Why is your electrical bill so high?

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We have all been there. We have all asked the question, "How is this possible?"

I'm talking about your electrical bill. I meet so many people who have a hard time understanding how to calculate how much energy they actually use. And then after a quick lesson on how to calculate how much a certain device uses, it becomes clear what the problem is. Everyone seems to buy in to what is perceived as energy savings and what a commercial may say energy savings are. In this article I will do my best to show you how to quickly calculate how much an appliance will cost you to operate it in your home.

We will start with an electrical equation that is the fastest way to get the results you may want. We all know that we pay for electricity by the kilowatt hour. So, how do we figure out how many kilowatt's a standard light bulb is using?

Let's break down a kilowatt. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watt's and 1 kilowatt hour = using 1 kilowatt of electricity for 1 hour.

Look at a 60 watt light bulb. Say that light bulb runs for an average of 6 hours a day: 60 watts x 6 hrs = 360 watts a day x 30 (days in a billing cycle) = 10,800 watts monthly or 10.8 kw (kilowatts). Now depending on where you live (esp. California) you can multiply what you pay per kw of electricity. I'm going to use my average rate here in California because understanding your electric bill will have to be an in-class seminar. So it looks like this 10.8 kw x 30 cents per kw = $3.24.

That doesn't sound like much does it? But that's only one light bulb, so lets say we have 30 light bulbs that are all 60 watts and they all run an average of 6 hrs a day. The total for that is $97.30!! Now I don't think the average household has 30 light bulbs running an average of 6 hours a day, but you can see how easily it can get out of control.

Now let's look at one of the things I see in the commercial world that makes my toes curl. I've worked in the commercial automation world for a very long time and there are a few things that just get pushed to the way side because it does not seem like a big deal. One of the major problems are space heaters!

In our office in Bakersfield we have three lovely woman who have cold feet. Because I turn off the heat after 70 degrees (which is still too hot), they got space heaters for their cold toes. I finally looked at the label and man I fell to the floor in tears.

1,600 watts!! WOW. I've seen those things run all day before. But lets run some numbers on the space heaters: 1,600 watts at 3 hours a day = 4,800 watts or 4.8 kw. We only work in the office Monday - Friday so we will say 20 days of running which puts us at 96 kw. I did the average of 30 cents per kw on the light bulb but since of the heaters high wattage I'm going over my baseline, so I'm going to go off of the highest tier for the winter months which is 40 cents. And the grand total is $38.40 for one of the heaters to run 3 hours a day 5 days a week. Guess what? We have three, so the total is $115.20 for all three heaters to run 3 hours a day 5 days a week. Now, close your eyes and imagine how many space heaters you have in your office building!!

Let's let this sink in for a bit and I'll start where we left off next month when we can get into how to do something about it.

Please post comments and ideas of what you would like me to discuss in the future. I will be covering basic Energy Usage topics and Computer Technical topics as well. Please let me know what you would like to learn more about!

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