$361 .

Mind you, the billing cycle and the weather gods conspired to give us the following.

17 days out of 32 were 110°F (43°C for our metric viewers) or more. We had one run of nine days over 110°F on the bounce.

For the remaining 15 days the maximum temperature was never less than 104°F (40°C).

Even for Vegas this has been an exceptionally hot period, at least in my 20 years here.

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Release the Kraken

Steve--You need an Arkansas Air-Conditioner:

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Possum—The other white meat!

positively vent your roof.

We are south of LVSTEVE so we are warmer !!
Our last bill was $246 with a discount some previous tenant signed up for with Nevada Energy. This allow Nevada Energy to remotely raise our thermostats 4 to 6 degrees every day above 105. In turn we have to run a A/C units harder in evening to cool off house.

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SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

Add insulation and double windows and vent the roof. With bill like that you will pay for those items pretty quick.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Yes, that is probably the most cost effective solution, but the roof space is oddly divided, so I will need at least two fans.

Edited to add:-

Just found a bunch of articles showing how attic fans are an ineffective/bad idea. One thing is that they rely on good sealing of the ceiling area. That isn't the case in this house for a slew of reasons, not least of which is recessed lighting in several areas.

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Release the Kraken

The house already has double pane windows, BUT they are the cheap and nasty ones without a thermal break in the frame and insufficient gap between the panes. SOP for the Vegas builders in the last 25 years.

As for added insulation, the quote was about $3400. No, I'm not going to do it myself. The roof layout is a tight, convoluted mess built with the twin aims of profit for a lumber yard and employment for carpenters. It badly needs resealing, the knee walls insulating properly and a general addition of lots of blown insulation. That amount of money would take a while to recover in savings.

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Release the Kraken

What did people do 50 + years ago? Not being sarcastic, genuinely curious

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They used ceiling fans and sweat a lot.
See the following movie clip for good example of sweating and fans in 1920's Tennessee.


Best,
Rick

"We are weaker than our fathers. . ." The Dog of The South, Charles Portis

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Possum—The other white meat!

steve, after seeing your temps, i'll stop complaining.
here, in a couple weeks it will stop hitting 100.

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susie

Solar power.

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Freedom isn't free.

Well, remember that whatever you do, it will also help reduce bills in winter. I spent some fair change getting my house improved and it really paid for itself. And I think I'd get another estimate on that extra insulation. That's an awfully high price.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Power bills didn't start getting outrageous until the 'energy crisis' of the '70s. And gasoline was cheap. If someone saw that a gas station had 54.99 cents/gallon they'd drive to another one that that had 53.99 cents/gallon.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

That didn't change much until the 50s/60s. Everybody had cardboard fans with popsicle stick handles with "William's Funeral Home" or some such on them. Usually adorned with a picture of sunlight streaming through broken clouds over mountains and forests.

Drug stores and department stores had A/C. Who remembers the sticker on the door of the drugstore or the 7/11 with a picture of a penguin with "Come on in, it's Kool inside" which was subliminal hint for Kool cigarettes.

My Grandparents were still using coal fireplaces until the mid 60's. No A/C. The house was so full of holes that it didn't need it and wouldn't hold it if did. We used to peek at each other through the knotholes in the floor. The screen porch stocked with funeral home fans was the only relief.

I remember my Grandfather died in 1965 and the next time we visited the house had a freestanding gas heater in front of every fireplace. When my Grandmother moved out years later, my Dad looked in the attic of the house and said the whole thing was full of coal dust.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

My farm house (moved 3 years ago) was built in 1879 +/-. It had 10' ceilings on the first floor and 9.5 on the second. It had several windows and doors on each side to catch the breeze (5 doors and 27 windows), and long gone before I bought it, a wrap around front porch. Half a dozen large maple trees also shaded the house.

That was how you used to stand the heat. It worked too. Until in the 1960's when they took away the front porch. It was still pretty good in the 1980's when I bought. Then in about 2000, one by one the large trees died off. one every other year or so. Then It got hot on 85 degrees or above, and only 2 things to, I (my wife actually) chose to move! Now in the condo we have a neighbor on each side, helping cool the place each summer. The electric costs about 15-20% less than the farm house without A/C, because we don't run 3 ceiling and 4 box fans 24/7 (both homes about 1800 Sq.Ft.) And the condo is from 2005, so the modern insulation standards help a lot!

