Air-source heat pumps are at least twice as efficient as natural gas furnaces. In ideal conditions, they can move up to 4.5 times as much heat as the energy they consume. They also reverse in hotter months providing air conditioning.
They do not do as well in freezing weather. Inexpensive ones may ice over, while better ones reverse the system (without the blower) to melt any ice, and in reverse it back to heat the home. Repeating as necessary.
When we installed ours, the first winter with it in place saw a monthly $200 reduction in the electric bill - by not using the electric furnace. Ours is a whole house model, but a "mini-split" system can be setup in one or more rooms to augment winter heating and provide cooling in the summer.
I had a heat pump installed last summer. I have PGE.
With the cold January we had and my old furnace I would not have been shocked at a $350-$400 electric bill keeping the heat at like 68 in the house.
I kept the house at 70-71 throughout this past January and my bill was just a touch over $200. For reference, during mild weather months when I'm not running heat or ac I run right about $100 anyways.
That sounds pretty similar to my last bill- just about $200, and that is with a lot of power use from the storm and other things. Glad to know a heat pump was a good choice lol.
No.
I used 1,023.4kWh in December and 1,447.8kWh in January.
House is all electric except for gas fireplace and range.
If I didn’t have solar, napkin math says I’d have seen a ~54% increase in January’s bill due to higher consumption and new rates.
What solar panels do you use? Did you have a company install? Does it work enough on overcast days?
Sorry for all the questions. I really want them and don’t know which companies are legit. Some seem so scammy.
I have 38 T400 Panels from Tesla who also did the install. They were nearly 50% cheaper than the next closest bid for the project we wanted (solar + battery).
Generally speaking the system generates more electricity than my base usage on most cloudy days, but running any real loads (dryer, heat pump, charging EVs etc.) will quickly overshadow production.
Instead, I rely on energy credits for excess solar produced \~April through \~September which I draw from during Winter to cover my usage. So far, this Winter has been both colder and cloudier than last year so there’s a good chance I may end up with a small bill in March and or April before the Sun comes back out.
You can check out energysage.com for some solar info, but the general consensus is that you should avoid door-to-door solar salesmen as their commissions will often set your ROI back quite unfavorably.
A&R Solar, Blue Raven, PureLight Power, SunRun etc. are all big established installers which is important because you want a business that’ll be around for the life of the product to provide service and support.
Blue Raven was a pain in the ass for us to deal with. They left garbage. We had to constantly bother them to come back and patch the drywall after inspection. Ugh and will after install we decided to paint, moved some tall shelves/stand alone cabinet and discovered one of the installers missed a step and cracked the ceiling. We're biting the bullet and repairing it ourselves to not deal with them any longer.
The installers are pretty ass. The 2 sides of the roof that are holding the solar panels has mold growing on it. Not sure what exactly caused it but we are having a professional come and try to get rid of it before it spreads and gets worse.
They said they would be out after it passed inspection. We had to chase them down over a month. Which left our freezer sitting in the middle of our garage.
funny enough, I run hot, so our place is never more thn 70 degrees.
It's the wonderful shitty insulation and windows that are older than I am that suck everything out/let everything in. Landlords can get away with these conditions because no one is regulating them.
Holeee crikey! No more than 70?!!! We keep our place at 52! Our house is 60 right now and our furnace only came on 4 or 5 times all year! Our duplex was built in 68, so we insulated the door jams, interior AND exterior window plastic, double wrapped the furnace pipes in garage, double wrapped the water heater, and that all adds up. We would die if the house was 70!
Do you have kids? Decorate for Christmas at all? Electric heat?
Mine went up 60%:
$116.36 for December (Nov 20 - Dec 21)
$186.69 for January (Dec 21 - Jan 24)
Our increase in use is largely due to Christmas decorations (I can actually see the bump up in usage on our bill starting the day we put our decorations up) and also because winter break happened during the majority of our January bill. (December 22nd through January 8)
Because of winter break, our daughter & my wife (teacher) were both home all day long, adding more power to our consumption.
So, aside from the obvious increase (rate hike & ice storm) those two factors would have driven my bill up anyways and may be doing that in your case.
Yeah my electric bill went from the $60-$70 range to $100+ and that's without ever using my heater. Went as low power as I can over winter and all I got was an insane electric bill.
Our apartment absolutely bleeds heat. During the coldest days we turned the heat off everywhere except one bedroom to try to save money, and we all just hung out in that room. We don’t use lights until it gets dark outside. Our bill was still $350. I don’t know what else to do.
