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baldude69 t1_j61u77f wrote

Yep electric heat is crazy expensive. Uses like 3x the electricity than if you were cooling your entire house with AC. I would turn the heat down a bit and use a space heater selectively to help save on electric

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UndercoverPhilly t1_j622ijl wrote

Typical. I used to live in a 400 sq. foot studio and my electric bills (including heat) were about $200 per month and still it was too cold, like about 58! I had huge windows. They had switched from radiators. I moved out that year. I will never move to a place with electric heat. Inefficient and too expensive.

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SgtKetchup t1_j623jqk wrote

One thing that can help is to make sure you are on the RH Residential Heating rate code, it gives you a slight discount or something in the winter. Your bill will indicate if you are currently on R residential vs RH.

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Vexithan t1_j637vs2 wrote

Get some space heaters. We got some decent ones from wayfair that look nice and haven’t jacked our electric. We have a gas furnace and it’s already really expensive to heat our house since the cost basically doubled in the last year but with the heaters we’ve kept it mostly under control.

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Proper-Code7794 t1_j638c3a wrote

Not trying to be funny but an electric blanket is a great addition over having the whole house be warm. If you want to get crazy the Japanese make this kind of table that you sit under that has a heater in it so if you're working by going to computer you can have your body warm

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WishOnSuckaWood t1_j63g5e1 wrote

Yeah, sounds about right. I live in a small place with electric heat and after the first bill I insulated as much as I could, got a space heater, a humidifier and a bunch of fleece and hunkered down. Electric heat is crazy

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tamarhasthecord t1_j63g77x wrote

I am not OP but I took a look at my bill and it lists “electric residential service.” We have both radiators and an electric heat pump system. Assuming this is the “R” rate you mentioned, how do I get “HR”? Just give PECO a call? Thanks!

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otis41 t1_j63gfkb wrote

Heat pumps on mini splits aren't really designed to be a primary heat source in the winter, they're designed more for shoulder season heating (think high 40's and up). If you have another source of heating, it may work more efficiently.

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DanHassler0 t1_j63m363 wrote

Sounds way too high to me. You mean heat pumps? Those should be decently efficient at the minimum, in many cases those will actually be the most efficient way to heat your apartment.

I'm in a similar apartment with baseboard electric heat, should be less efficient, and my bill is around $100 or even a little less for now during the winter.

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porkchameleon t1_j63pu3n wrote

About 1500 square feet two bedroom apartment (EDIT: now that I think about it, it was smaller, probably 1100-1200 range, actually), electric heat with poorly insulated windows, the place on 70F for a month and ran about $700-800.

And that was over a decade ago, now could be even more.

Every next place I looked for had to have any other kind of heat but electric (don't care for AC - how we say in the old country: "it's better to sweat seven times than to freeze once").

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Fuzz_166 t1_j63skxt wrote

You should look into their Peak/Off-Peak pricing program. You have to opt-in and pay attention to not use excessive power at certain times, but it can really drop the monthly bill.

Instead of paying the flat $.0985 or whatever it is now per kWh 24-hours a day, my last bill was broken down like this:

  • Peak [2pm-6pm]: $.2581
  • Off-Peak [6am-2pm, 6pm-12am]: $.0582
  • Super Off-Peak [12am-6am]: $.0361

And that is just for weekdays. On weekends/holidays, they drop the peak pricing entirely - so it is just Off-Peak from 6am to midnight.

The trade-off is that the power you use from 2-6pm is a lot more expensive. But if everyone in the house is at work/school then it isn't an issue. Get a smart thermostat to let turn the heat down during those times. Save big power-eating tasks (laundry, dishwasher) for nights or weekends.

We have a decent sized renovated house with lots of open areas and our power bills in the summer were brutal (winter wasn't as bad with a propane boiler feeding radiant heat). Changing to the off-peak program cut the average bill by 70-80%.

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Fuzz_166 t1_j63y0nr wrote

Sure. I didn't just want to talk final bill amount because there are a lot of factors there that would just muddy up the conversation (size of the houses compared, new build vs older house, etc). Plus we have that gas boiler and also solar system so that affects the final tally anyway.

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TheNightmareOfHair t1_j64itfz wrote

Our place is about 800sf, with electric heat, and we paid about $200 last month :-( We are luxurious princesses and keep the heat at 69 during the day (nice!), 63 at night.

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shibabao t1_j65eqnt wrote

You probably have an older split system than newer heat pumps. We heat about 1200sqft of a century old row house at 68 and the bill is about $150-200, including cooking and other usage.

The bill looks right if your system is not up to date. And if you are a side, top, or corner unit your bill will also be higher. I suppose you either rent or own a condo so changing the external unit would not be an easy option.

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bkcomputing t1_j65tyo6 wrote

1100sqft apartment. Winter months are the most costly time of the year for us since our entire apartment is on electricity. Colder months we see bills above $200.

Fall and spring without heat or AC it falls to like $50 a month. Even during a heatwave running the AC constantly our bill never goes above $150.

Electric heat is just very expensive

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Probability-Bot t1_j65x8m5 wrote

When i saw the word crummy in his desc i assumed it was much older unit. I once had a AC/Heater portable unit and that thing sucked electric i switched over to two of these smaller space heaters but i always keep them on the low setting or turn one off. Also i wonder whos OP elect supplier..

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Bigmlittlej t1_j6abe5i wrote

Glad I found this! Just got my new bill. 650 sq. ft. 1 BR here. Gas heat, and my PECO bill is $187.00 😮 And then the $110 plus Gas bill on top of that! It’s outrageous, IMO, esp. because this place is always cold! I do have a question, if anyone is knowledgeable… There are 2 apartments in this house. Is it AT ALL possible that some of the second floor apartment’s electric is on my “electric grid”, or whatever the professional term is? And how would I find out? Thank you in advance. Appreciate ANY help. 🙏🏻

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