There are no tall trees to shade from the sun! The West walls are hot to the touch in the afternoon and don't cool off until sundown. We also live like hermits in the summertime, with the mini-blinds and curtains closed!

If I still had young kids I would take the farmhouse any day over trying to raise them in town. Put a trampoline in the shade of a tree and the kids are happy for hours, and let them have lots of water balloon fights! (that is still allowed isn't it?)

Ivan

My sympathies.

On the bright side, there's good products available to make your home more efficient, and with bills that high the payback is faster.

It's been 90 here since June 1st. Really unusual. AC's on all the time. My long hair Chihuahua has her own fan on each floor.

My last electric bill was $186. Guess I don't have it as bad as the OP.

Now, if I could just convince my wife that trying to keep the lawn green isn't worth paying over $300 a month for the water bill.

My power bill runs $105.00 each and every month. Duke power offers a set pat price based on your previous usage. So, for 11 months of the year I pay a flat fee. The 12th. month any credit or debit is applied to that bill. I've always had a nice credit, that is applied my future bills.

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Always Stay Strong!

Vegas wasn't exactly a tourist mecca before viable air conditioning and cheap power and water via Hoover Dam . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I put all new e-glass double pane windows and doors in my house this spring and I've noticed a difference in energy use already. Just paid this months electric bill ,$155, and the air has been on almost nonstop this summer. Last years bills hit $185 in the summer and we didn't have the AC on as much. Winter energy use should really tell the story. The contractor who did the install said the difference will be substantial compared to the old leaky single pane 45 year old windows he removed.

Same we have here.
Mine is 168/mo this yr.
down from 171 last yr.
my house was built in 70 so you have an idea on its inherent energy efficiency. I have replaced windows with DP units.
Have an auto Tstat that goes to 78 at 8 am when no one is home and drops to 75 at 1030 in evening I like sleeping cool.

House is fairly small 1200sf.

All gas appliances and heat also.





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I built a new house a couple of years ago and it's 3200 sf with high ceilings and we also have a well, aerobic system, and lots of outdoor LED landscape lights. My wife wants it COLD so we had a $265 electric bill a couple of days ago but it would be whole lot more if wasn't for the Low-E Argon gas windows we put in. They are mostly pretty big windows and I think they only cost me about $4,200. They are also casement windows which mean you turn a crank to swing them open and they seal much tighter than double hung or sliding windows. I hear about people who have new windows put in their small or medium size house for $15,000 or more from the companies that advertise on TV. If you want to replace your windows buy them from a lumber yard and they can probably recommend an installer who won't charge you over $1-2K to put them in.

Wow, we'd be in real trouble. Our summer bill runs in the $130-160 range and that's after solar energy credit from my solar system (6.32KW) at my sugarhouse, plus we also have a 1.71 KW array at our house. The problem is that we both need to keep the t-stat at 67 in summer and 62 in winter. We even replaced our 20 yr old central air last year to get a higher efficiency one. If we had to battle the temps you've had our bill would have been way higher, likely over $5-600.
Just consider this, I read a while back that Mr. Green, (aka mr global warming AKA Al Gore) who preaches efficiency, had a $30000 annual electric bill after devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006. So much for his efficiency.

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Certified NRA rifle instructor

Deciduous trees are leafy in the summer and shade the house. While in the winter they drop their leaves and the sun shines through. Ain't nature something.

I remember those nights in bed sweating my head off. But when your bed was by the window, any breeze hit the curtain and blew the air down on you. That was a real good feeling.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Yes, but do the math. If it saves you $200/month, it will pay for itself in a year and a half.

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Freedom isn't free.

My home has Central Air but we also use fans. in all the bedrooms we always leave the ceiling fans on slow and in other rooms we have small 12" table top fans running on slow. It makes 70º feel more like 68º and we also like the cool dry breeze.

