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My parents-in-law are thinking about getting A/C finally (?!).
They are trying to figure out what that will do to their electrical bill.
Here?s some stats:
Area: Littleton
Provider: Xcel
House: early 80?s construction, no vaulted ceilings; ~2100sqft
Current non-A/C summer electrical bill: ~$95
So, folks in that area with Xcel electricity and A/C, what?s your average monthly electric bill in the summer?
thanks!
Might help to find out their typical kw usage for folks to gauge it by.
Maybe not. Just throwing it out there.
Sent from somewhere...
My stats are very similar. Just used 32.4 kWh last month with the kids and wife all home 24/7. 22.5 kWh same period last year. $101.22 for the electrical this year. Not a very hot month, though.
ETA: that?s with whole house AC...didn?t make that clear
Not in your area but I?m sure my Xcel rates are similar as is my home. I keep the AC on all summer and keep the inside of the house around 68 degrees. I think my July and August bills are around $135 or so. Going off memory so don?t hold me to those numbers.
Is it a ranch with no basement (if some of that square footage is below grade, how much)? Electric costs will also depend on the efficiency of the AC unit. Higher efficiency equals higher initial equipment cost and less electricity consumption. Do they want to pay up front or over time?Quote:
Originally Posted by CS1983
My AC is 15 years old, I keep the temp at 75 during the day, then drop it to 70 at night. I doubt the increased monthly electric bill will be much to worry about, unless they have a south facing glass wall or something...
It’s a two story with basement. I’d say 800sqft is below grade. They would likely pay up front.
However, I think we have some good info between the answers so far and our experience.
My MIL came across some estimator site that said they’d be paying a $600 electric bill. I personally can not recall a month where we busted $200. She probably found some site that was run by windowfans, LLC. :D
Just wanted to confirm that the costs up that way weren’t stupid.
My buddy in Houston has a two story with 2A/C units. He lives in the house by himself. While his electric bill is a ridiculous $400/mo in the summer, that's still far from $600.
We briefly rented a month to month 2800sqft house in Oklahoma that had two AC units and were also at $400/mo.
I think my PIL should get AC and the curse themselves for years of sleepless nights.
We have about 2000 sqft and vaulted ceilings. I think the highest bill we've had for a hot month was $260, including gas? It's worth every penny for us.
I dont open windows often, we just run the AC. Even when we aren't home, a 65" TV is constantly on during the day to keep the parrot entertained (need to get her a smaller one). We keep the ac at 72 degrees. 1600sq ft. Our electric bill has never been over $160. Different company though.
That?s ridiculous. Depending on current energy prices, but in the last 15 years, I don?t think I?ve ever topped a little over $250 in a month....and I?ve recently taken to adding an additional in room air conditioner for my bedroom.Quote:
Originally Posted by CS1983
Can you push the parrot cage in front of a real window for free?Quote:
Originally Posted by 00tec
Oh, and get a decent thermostat. Today's smart thermostats can manage AC much better than older ones. The nest, for example, will let the fan run for a few minutes after the compressor kicks off. The evaporator is cold for a while after the compressor is done. Letting the fan run for a while utilizes that cold rather than letting it go to waste.
Xcel offers budget billing. They average your bill for (6) or 12 months. Then set a fixed rate per month, doesn't matter income level, or use to. .Quote:
Originally Posted by CS1983
Not in AZ it isn't One thing AZ is proud of, besides the Grand Canyon and great off road drives. Is APS, the central and north central, electric company. You get a house that's all electric, water heater, furnace, stove, drier and run ac in warmer months. That $600 is an average..Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
'
I itemized my utility bills per month for two separate years once after GilpinGuy called me out on something, and found that I was paying under $500/yr for electric. Most my appliances are gas though.
what's your square footage. house siding composition, shaded or not?Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
Doesn't matter, I don't have A/C and my big appliances are gas. I was just giving reference for why I thought $400/mo was outrageous.
We have a 2800 SF house in the Columbine/Littleton area (about 650 SF below ground.) Ours is a tri-level with a basement (so four levels total) with vaulted ceilings.
We have a whole house fan and we just installed AC last year. I was worried about the same thing (super-high electric bills.)
I don't track KwH usage but I keep track of my bills on Quicken.
For 2018 (Hot summer, pre-AC, most likely with lots of house fan usage) bills for Jun - Jul - Aug were $83 $80 $81
For 2019 (Hot summer, using AC and House fan alternately) bills for Jun - Jul - Aug were : $77 $117 $142
So as you can see, even during the hottest month, the delta between AC and No AC was ~$65 a month or less.
Or to put it another way, a little over $2/day.
I don't know about you, but I'm happy to pay $2/day to not be miserable in my own house.
To summarize: AC was totally worth it. Even my wife who was a little skeptical about the expense (about $5400 with a $600 rebate from Xcel dropping it to a little under $5k) told me last year how nice it was to have AC in the house on those hot days.
We spend most of our time in the family room, which is in the lowest level of the main house (not the basement) and it stayed nice and cool there. Even my office, which is on the West side of the house on the 2nd floor stayed tolerable and once I got a vent cover that would redirect the AC into the middle of the room (instead of up the walls) and put in a small floor fan to circulate it, it became perfectly comfortable even on the hottest days.
The only room now that gets uncomfortably hot is the wife's "office" (really more like an oversized walk-in closet) which is the bedroom on the SW side of our south-facing house. That has a corner window that gets a lot of direct sunlight and it does get very warm during the day. But we almost never use it for anything. Our bedroom is on the SE side of the house and does get warm but if we turn off the AC after dark and run the house fan with the windows open it cools off very quickly.
Solid info here guys. Thank you very much. I'm hoping this pushes them into a better level of comfort in their retirement years.
I'm with you on this. I budget $45 a month year round for electric. I'm in a small place and am judicious about my electrical usage. Even when I had a 2200 sq foot house I don't think we ever got over $225 or so though. $400 is insane.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
The coldest my basement gets is in the summer. The stairwell is open to the finished basement. When the AC is used, I can hang meat down there.
...and I LOVE IT. [Flower]
Cold and dark is perfect for those days I have headaches. Bad headache plus heat is misery.
We have multiple computers running all the time plus TVs with AV receivers. Outdoor lights are on all night every night (LEDs with smart switches).
Our costs went down with a higher efficiency unit and a DC variable speed blower a couple of years ago. Old system had a freon leak and that freon type is no longer available. We were better off replacing the entire furnace and AC. Heating and electric consumption went down.