Why is My Electric Bill So High?

By Tom Kovalak
ow many times have you looked at your electric bill and asked yourself that very same question? You try to conserve wherever possible by turning off lights when you leave a room, taking shorter showers and turning the thermostat down, but it still seems like your energy bill is high. You are not alone! Almost everyone, whether for their home or business, would love to see their energy costs drop. First, its important to know what makes up your electric bill. Each account has an electric meter. This simple device measures energy or kilowatt hour (kwh) usage. Our larger commercial and industrial members may have a different type of meter that measures both kwh and kilowatt (kw) demand. Demand is the peak amount of energy consumed by all appliances and equipment during any 15 or 30 minute period each month. After the meter is read, we subtract the last meter reading from the current reading to calculate your total kwh usage. Normally, there is a 28 to 34 day interval between meter readings. The kwhs are then multiplied by the correct rate, either residential, commercial or large power. Finally, the basic charge is added to arrive at your total bill.

Monthly Basic Charge One of the questions we hear most often at Coos-Curry Electric is, why is the basic charge so high? It has been years since weve had any type of rate increase. However, our costs have continued to escalate in every aspect of doing business. Insurance, costs of materials to deliver electricity (lines, poles, transformers, meters, etc) and even the cost of gas to operate all of our vehicles increase every year. We all
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know what gas prices are like in our area! Coos-Curry Electric could not continue to operate year after year with all of these increases in prices under the same old rate structure. When you take all of those costs into account to run the cooperative, remember that this is only half the story. A full 50 percent of all the dollars it takes to do business is just

from our wholesale power costs. To further illustrate the impact wholesale power costs have on running the cooperative, these wholesale power supply costs have increased 50 percent in just the past three years! Figuring Electric Usage and Costs The next question is, what

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exactly is it that makes 30 feet of baseboard heatthe meter register ers. Each foot of baseboard so many kwh? The heat consumes about 250 answers may surprise watts (.250 kw), calculated you. as follows: .250 kw x 30 The largest energy feet = 7.5 kw (7,500 watts) users in your home x 1 hour = 7.5 kwh x $.063/ are items that produce kwh (Coos-Currys stanheat; electric heat dard residential rate) = 47 such as wall heaters, cents per hour. baseboard and space Thats 47 cents for five heaters, water heatbaseboard heaters to run ers, electric stoves and just one hour! A standard electric motors (well forced air electric furnace pumps, pool pumps, uses 10 kw, which is equal irrigation pumps and to 63 cents per hour. To furnace blowers). put 10 kw into perspective, Some other very large imagine turning on 100 energy users in a home lamps in your home with a are heated water beds 100 watt bulb in each lamp. and hot tubs. In fact, a Even a 1,500 watt plug-in hot tub can easily add space heater will cost you A family of four $50 or more to your 9.5 cents per hour. Its easy spends approximately monthly electric bill! to see how quickly you can $300 a year Refrigerators, TVs, consume a great deal of heating water. computers, stereos, energy with electric heat. small appliances and Electric water heaters lights also add to the total eneruse the same concept. They usually gy use picture. All of these applihave a 4,500 watt (4.5 kw) element. ances and equipment take varied For every hour they run, they will amounts of energy to provide their cost you 28 cents. An electric water service to you. (We will discuss heater will cost the average family their impact on your electric bill in of four about $300 a year. a future article) In fact, you can figure the cost How expensive is electric heat? of any appliance if you know how Baseboard, ceiling cable, and elecmuch energy it uses. Just take the tric furnaces are forms of electric watts and divide it by 1,000 to get resistance or strip heating. They kw (i.e. a 100 watt light bulb equals are called such because they use the .100 kw). Multiply the kw by the heat produced from hours the unit runs the resistance of and then multiply the electric current passanswer by the Coosing through a conducCurry Electric energy tor. These forms of rate. heat are considered 100% effiRead that cient because they meter! put out one watt of For an even heat (3.413 Btu) for better idea of every watt of energy where your energy they consume. goes, try reading Lets assume you your meter every have just five baseday for a period board heating units of time. Read it 24 in your home that hours apart at the During cold weather, electric space heating is largest energy user in the are each six feet same time each home. long, for a total of day. Write down

Tom Kovalak is the new Manager of Marketing and Member Services with CoosCurry Electric Cooperative. He has 19 years of experience in the electric utility industry, having worked for electric cooperatives in Michigan, Florida, Colorado and Minnesota. He is a certified residential/commercial/industrial energy auditor as well as a certified lighting auditor. Tom comes to Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative from Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative in Jordan, Minnesota, which is located 35 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. He was the Vice President of Marketing and Member Services. His wife is a native Oregonian from Pendleton. what you did that day (running the electric heat, doing laundry, baking, etc). You will notice the difference between days you use your appliances more or less. Summer time usage will also be much lower when you dont need to use your electric heat. Remember, the meter is just a simple device that measures the energy that flows through it. The more appliances running, the faster the disk spins and the more kwh are registered! Please read my article in the next issue of Ruralite that will continue this discussion. Well also be comparing electric verses propane for your space and water heating needs. In the meantime, feel free to contact me anytime by e-mail at tkovalak@cooscurryelectric.com.
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