Since one of my hobbies is restoring vintage fans (10's, 20's, 30's, & 40's) I have a dozen or so around the house. Not only do they work better than any modern fan that can be bought today, but they look super cool as well!! They are a perfect companion to Central A/C .

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My year around power bills are about the same. I have a Propane fired forced hot air for serious heat and a Pellet stove in the great room for when the weather is over 26 degrees. The Pellet can do the whole house under those conditions.

Have no air conditioning (My choice) as up here in the mountains you realy only need it for a few days in the summer. We do have large paddle fans in many rooms and just twirling the blades does not use much juice. Do have a dehumidifier running in the basement a lot in the summer, so that sucks up some power. Keeps the humidity down in my "gun area", but i do have a "rod" in the safe to protect my firearms just in case!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

My last bill was $66.47, I have a 2300 square foot two story home with a walk-out basement and run the AC 24/7 to 72 degrees. I did replace all the windows and that really helped. I live here alone and replaced almost all my bulbs with LED's, watch tv a bit in evening and turn off the power to the tv/cable box when not in use and use lights only in the rooms I am in at the time. I do have a large tree shading the west side of the house in the afternoon but am about to lose it to the Emerald Ash Borer. Either electricity is cheap here or the meter is defective. ComEd just installed a "smart" meter so it will be interesting to see the next bill.

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John. SWCA #1586

I can't top that, I have a 1400 sf house and my last bill was $68 including the $10 per month charge my energy broker levies. I keep my temperature at 72 or 73 degrees all the time I am home.
I have solar screens and a new roof with good ventilation, although I still have the original single windows.
My energy broker (Energy Ogre) shops for the cheapest power source and renews automatically when my old contract has expired. The OP might look to see if there is an equivalent service in your area. It has been a great service for me!

I'm on a 12 month budget because I rather pay an even amount every month than get slammed in the summer months. I pay about $295 / month or $3,540 per year - that's just for electricity. My Natural Gas bill budget runs about $265 / month or $3,180 / year. My water runs about $1,000 / year and the R/E taxes make those bills look low.

That's nothing. When I was living in Phoenix from '09-'15 my summer electric bills would average about $490 from July through September. 115 degrees wan not uncommon and it rarely dipped below 85 even at night. Imagine waking up to 85 degrees at 6:30 AM!

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Support your Police, & NRA

"What did people do 50 + years ago? Not being sarcastic, genuinely curious"
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Sweat. It's not as hot in NC as it is in Las Vegas, but it's a lot more humid. I lived near Charlotte NC growing up. Nights in particular were unpleasant. We got our first window air conditioner when I was 16, what a wonder. I wouldn't want to go backwards in technology, but there were rewards. Remember how great an afternoon thunderstorm felt after a hot day?

My power bill is higher like everyone else's in July, but I'm so thankful to have A/C I try to remember that when paying the bill. It gets pretty chilly here in Western NC in the winter, so I'm glad to pay for the heat in that season too.

there was no such thing as air conditioning, when i was a kid...but i never remember being uncomfortable (ya cant miss what yo never had) we had a small table fan and all windows open day and night......there were no terrorist threats back then

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There's nowt so queer as folk

I should have added five years ago I had a solar powered attic fan installed, made a world of difference in comfort level, and paid for itself in 24 months. four years ago I had good quality double pane windows installed, as well as additional insulation added around windows. I recently switched to LED light bulbs, I still haven't gotten totally used to the difference in the light they throw. Like HSguy, when I leave a room for more than five minuets no lights are left on.

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Always Stay Strong!

I expect mine will be that or more here in Mi. And we have only been in the upper 80s to low 90s here.

Today all I feel after an afternoon thunderstorm is more humid

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Yo Steve with the block glass window.
What's up with that project?

There's a catch. Added insulation MAY save you $200 in ONE extreme month, but I suspect the number is nearer $150 at best. Also, that $150 saving is not going to happen every month. We have periods here where the heat and air barely run, giving bills under $60 for the gas and electric. Can't save $150 on total bills of $120. The numbers I ran came up with a payback over 4.5-5 years.

