Originally Posted by not2old

agree & I'm one that is really pi$$ed off about the high cost of utility bills

With the cooker, washer, dryer & dishwasher on electricity. Natural gas for hot water & heating. We do use the AC in summer, but turn it off when we go to bed leaving the furnace fan running

Here in Pickering back in 2013 we'd get an electricity bill every 90 days, then it became every 60 days, then in October this year from here on in its now every 30 days. Maybe Wynn's con job to try to fool us that the bills are not as high.

Since we became seniors, its more so about 'a penny saved' when possible & I track every bill

Just the two of us, the yearly electricity bill as follows

2012 $1383
2013 $1359 is when the wife started washing, dryer & dishwasher in off peak rates
2014 $1366
2015 $1588
2016 $1903
2017 $2025 estimate

The rise in charges have gone through the roof compared to our income.

Add to that Natural gas, water/sewer & property tax increases

Originally Posted by BristolUK

Anyone find inexplicable highs and lows?

I recently sold my duplex and it had been unoccupied since August to improve chances so the bills for a 2 bed/1 bed apartment have been in my name since.

Nothing on other than water heater and fridge/freezer for each apartment. Same size water heaters and fridge for the 2 bed is older.

Difficult to do a comparison for the first bills as the tenant for the 2 bed apt had been disconnected for non payment and I was lumbered with the reconnection fee even though I had registered on the province "landlord plan" that is supposed to protect the supply but appears to offer little advantage. (whinge, moan, bleat etc)

But it was about $30 and $23 for August.
Then $59 and $43 for September. Strange that it would go up like that for both apartments. I had a contractor in, so it's possible that used up power but what he did was mostly in the 1 bed unit.

Then $52 and $49 in October. The reduction in the first might make sense given definitely no power used compared to the previous month but the same should have applied to the 1 bed unit and it was slightly more.

Nothing to fuss over, but maybe the older fridge in the 2 bed is using power at a greater rate.

Here's the shock. Upon sale (and still no heating having been put on - I was about to do it and then suddenly there was a quick sale) the final bill covered 33 days so I wasn't surprised to see the $52 for October become $57.

But it was shocking to see $49 for the 1 bed become $104.

I checked the actual consumption and it was four times that of the previous month.

Any ideas why?

I took it up with the power company and they said they agreed it didn't look right and they'd investigate.

But the next day they confirmed it was 100% accurate and kept telling me that heating costs would likely make the difference - even though I had told them there was no heating on. Oh...and the two water heaters are both located in the basement so it's not as if one is exposed to conditions and the other not.

They then said that if heating was not off at the breaker switch then it would not truly be off - and I said that might account for moderate fluctuations but that maybe they should stop looking at the one bill in isolation and do a comparison for the two and explain why one apt had the lower bill for three months running and then suddenly went double the other one with 4 times the power used in the previous month.

I got nowhere and there's no provision for disputes like I've seen in other provinces (yay Alberta).

Closing was 5 days after the agreed price, so it's not like the buyer was in for a month using up power while the bill was still in my name.

Is it something daft like someone sees a for sale sign, observes a place is empty, finds an external power socket and plugs things in?

Originally Posted by wheatsheaf

Yes, I too saw a sudden massive leap in Oakville Hydro charges for my parents 1 bedroom apartment (built in 1989). Hydro said everything was correct and that maybe I should change the fridge and stove, and lower the thermostat. So, furious with that, I kept the apartment VACANT (for 1 year)and unplugged everything. Still got over $100 per month hydro bills, even with newly installed individual meters! HYdro told me "its about time everyone paid the real costs"!!. What that tells me is that everyone was subsidized in Canada before and now the debts have to be paid....just as with pensions, health care, infrastructure. I truly fear for the future of the 15-30 year olds here in Canada. The bare necessities to live in this climate and vastness of this country are now out of range for them. Housing is expensive, transport is spotty, education is not the best for the prices, and now they say simple grocery needs are going up in 2017. Top it all with the only growth sectors being production and supply of mind altering substances, dollar stores and fast food!!. Bleak indeed for the timid.

Originally Posted by bats

August's Hydro bill was $160.74. $64 of that was delivery, $24 on peak, $15 mid peak, $4 regulatory charges and $18 HST. We used more KWh than previously which is odd as we were trying to use less.
We have AC and an electric water heater, laundry is electric and all other gadgets save cooking which is gas.

Originally Posted by Jsmth321

Looking at the hydro website for the previous 2 days since the cold weather started (-3 currently was -5 overnight) with 2 baseboard (one living room, one in bedroom.) set at 68 in the day and 65 overnight, our daily use was 35 and 37 kWh, the days prior we were in the 15-24 kWh range.

Baseboards just don't seem to work well at keeping a place warm. But maybe forced air would struggle as well, who knows, never had forced air in Canada.

Originally Posted by bats

Doors would help, being able to close off a room and warm that one makes a difference. That's the trouble with these open plan living areas. It's a reason to shove the tv in the bedroom and spend the evening in there, at least there's a door to close.

Originally Posted by bats

Doors would help, being able to close off a room and warm that one makes a difference. That's the trouble with these open plan living areas. It's a reason to shove the tv in the bedroom and spend the evening in there, at least there's a door to close.

Originally Posted by bats

Doors would help, being able to close off a room and warm that one makes a difference. That's the trouble with these open plan living areas. It's a reason to shove the tv in the bedroom and spend the evening in there, at least there's a door to close.

Originally Posted by bats

August's Hydro bill was $160.74. $64 of that was delivery, $24 on peak, $15 mid peak, $4 regulatory charges and $18 HST.

We used more KWh than previously which is odd as we were trying to use less.
We have AC and an electric water heater, laundry is electric and all other gadgets save cooking which is gas.

Originally Posted by not2old

put a timer on the fridge so its off on the 'on peak' Fridges burn lotsa kwh

In the summer always leave the furnace fan running when the AC is on. Switch the AC off when you go to bed & leave the fan running at all times

For those that have an electric stove, do not use the 'big 30" wide oven part' 'it definitely eats away at the Kwh' Instead go get a counter top cyclonic oven for roasting, baking etc, payback is fast. I bought ours at the thrift store.

A one burner (small compact) camper stove is also useful. We got ours from the local chinese market for $20+tax. A plate (big flat cookie tray) on top on the oven burners, the small butane bottle that fires up the poratable stove will cost way less than using a stove plate element.


.