January is here, and so is the third electric bill at the new house.  Naturally I got the bill in my email, as I do all my bills.  Paper statements are usually a waste of paper and time, since I don’t want to write out a dozen checks every month.

To see my bill in readable size, click on the picture to the left, and it will pop up.  Over all, this bill was ugly.  In fact, it was the worst bill yet since we bought our house.  The total damage?  $147.95 – yikes.  That’s a 33% jump from the $111.17 that I paid in December.  Where did the money go?  Let’s investigate.

Gas usage up

My gas usage jumped from 34 CCF to 62 CCF – an increase of 82%, which increased the cost by 68%.  That’s horrible.  It’s been extremely cold though, lots of 30-40 degree days.  We keep the temperate at a ( I think )  fairly moderate 65-66 degrees while we’re home.  Maybe we need to lower that to reduce our costs a bit.

Electricity usage Up

We used 2% more electricity ( 702 kWh vs 690 kWh ), but at an increased cost of 13%.  Why?  Some sort of funky fuel adjustment.  I don’t really know what that is or what it means, but it cost me $4.35 this month.

Final Thoughts

I have some work to do.  I’ll have to get used to wearing heavier clothing at home, and get real comfy with a blanket.  My natural gas usage is simply through the roof, and that’s got to change.  I have $150 budgeted for electric / gas usage every month, but I think I can stay well under it if I’m careful.  My switchover to CFL’s is complete now ( except for my back porch and garage ), so that should help things on the electric side.  We’ll see how things look in February.