For those that think $3400 to reinsulate this home is a lot, this is a 3000 sqft home with a VERY complicated roof structure with cathedral ceilings and multiple knee walls. It's tight up there, workers over 5' 7" and 160 lbs need not apply. The lady who did the inspection and quote told me that most of the time will be spent doing prep, particularly sealing the attic from the rest of the home. The tract home builders of the 90s and early 2000s were pretty poor in that area. All the knee walls need to be fitted with new batt and I suspect there is one knee wall with no insulation at all and it has A/C ducts all over. This all takes time, and time is money.

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Release the Kraken

I will trade you mine goes over $500.00 this time of year

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Len

Like HSguy, when I leave a room for more than five minuets no lights are left on.


Way to go old bear, less money for the electric company and more for guns!

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John. SWCA #1586

I just got the largest, $225 for a 4/3 2100 sq ft. The lowest is March and that was $81. It's 94 everyday till October. It's arctic at 78, keep it at 80 during the day. Believe it or not, I paid a guy to clean the dryer vent (Goes up a pipe and out the roof) pipe and that lowered the bill dramatically, like $50-$75/mo. We are fortunate in Florida to be cooler in Summer than most of the US. It's been 100 degrees maybe 3X in the 37+ years I have been here. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Wow after reading some of the numbers here I'm amazed.
like I said in my earlier post my bills are not too far apart any time of the year.

Went back and looked at my bill log and in a ten year period my highest electric bill was $125 and my lowest was $95, with the average being about $107. I pay monthly and of course my hot tub uses more power in the winter to maintain temperature.

Have the normal complement of power users TVs, Microwave, freezer, refrig, computers, cable TV boxes, and parasites. (Clocks on just about all appliances, chargers for her cell phone all cordless(6) phones, battery tenders on stored car and boat.)

We use Propane or pellet stove for heat but the house (built 2004) is very well insulated! Tempts can get quite cold in Northern NY, have seen - 27 at times)

A bit off topic but we pay a stiff delivery charge living out way in the boonies to get Propane delivered at about a 1,000 gallons a year and that includes cooking and making hot water! (Have a 500 G tank)

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

We got a whole new system early last year including ducts. Previous summers were $250/mo and about $170/mo in the winter. Last months bill was $120 and I expect around $150 before we start cooling down again. Over the winter we were around $60-70/mo. We went all fluorescent several years back and have started swapping over to LED's lately. Most of the long tube fluorescent are gone and about a third of the bulbs. I am swapping them as they burn out. Dad put storm windows in about 30 years ago and vinyl/aluminum siding with the layer of insulation behind it about 20 years ago. About ten years ago he had extra insulation and a thermal barrier installed in the attic. It all works pretty good together now.

"Today all I feel after an afternoon thunderstorm is more humid"
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There was definitely a humidity factor after the storm passed and the sun came back out. Are you near enough to Philadelphia to be part of the "urban heat island" phenomena? I would think that if there's little open ground to absorb the standing water, that could affect the humidity level.

It's funny, I've been thinking about my earlier post, remembering the rush of cooling wind as the storm approached, everybody running out to the clothesline to gather the laundry before the storm hit, watching the storm with other family members from the porch. I must be getting old.

My last house's highest utilities bills were about $350 in July/August.3000 finished square ft,built in the mid 90s, 9' and two story ceilings.AC ain't cheap.

I also live in Las Vegas, NV. and my last month's bill was $205.00. My house is a single story, 1752 s.f. built in 1992.
My A/C unit was replaced with a new one back in 2005. I
have it checked every spring before the heat hits.

We keep the house at 80 degrees with all the ceiling fans
running, as well as 3 floor fans and one new oscillating fan in
the family room. I guess I'll have to wait to see if this will
have a positive effect on my next bill. June and July have been
hot like LVSteve said, and it sucks!

I have a small well insulated home. I also have a one year contract for electricity at the lowest rate per kWh that I've ever seen. Use over 1,000 kWh is billed at .135 /kWh, but the most I ever use is about 800 kWh per month. I can live with this month's $37.50 bill.

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What SEER rating did they fit in 2005? I'll bet that mine are 90s standard 6 SEER or something similar.

Single storey homes always seem easier to cool. I couldn't run my place at 80°F with all those fans, the noise would drive me nuts.

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Release the Kraken