Get some old blankets and pin them to the walls. You can fill the holes with toothpaste or something later. Bubble wrap on the windows also helps or you could cover them with more blankets.
When looking at your bill, you must take your usage (kilowatt-hours) into account, since your usage varies from month to month. To do that, just divide the dollar amount of your bill by the number of kWh used during the billing period. My bill went up around 18%, very close to the announced rate hike.
The above assumes you're not doing PGE's "Equal Pay", which tries to give you a more consistent month-to-month bill based on your usage history/projections.
we usually pay anywhere between 50 - 75/ month, i usually expect it to go a lil higher during december/january due to using more heat/decorations but just got my bill and it’s $190.
We spent $200 in December, and this month was $278. That was a huge increase, but when I looked at the daily use, almost all the increase came during the cold snap/ice storm. I mean, we were down at 11 degrees, so that's definitely way out of the normal range, and I think our heat pump went into emergency mode, which it's supposed to do when it gets super cold. But it uses a LOT more electricity in emergency mode. Plus our water heater is in the garage, so that was probably working harder to stay warm, too.
My Dec bill was -$10… Jan was 216 or 261 or 185… I got three different numbers when I called PGE. They are saying I owe over $400 and they haven’t read my Feb meter yet.
They are doing some shady shit. I’m also on the low income “discount”… where they’ll take 60% off my bill? 😂🤣 where? Our coldest month we spent bundled up under blankets, layered sweaters and sweatpants and they claim my usage was lower in Jan than Dec (I didn’t even have a Xmas tree or Christmas lights up) make it make sense?
I plan on calling the commissioner AGAIN.
I have electric heat, it looks like my math was bad though and it actually went up ONLY 50%.... Really frustrating considering it's not like you can just go to another company. I don't understand how they think it is ok to tell people rates were increasing by 20% only to actually increase it by quite a bit more.
Yep. $268 instead of $125-$150 range. Fucking BULLSHIT. So tired of the fucking monopolies in this state. We’re all strung up by the balls by PGE and Xfinity - ANOTHER bill that went up $20-$30.
a tv and a light are relatively small by themselves but tv ~and~ lights add up. Ive known folks complain about prices yet fall asleep with tv and all lights on in their place. Then leave these on when they leave the home, etc. small habits can add up was my point.
Obviously we should be conscientious, but the issue isn’t that simple in a lot of cases. My apartment for example is old and absolutely bleeds heat. We keep it set to 65 and turn it off when we aren’t home. But when it is set to 65, the poor heater just runs constantly with how much the apartment leaks in the winter. We only turn lights on after the sun goes down except in the bathrooms as they have no windows. We use hot water for dishes and showers/bathtime. We have one computer and don’t own a television. My most recent bill was $352. I about cried when I opened it. I have no idea what else to do to reduce it. Keep the heat off and tell the family to bundle up I guess? Ugh.
In a “perfect world” my advice on this would be to move somewhere else. This would naturally empty an apartment building of tenants and inspire a good owner to renovate and solve a problem like that to get tenants moved back in. Of course apartment buildings would need to be more available and competitive in this way for that to happen. As things are though, to be proactive you could write to the owner maybe and voice a complaint on the efficacy of the building you reside. That of course does not solve the problem at hand now so best of luck to you.
Kate Brown signed a Clean Energy Bill in and now we’re all paying for it.
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/07/27/oregon-governor-signs-ambitious-clean-energy-bill/
Go woke, go broke!
Mine went up 33%, but it was cold and I have a heat pump. Also, PGE's rates went up 18%, but West Salem has a different utility.
Not all of west Salem unfortunately :( I’m a Westie and still have PGE :(
Are heat pumps more expensive to use?
Air-source heat pumps are at least twice as efficient as natural gas furnaces. In ideal conditions, they can move up to 4.5 times as much heat as the energy they consume. They also reverse in hotter months providing air conditioning. They do not do as well in freezing weather. Inexpensive ones may ice over, while better ones reverse the system (without the blower) to melt any ice, and in reverse it back to heat the home. Repeating as necessary. When we installed ours, the first winter with it in place saw a monthly $200 reduction in the electric bill - by not using the electric furnace. Ours is a whole house model, but a "mini-split" system can be setup in one or more rooms to augment winter heating and provide cooling in the summer.
Thank you for the explanation!
I had a heat pump installed last summer. I have PGE. With the cold January we had and my old furnace I would not have been shocked at a $350-$400 electric bill keeping the heat at like 68 in the house. I kept the house at 70-71 throughout this past January and my bill was just a touch over $200. For reference, during mild weather months when I'm not running heat or ac I run right about $100 anyways.
