Electric leak

[Mtneer]

Our Xcel bill doubled this winter and we haven't changed anything. Any suggestions on how to find an electric leak? I'm guessing process of elimination at the panel. House is 30 years old. Is there a likely culprit I should look at first? Since I'm sending all this electricity into the ground, will I have a bumper crop of tomatoes?

[20X11]

Usage doubled? That's odd
A. Old Refrigerator?
B. New Mini fridge?
C. Working from home?

Dollars Doubled?
A. Texas related energy crisis - Yes it affected a huge portion of the country.
B. Provider? Is it really Xcel?

[brutal]

^ This ^

KWh changes or just cost/KW?

Xcel has hosed everyone, our Co-op (IREA) included with the Comanche 3 plant debacle.

They claim having it offline actually saves money, but the energy they're buying to re-place it is subject to market fluctuations.

Oh, and welcome to renewable energy costs!

[00tec]

Yeah, we got the price increase notice from IREA the same day our power was out for almost 3 hours last week.

[BPTactical]

Our Xcel bill doubled this winter and we haven't changed anything. Any suggestions on how to find an electric leak? I'm guessing process of elimination at the panel. House is 30 years old. Is there a likely culprit I should look at first? Since I'm sending all this electricity into the ground, will I have a bumper crop of tomatoes?

Well we now know how the fires started west of Boulder.
YOU let all the magic smoke out!

[Gman]

Very unlikely you have a "leak". Figure out the math.

[TRnCO]

as others have said, most likely not a leak, after all, that much energy going to "ground" would trip a breaker most likely.

[Irving]

I'd go this route personally.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=outlet+plug+covers&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

[buffalobo]

As has been mentioned start by comparing this month bill to same month last year bill.

More than likely a combination of rate increase and increased usage.

[Gman]

I'd go this route personally.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=outlet+plug+covers&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Cork those outlets!

[Wolfshoon]

Are you on a well?

[Mtneer]

Yeah, I'll have to deep dive into the energy bills. We got a 'Home Energy Report' from Xcel that shows we're using 37% more power than similar nearby homes. But we have solar and most of them don't. Only me and wife, nothing extra added, rate increase alone can't account for this.

There was one faulty outlet but wouldn't think it could suck power with nothing plugged in. Yes, on a well.

[00tec]

Yeah, I'll have to deep dive into the energy bills. We got a 'Home Energy Report' from Xcel that shows we're using 37% more power than similar nearby homes. But we have solar and most of them don't. Only me and wife, nothing extra added, rate increase alone can't account for this.

There was one faulty outlet but wouldn't think it could suck power with nothing plugged in. Yes, on a well.

Have you checked to see if the well pump is running longer than it should?

If an outlet is "sucking" power, it would be generating heat. That much heat would likely burn the house down.

[Gman]

We were always much higher on Xcel's report. We had neighbors on solar. We also had medical equipment that used a significant amount of electricity. They kept hounding us until we told them to stop. Cancelled every communication except for our paperless bills. You'd almost think they weren't in the business of selling energy.

[ray1970]

Ha. How long have you had the solar? Maybe your extra energy use is for powering those panels.


My last bill was double the previous month but we did get that spell of pretty cold weather so I?m sure the furnace was pulling double duty to keep me toasty.

[Duman]

Do you see any magic smoke oozing from anywhere?

[Mtneer]

Solar is a decade old without issues. We're propane for heat. Not sure how to check well pump, seems unlikely.

I need to access our bills online but that's easier said than done.

[def90]

Get rid of the grow lights..

[SideShow Bob]

On a well, do you have a pressure tank ? If so, you could have a minor slow water leak causing the well pump to run a lot more to keep pressure up causing your increased electric usage. The leak could be anywhere from the pump to anywhere in the system. Or on a electric water heater, trickling the hot water to keep the pipes from freezing during frigid weather will jack up your electric Bill.

If also have any HID lighting like a yard or driveway light, check to see if the photo cell is shorted on, that could make an increase in your billing.

And, if you have out building that have power and are fed from the same meter and have underground feeds, you could possibly (not likely) have a high resistance underground short. Those usually manifest themselves when the weather is wetter than usual, like during & after a heavy snow melt off.

Keep us posted, just nosy.

[Wolfshoon]

Reason I asked if you are on a well is that it can use A LOT of power if it is short cycling. Two causes of short cycling are

1) air pressure in holding tank low to none. Should be precharged to at least half, sometimes 2/3 system pressure. Mine is 40-60 Psi system and tank bag pressure is set to 38psi per manufacture recommendation. If it is flat it will turn on every 20-30 seconds or so instead of the 12.5 minutes I get out of a 45 gallon tank with proper accumulator bag pressure set. I had to replace mine last summer after 21 years in service, electric bill went down by a third.

2)hopefully it isn’t number two. That is where the well supply tube (usually the first or second section next to pump) has developed a hole and is recirculating water at the pump instead of sending it all up the pipe to be used by you. Had that happen to a co worker as they used to much bleach during install and it prematurely corroded the pipe sections. He had to have it extracted, new sections and pump installed. Cost him three grand in 2003. You could also have a leak from the well to the house piping, depending on leak size, look for an abnormally wet area between the two. Cheaper to do but still around 2 grand, had this happen to me 3x since 2010, finally replaced the rigid pvc lines with flexible pex pipe and that solved the shifting clay issue.

Hopefully it isn’t a well issue and just a power hungry appliance instead. Good luck

[68Charger]

Check the output on the Solar- if its kaput (bad inverter, maybe?), you would suck more juice from Excel to make it up