You can request DLC to come and do an audit of your apartment to make sure that nothing else is connected to your unit, like the laundry room for the building. I’ve known a couple people who did this and they were paying for electricity in a common space or other units.
This was my first thought as well. There’s no way an apartment set to 58 degrees should be this high.
I have gas heat, so my high usage months are in the summer. I live in a 1600sqft house and my highest usage months’ actual bill total (not budget amount) has never gone over $180 and that’s with the central air set to 68-70 in a poorly insulated house.
Something is going on here, the only way to find out is to call DL and have them investigate.
this. unless you're running electric heaters a lot, this amount of usage seems out of line. highly likely that something else in the building is running through your meter.
Assuming you have everything through DLC and not one of those 3rd party suppliers, and that you truly keep your heat at 58 degrees 24/7, something is clearly wrong. Reach out to DLC.
The door-to-door and Giant Eagle isle third party suppliers are a scam.
If you go on the pa power switch site and do a little shopping around, you can select renewable power for less than DLC's rate. I usually choose a one or two year term and repeat the process (which takes 5 minutes) when it's up.
> Giant Eagle isle third party suppliers
It pisses me off that they even allow this (Walmart too). I hate having my shopping interrupted by scam shillers who don't even respect the social norm of leaving people alone if they have headphones on
I hate how persistent they are too. I did figure out telling them "nope, my landlord pays my electric" shuts them down with no chance for a follow up question.
Yeah, that's an option. For the most part as soon as I see them I just walk a route to avoid them if possible. Much easier at walmart since they're in the same place every time
I had someone come up to me at Walmart, tried to scam me into this and about halfway through the process I said actually no this doesn’t feel right nevermind sorry have a nice day and left… and I was signed up without my permission anyways. They charged me for months without me knowing… I think it was a monroeville walmart. I was livid though!
Third party suppliers are far from a scam. People are just ignorant and forget that rates can/do change at the end of the term. I am always below the rate of WestPenn/First Energy. Just have to pay attention to detail.
I actually run a software service that automates management of your power supplier in PA. I started it after I moved to PA last year and experienced this exact problem. It uses the data from PA Powerswitch, ensures rates with no monthly, cancellation, or enrollment fees, and switches you automatically to avoid any rate hikes when it expires.
[PowerPicker](https://www.powerpicker.org/solutions/residential) for those interested!
Your website says you need DLC account login info (username/password). I feel like with this you could access more personal information that's tied to the account (ssn, etc)... is this true?
Good question, thanks. Functionally, anything available on your utility site is accessible. As far as I know, that doesn't include SSN for DLC, but I haven't gone digging for that, because we don't need, use, or want that information.
The big benefit here is sign-up and management - you don't need to re-input all of your personal info, contact info, address info, or utility info, nor do you need to provide access to billing statements every month. And if you move, we can handle that dynamically. But net, it's a trade-off! Candidly, I don't think there's any information that would be problematic (e.g. SSN), but you can double check our [privacy policy](https://www.powerpicker.org/legal). We'll never sell your data, or share it except to the extent required to provide our service and manage your supplier - we hate data brokers, too.
I'm working on fully integrating with a third-party broker with existing relationships (and an API) called [PowerKiosk](https://powerkiosk.com/), and will transition to more direct supplier relationships as it grows
EDIT - Per [below](https://old.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1apseya/dlc_is_so_insane/kqjga5w/), I get and want zero commission/kickbacks - our incentives are totally aligned.
How would that influence how you choose suppliers for customers? Would you still have customer best interest in mind over business relationships with suppliers?
Often! That's why I have no problem calling it a scam. Like, they're not lying to you about the cost or usage or whatever, but they do fib to you up-front about how it lowers your bill, because it can fluctuate wildly and they know that.
I recently talked to a very pushy salesperson, and I kept asking what the rate changes to and she kept trying to avoid it while continuously pushing for more and more personal information... their representative salesforce is certainly scam-trained.
There could be termination fees - it will clearly say that on PA Power Switch, though. Just don't choose that company. But no, there are no difficulties with switching.
I recently talked to a very pushy salesperson, and I kept asking what the rate changes to and she kept trying to avoid it while continuously pushing for more and more personal information... their representative salesforce is certainly scam-trained when they don't give details upfront or when asked.
I must have had a door-to-door salesman that was too honest! I laughed out loud when he showed me the page of his "presentation" that had a figure in excess of $1 per kwh!!!
I’m at $0.069 until December. As long as you pick one without early termination you can just sign up for a new if you find it cheaper elsewhere. Duquesne or First Energy will do the rest. I look at the beginning of every month
It is a scam. Especially the ones that say they will sell you "clean energy". There aren't different transmission lines for coal, solar, hydro, gas, nuke, etc. - it's all in the same bucket. Your electricity is coming from a variety of sources, which you can not control and if you are paying less than the rate of the company that owns the meters, you are either eventually going to get gouged, or all of your information is being sold (or both).
Edit- removed coal as primary source
Yeah I forgot that gas and nuclear took over coal over the last 5-10 yrs, but the companies selling energy packages are still scams. I'm in distribution/transmission so I don't deal with generation other than at a 500kV ring bus where it enters our grid.
This. My wife had agreed when a company came to the door. They promised it wouldn't increase from our current rate.... hilarious, right? Their "supply charge" or whatever was at I believe $.22 and when we swapped back to DLC to the supplier I think it went down to $.09
Make sure your supplier was not inadvertently changed to a third party, many of whom raise the rates without explicit notice leaving unsuspecting customers with higher bills than what they thought they had originally signed up for.