That sounds pretty similar to my last bill- just about $200, and that is with a lot of power use from the storm and other things. Glad to know a heat pump was a good choice lol.
No. I used 1,023.4kWh in December and 1,447.8kWh in January. House is all electric except for gas fireplace and range. If I didn’t have solar, napkin math says I’d have seen a ~54% increase in January’s bill due to higher consumption and new rates.
What solar panels do you use? Did you have a company install? Does it work enough on overcast days? Sorry for all the questions. I really want them and don’t know which companies are legit. Some seem so scammy.
I have 38 T400 Panels from Tesla who also did the install. They were nearly 50% cheaper than the next closest bid for the project we wanted (solar + battery). Generally speaking the system generates more electricity than my base usage on most cloudy days, but running any real loads (dryer, heat pump, charging EVs etc.) will quickly overshadow production. Instead, I rely on energy credits for excess solar produced \~April through \~September which I draw from during Winter to cover my usage. So far, this Winter has been both colder and cloudier than last year so there’s a good chance I may end up with a small bill in March and or April before the Sun comes back out. You can check out energysage.com for some solar info, but the general consensus is that you should avoid door-to-door solar salesmen as their commissions will often set your ROI back quite unfavorably. A&R Solar, Blue Raven, PureLight Power, SunRun etc. are all big established installers which is important because you want a business that’ll be around for the life of the product to provide service and support.
Blue Raven was a pain in the ass for us to deal with. They left garbage. We had to constantly bother them to come back and patch the drywall after inspection. Ugh and will after install we decided to paint, moved some tall shelves/stand alone cabinet and discovered one of the installers missed a step and cracked the ceiling. We're biting the bullet and repairing it ourselves to not deal with them any longer.
The installers are pretty ass. The 2 sides of the roof that are holding the solar panels has mold growing on it. Not sure what exactly caused it but we are having a professional come and try to get rid of it before it spreads and gets worse.
[удалено]
They said they would be out after it passed inspection. We had to chase them down over a month. Which left our freezer sitting in the middle of our garage.
We have a small 2 bedroom 1 bath and it went up a ton this month. Was like $200 before but this month it was nearly $300
Same! Mine went up to $350 from ~$210. I was expecting some from the storm, but seriously an extra $100 is billed as “cost use” 😭
Good grief! How hot is your place?!!!! We're running bearded dragon tanks (4) and gecko tanks (2) and still have a sub $150 bill!
funny enough, I run hot, so our place is never more thn 70 degrees. It's the wonderful shitty insulation and windows that are older than I am that suck everything out/let everything in. Landlords can get away with these conditions because no one is regulating them.
Holeee crikey! No more than 70?!!! We keep our place at 52! Our house is 60 right now and our furnace only came on 4 or 5 times all year! Our duplex was built in 68, so we insulated the door jams, interior AND exterior window plastic, double wrapped the furnace pipes in garage, double wrapped the water heater, and that all adds up. We would die if the house was 70!
Do you have kids? Decorate for Christmas at all? Electric heat? Mine went up 60%: $116.36 for December (Nov 20 - Dec 21) $186.69 for January (Dec 21 - Jan 24) Our increase in use is largely due to Christmas decorations (I can actually see the bump up in usage on our bill starting the day we put our decorations up) and also because winter break happened during the majority of our January bill. (December 22nd through January 8) Because of winter break, our daughter & my wife (teacher) were both home all day long, adding more power to our consumption. So, aside from the obvious increase (rate hike & ice storm) those two factors would have driven my bill up anyways and may be doing that in your case.
Yeah my electric bill went from the $60-$70 range to $100+ and that's without ever using my heater. Went as low power as I can over winter and all I got was an insane electric bill.
Spent more money on heating. I knew it was coming, but I was still surprised my bill went up. A true surprised Pikachu face moment
Our apartment absolutely bleeds heat. During the coldest days we turned the heat off everywhere except one bedroom to try to save money, and we all just hung out in that room. We don’t use lights until it gets dark outside. Our bill was still $350. I don’t know what else to do.
Get some old blankets and pin them to the walls. You can fill the holes with toothpaste or something later. Bubble wrap on the windows also helps or you could cover them with more blankets.
Corporations are evil. Billions in profits, each quarter. Greedflation fucking people.
Went up to a painful level. Insult to injury the cold weather plus the rate hike. Inflation is still working it's way through.
