Mad Darama, thanks for the link, what kind of lighting do you have onr your tank?
I think they should drop theri prices altogether, i will to coneds website, but i am pretty sure is probably gonna be higher.

[spydergst98]

Why not just use the Tank Electric Calculator:

http://reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

Later,

[lilbuddy]

I was at my business partners house yesterday and he told me his bill last month was just about 500!!!! hes got a 120, 125, 3 prop tanks all tanks have either VHO's or MH. Chiller, Skimmers, pumps, seperate ac for prop tank room. My power bill at its peak is about 200. That was when my tank was set up. Im sure once i get my new tank up I will hit over 200 bucks

[Julio]

I just checked with Coned and they charge $10.50/kilowatt so i guess is not so bad, however what really sucks is that they charge less for businesses then for residential.

[trmills]

My MH's are on for 10-hours per day. PG&E bill varies between $400-$750 a month. I use-up all of the baseline, tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, tier 4 and the balance is in tier 5. Be glad when summer is over. Some of it is the heat and some is the non-working stepson sitting home all day with the air conditioning kicked-up. He's about to have a visit from Mr. Boot.

-Terry

[OrionN]

My E bill is 500+ per month. Just think of all those clams I can buy if I don't have to keep the light on for them.
Minh

[Malcolm_C]

"Hey Mad Darama, thanks for the link, what kind of lighting do you have onr your tank? "



Hobby Experience: 7 years
Current Tanks: 450 Gallon Reef, 300 pds live rock with 3 1000 watt 20K coralifes ,150G refuge, 125G refuge and 150G Sump,75G frag tank, 55G green water culture, 20G Rotifer tank, 100G auto top off, Dual MY Reef Calcium Reactor, Quad Beckett 5ft Skimmer
Interests: http://home.comcast.net/~malcolm.j.campbell/

[oliver]

$1200/month - lots of A/C going in the house though (6 units) - also, my wife's hair dryer (and other implements) going almost 24hrs/day

[Malcolm_C]

i can't blame all my electric cost on my tank (although its the biggest issue). My AC ran all Summer, the pool has been up too, I'm not all that good at turning out lights, but this has all changed. I just started replacing all the bulbs in our house with energy saving bubls, and I'm turning out lights.

[MacnReef]

I pay roughly $160 and I have 2400 sqft and right at 3000 with the garage. I keep my a/c at 72 all the time.:D

And you can see what is on my tank by looking at my signature.

Later!

[CJ]

Originally posted by Julio
I just checked with Coned and they charge $10.50/kilowatt so i guess is not so bad, however what really sucks is that they charge less for businesses then for residential.

You must mean 10.5 cents/kilowatt, don't you? Otherwise you'd be spending $3000-4,000 a month just for your tank.

[Jamesurq]

I just peaked at $300/month last month. Compared to $200 for last August. Wife tried to blame it on the tank (only about $25). Turns out that everyone in the neighborhood had higher bills.

We pay 7.6 cents per kilowatt.... So the increase is roughly the equivilent of running a microwave 24/7....

Look at your bill and see if there are any additional surcharges... Could be they're padding the bill with extras.

[yoda]

just to add to the survey, in Knoxville, TN, i was paying around $200/month

in northern alabama, i've been paying around $150 to $160 for mostly the same reef.

power prices do vary alot

[jcigars]

Mine was $189 last month. We run the AC 24/7 so I didn't think it was that bad. Now it's getting cooler in my area so it should drop a bit.

Compared to some of you I'm getting off cheap. :D

[CJ]

Ours runs an average of $180-200 during the summer. We run the A/C 24/7 and have the filter at the pool too. We pay close to 10cents/kilowatt. I don't think it's that bad.

[alde]

I just moved into a new house and have not gotten a full months bill yet. My electric company is charging 7.9 cents per kw. Not too bad from what I see in other parts of the country.

[SLOfish]

Here is SLO county, 2 tanks, 260 watts PC lighting total plus pumps, etc, w/ rest of housing electiricity, about $140/mo

[brett9774]

My bill here in california is very high averaging about 300 a month. My whole house is electric so in the summer when it is 105 degrees my bill increases and the same in the winter when it is 20 degrees. With just the tank, lights, and ex. when the weather is mild is about 200. Here in Sacramento the electricity is also more expensive during the summertime.

Has anyone ever consided solar electricity (Like panels on the roof) to help lower electricity consumption?