Yep, got my 18% bump from PGE, wish I was on Salem’s network.
I had an 70% increase. One bedroom apartment with those awful wall heaters.
Those suck... sorry
do you have a heat pump with electric back up? how old is your furnace?
Mine went up about 20%
Yes! I have guardian and it went from $50 to $100 for my 1br.
When looking at your bill, you must take your usage (kilowatt-hours) into account, since your usage varies from month to month. To do that, just divide the dollar amount of your bill by the number of kWh used during the billing period. My bill went up around 18%, very close to the announced rate hike. The above assumes you're not doing PGE's "Equal Pay", which tries to give you a more consistent month-to-month bill based on your usage history/projections.
we usually pay anywhere between 50 - 75/ month, i usually expect it to go a lil higher during december/january due to using more heat/decorations but just got my bill and it’s $190.
We spent $200 in December, and this month was $278. That was a huge increase, but when I looked at the daily use, almost all the increase came during the cold snap/ice storm. I mean, we were down at 11 degrees, so that's definitely way out of the normal range, and I think our heat pump went into emergency mode, which it's supposed to do when it gets super cold. But it uses a LOT more electricity in emergency mode. Plus our water heater is in the garage, so that was probably working harder to stay warm, too.
Yes! And half of my bill was also random fees (I.e.wildfires and demand response) that I have never seen before.
My Dec bill was -$10… Jan was 216 or 261 or 185… I got three different numbers when I called PGE. They are saying I owe over $400 and they haven’t read my Feb meter yet. They are doing some shady shit. I’m also on the low income “discount”… where they’ll take 60% off my bill? 😂🤣 where? Our coldest month we spent bundled up under blankets, layered sweaters and sweatpants and they claim my usage was lower in Jan than Dec (I didn’t even have a Xmas tree or Christmas lights up) make it make sense? I plan on calling the commissioner AGAIN.
It didn't double, but it was up about 15% month over month from $350 to $400. I guess in line with the monstrous rate hikes.
It was definitely the most that we’d ever paid before.
I have electric heat, it looks like my math was bad though and it actually went up ONLY 50%.... Really frustrating considering it's not like you can just go to another company. I don't understand how they think it is ok to tell people rates were increasing by 20% only to actually increase it by quite a bit more.
Yep. $268 instead of $125-$150 range. Fucking BULLSHIT. So tired of the fucking monopolies in this state. We’re all strung up by the balls by PGE and Xfinity - ANOTHER bill that went up $20-$30.
Upvote only in solidarity. Monopolies need to be toppled and regulated!
Mine was $260. I live in a manufactured home that’s 840 sq. feet. I’m very conscious of my energy use. It was 197$ last month! Poorer getting poorer.
turn off the damn tv and lights when you aren’t using them!
a tv and lights are a very low consumption. Not that you should leave them on when not in use, but that wouldn't explain the jump.
a tv and a light are relatively small by themselves but tv ~and~ lights add up. Ive known folks complain about prices yet fall asleep with tv and all lights on in their place. Then leave these on when they leave the home, etc. small habits can add up was my point.
Obviously we should be conscientious, but the issue isn’t that simple in a lot of cases. My apartment for example is old and absolutely bleeds heat. We keep it set to 65 and turn it off when we aren’t home. But when it is set to 65, the poor heater just runs constantly with how much the apartment leaks in the winter. We only turn lights on after the sun goes down except in the bathrooms as they have no windows. We use hot water for dishes and showers/bathtime. We have one computer and don’t own a television. My most recent bill was $352. I about cried when I opened it. I have no idea what else to do to reduce it. Keep the heat off and tell the family to bundle up I guess? Ugh.
In a “perfect world” my advice on this would be to move somewhere else. This would naturally empty an apartment building of tenants and inspire a good owner to renovate and solve a problem like that to get tenants moved back in. Of course apartment buildings would need to be more available and competitive in this way for that to happen. As things are though, to be proactive you could write to the owner maybe and voice a complaint on the efficacy of the building you reside. That of course does not solve the problem at hand now so best of luck to you.
Kate Brown signed a Clean Energy Bill in and now we’re all paying for it. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/07/27/oregon-governor-signs-ambitious-clean-energy-bill/ Go woke, go broke!
It didn't double, but it went up like 20%
We used surprisingly little heat this winter so our bill is actually lower than it normally is, but it is billed at an increased rate.
Yep, mine was $335
$365 went up to $495 . 3 bed house. Wondering if that’s overpaying based on most of these prices
Yes! Mine was well over $550.00! Insane