[Starrhm]

My bill here was $480 last month. It's usually about this high in the summer and around $300 in the winter. I know electricity is more here and combined with a 2 story house I don't think it'll ever down. It Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!

[jay24k]

Solar is very expensive and I believe after 20 year it pays for itself. That is probably without all the interest either. Mine ran about 90 a month in the summer and seems to stay around 100 now. 2300 sq ft house. AC set at 76 usually. Trees make a big difference too. Too bad I don't have any.

[Julio]

The other thing is also i know tht electronic ballast don't save much in comparisson to magnetic, i think i am just gona have my tank sit out in the sun. I wish i could do this, The waikiki aquarium has a reef tank outdoors that is amazing.

[TheUPSguy]

Originally posted by oliver
$1200/month -


That's my rent and my electric. Ours runs around $200, and in the summer we topped out at $265. A/c is usually at 75. 1425 s/f 3rd floor apt

[Julio]

To get somethign really pretty is really costly.

[Trickman2]

California Blows for electric bills. One bedroom condo and 90 gallon reef. 187 a month. Costing about 16 cents a killowatt ouch. So I been getting creative. Running a Day and a Night system. Seems to work good. Waiting for my next bill.

[NicoleC]

Average is about 15 cents per kilowatt (So Cal Edison) here. My monthly bill was around $40.00 pre- tank including all the surcharges and taxes and around $50-55.00 after.

I think some folks reporting really high bills with only 1 or 2 tanks need to look elsewhere for the cause of their huge bills.

[Tyr-Sog]

Wow! What a bunch of ****! $300-$700/month for some of you. Thats crazy.

Thats almost a second morgage.:eek2:

[Tyr-Sog]

Ok, just for a reference out of Detroit suburbs.

Nov. I paid $57 @ 21.1KWH
Dec. I paid $68 @ 25.1KWH

The increase might be because I finally hooked up a QT tank and my fiancee moved in last month.

One year ago I was averaging 10.8KWH. One year ago I was just getting into the hobby. So it increased my bill double or 136%.

I'm not complaining though looking at your guys bills.
:smokin:

[Tyr-Sog]

lol, old thread brought to life.:strooper:

[gcarroll]

I'm in CA paying $.14 $.16/kilowatt
4 - 250 watt HQI
1 - 3000 gallon/hour pump
4- powerheads on a wave timer
calcium reactor
protien skimmer

My bill is $125 in the winter and $200 in the summer
No chiller and my daily temp varies less than 2 degrees from high to low.

My wife would kill me if I had a $400 - $500/ month bill as some of my friends do. Maybe I should open a business designing energy efficient tanks!

[rus]

not so bad up here in canada , i pay around $66 a month and that's an equal payment plan so it rarely changes ... when i look at some of your costs ....ouch!


-russ

[Trickman2]

mine was 187
Hey guys, I live in california and I moved out of my parents and bought myself a nice little condo. So when I got my first electric bill I almost fell threw the floor. So I decided it was time to revise my system. So here is what I did. First I switched over to one set of t5 bulbs instead of Power compacts. Then I replace my Iwaki 30rxlt. It was heating the water so I thought it was time. Got a ampmaster 2100 instead I am happy seems to heat the water less and not as loud. Next I bought a small dolphin pump for nighttime. Bought a dp 560. 35 watts. So now I am not running my chiller all the time. I have decide to have to schedule. A daytime and a nighttime. When the corals and the fish are sleeping I switch to nighttime mode. Daytime I run everything. I run my skimmer my lights and the ampmaster. At night I switch and leave the heater and the small dp-560 running plus the air pump. Seems to be working good two days and The water is still clear and my soft corals are still happy. Tell Me what you guys think. At 16 cents a Kilowatt and a All electric condo I have to be carefull.

[luvmyreef]

I can't remember when my bill was under $200!!!!!!!!! Have 2 400 watt 20000k MH & 2 blue 65 watt CF on reef. Also have 2 55 watt CF on refugium and 55 watt on sump! Now don't tell me about elec bill...Not to say 4 KID'S.

[Julio]

ere is something i been hearing fro the last few days, People are placing their sump tanks in the ground to cool theri tanks down and ave on electricity, by keeping the chiller from coming on less.

[Mickey]

My bills are over $300 a month and I don't even have my big tank up yet. Rate is about 12 cents per kilowatt hour in central CT.

Current tank is a 65 gallon with 225 watts of PC. Another 10 gallon nano tank with 65 watts of PC. No protein skimmer or chiller.

House is all electric with heat and air conditioning being provided by a heat pump. Back up furnace for when it is really, really cold and heat pump can't handle it is also electric. But it only kicks in when temp is below 15 degrees or so.

Planning new tank very carefully trying to conserve electric power wherever possible, even if initial outlay is more.

Mickey

[Julio]

is 15 cents per killowatt her in NYC, I just got my bill.

[cyclgrl]

I estimate that I average about $15-20/month to run my tanks. My setup is fairly small: I run my 4 powerheads and 2 skimmers 24-7, and my lights (110W PC+250W MH) for about 9 hours/day. That's about it. However, it really helps that I live in Santa Clara where we have our own power (separate from PG&E) at 6-7cents/kwh.

[Julio]

i wish we had more than one company so taht there can be a little competion ratehr than a monopoly.

[JB NY]

Julio,

Typical two month bill on LI.

http://www.cnidarianreef.com/posted/elecbill.jpg

[Julio]

i still think ai m paying too much so i am gonna call the company and have then check into my meter, if not then i will disconect the meter every other week, that way i can cut down on cost.

[Trickman2]

They tried that in California and look where it got us. LOL
i wish we had more than one company so taht there can be a little competion ratehr than a monopoly.) ;) :rollface: :rollface:

[skinpuppi]

If you go to www.reeftropicals.com they have a section you can go to and it automatically calculates the cost. You just enter the watts or amps and how long it is on for. Check it out it is really neat.

[Genetics]

Those numbers are amazing. Columbus charges a mean 5.6 cents a KW. That means with 6 roomies, 5 computers, 6 Tvs, 2 fridges, 29g 400w tank w/ 2 200w heaters 60w refugium and mag drive, carry the two add the four. That comes to be about 140 a month. That's with a space heater also.

[dave2184]

Man i am never leaving Ohio now. I pay 4.3 cents per Kwh my bill is $76 a month for a small ranch style house. The tank is $20 of that a month roughly.

Currently
75 gallon AGA with 20 gallon sump/fuge, Euroreef ES5-2, 2 400 watt XM 20k's, 2 110 watt VHO's, Cap2200, 2 Maxi-jet 1200's, 30watt duel strip on fuge

Adding
2x1/2" Seaswirls
Mag9.5

[Daniel411]

WOW!!!! I'm a bit shocked to say the least. My bills are in the paltry $20-28 range! I'm rarely home but have 150w metal halide, with a skimmer, pair of ph's, and hot magnum, qt tank, I might have a light or two (switched all lights in the house to cheal pc's) and a radio on at any time. TV/Comp "might" be on 4 hours in a week.

[Julio]

Yeah i think that i am gonna have to give up the hobby if the rates keep going up, but we all know this won't happen so i guess i am just gonn ahave to move to the cheapest state.

[dave2184]

The wife keeps complaining about the bills here :rolleyes: and from what i have heard from others im probably in one of the cheapest areas there is, as an example.

Last gas bill during the coldest month this winter. $26

Water bill for two months waste included $28

Average electric bill $76

No trash bill city tax is 7% and pays for this

Roadrunner $45

Cell phone two phone family plan $40

Rent $400

Groceries per month $200

Total out going bills per month $801

Wife that says nothing about my hobby expences. Priceless

[Julio]

they should have a national set price instead of a bunch of different companies, for some reason here in the city there is a monopoly that the city allows.

[Daniel411]

Originally posted by Julio
they should have a national set price instead of a bunch of different companies, for some reason here in the city there is a monopoly that the city allows.

A monopoly isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Anemonebuff]

I'm in the same boat as JB NY. LIPA rapes me every month and some how I have to pay them. My rear end still hurts. The bad thing about LI is that we have a "power authority". It is a Pseudo Gov't Agency. They all pilfer the coffers and line their pockets with the State's Okay. These thieves spent 2 million on surveys. Last time I checked they are supposed to deliver electricty not find out what we think about the next election.

160-180 in the winter

210-230 in the summer.

I also like that caption that says excess fuel price surcharge...when they implemented it Home Heating Oil(HHO) was at about $2 a gallon and now it's $1.70 a gallon yet their increase remains the same.