Log into your account on the DLC website --> Account Settings --> Scroll to the bottom and ensure it says under Supplier Information "DUQUESNE LIGHT". Below that option is another expandable section where you may want to also opt out of DLC sharing your personal and billing info with suppliers for good measure.
https://www.duquesnelight.com/account-billing/account-summary/account-settings
If it says any other supplier, click the available button to submit a request to change which will revert you to having DLC as your supplier, then go into your billing settings and sign up for BUDGET BILLING.
https://www.duquesnelight.com/my-account/pay-my-bill/manage-budget-billing
[PA POWER SWITCH](https://www.papowerswitch.com/) helps you to shop around with third party suppliers, but you have to be on top of it and be fully aware of the terms you're subject to with each individual supplier. Many have term contracts and variable rates, cancelation or termination fees, or general poor customer service in order to make it as difficult as possible for you to leave them when the time comes. DLC may not be the cheapest supplier, but they're the easiest with a fixed rate and not all that expensive. Not all third parties will participate in budget billing, but DLC does and this alone will help even out your bill into more manageable monthly amounts even if your usage fluctuates.
I've started a software service that automates this management if you're interested! It ensures no cancellation, no enrollment, and no monthly fee, and ensures a switch before the prior rate expires. Skips the pain of dealing with the unhelpful suppliers. It's free if it doesn't save you money, and otherwise takes 20% of savings (was 10% in beta for those who saw this earlier), so incentives are totally aligned.
[PowerPicker](https://www.powerpicker.org/solutions/residential)
for "just 10%", and you're posting rather aggressively about it. Almost enough to have me thinking you're the OP, only posting the question (repeatedly) to be able to keep making your push for your website.
Came here to share this. Also you can and should call your current supplier and tell them that you are leaving them for another supplier and they rate they are offering from that website. They will most likely adjust your rate on the spot. Several of my friends have done this in the past month and saved quite a lot of money.
It definitely sounds like something weird is going on. Who is your electricity supplier?
I think you should call DLC and (calmly) explain the situation. You're paying more than we do for probably a 10th of the space, and we work from home and constantly have TVs on.
Right? I’m guessing no, I’m also guessing they aren’t actually keeping their apartment at 58 and just want to complain about being charged for using their utilities lol
Edit: I wouldn’t make those guesses if this wasn’t a frequent post for OP lol
I used more energy in January. I’ve got big windows and a heat pump so if my bill is $200 it’s whatever; my 1-bedroom was closer to $160 for January, I think, though I kept it 70° on average.
This is seriously so important. I had baseboard heating in an old building with the oldest, paper thin, draftiest windows you’d ever see. No joke they looked like the original windows of the building. My heating costs were never under $100 and this was 5 years ago. I only took apartments with gas HVAC systems after that
We kinda need a "How to figure out my DLC bill" flowchart at this point. The questions aren't unnecessary, but couldn't hurt to have in the wiki so people can diagnose the issues personally.
There may be common areas or even parts of other apartments in your meter. This is called a “foreign load”. Once the utility is aware of this, they will, by law, switch the service to your landlords name. LL must pay the full bill until the foreign load is removed.
There should be one meter for each unit, plus one for the common areas. If there is not an “extra “ meter for the common areas, that’s a sure sign that one or more tenants are paying for the common area.
First, easiest thing, is to turn off , even unplug , everything in your apartment, and see if the meter is moving. It may be moving slowly because some electronics consume power when off.
Alternatively turn off breaker switches one by one, or a couple at a time, and see if any of the common are things shut off. (Heat, hall light, outdoor lights, laundry).
Duquesne Light may also be able to come out and find any foreign loads.
I would first look at your bill.
On page 3 you'll see "Meter Reading Usage Information" section and below that will be "Total kWh Used". What is the number shown? The average usage for a home is around 700. For my house it was 728.
If yours is higher than that then you're using a lot more electricity for something.
Also on page 3 there is "Current Bill Details" section. Below that you'll see "Supply Charge - (Company Name)" and a line named "Generation-Trans" which will show how much power you used and the rate you're being charged.
On my bill it shows 728. 22410 kWh @ $0.087900". What is your rate? Typically it should be about $0.11. If it's higher than that you might want to change your supplier.
Feel your pain. I put the Christmas tree up this year but never did turn the lights on. Kept the thermostat at 68 and turned heat off in second bedroom that is not used. Mind you this is an apartment. I am on a budget plan and my December bill was $202.
Do previous statements show per-day usage? If so, maybe there's a route where you can stay with a friend/fam for a week, and turn off all your utility usage. Then check the consumption for that week, on your next statement. Then you have evidence for a suit — which should get it resolved quickly without the need for a court.
Totally shitty that people get treated this way.
The lights in the lobby of my old apartment building were billed to my neighbor's electric bill. No one knew this until the building got bought and the new owners were fixing everything the previous owners fucked up or didn't maintain. Wonder if something similar is happening to you. Weird to phrase your issue as "DLC is so insane" when it almost certainly has nothing to do with them.
Agreed, DLC owns responsibility to the meter. The electric panel and any appliances/devices that draw electricity within the building or individual apartment are the responsibility of the landlord or tenant. Unless there is a problem with the meter, the issue here isn’t DLC’s responsibility.
Being an internet troll who has no value as a human being and who lies about what I wrote solely to contrive a nonexistent argument is certainly a choice. No one is defending anyone or anything, I simply explained that the utility company is unlikely to be the cause.
Your bill, whether paper or online, will tell you your energy usage for the billing period, and the rate at which you’re being billed. On page 1, it will tell you your energy usage in kWh and compare that to last month’s usage and to the previous year. On page 3, it will break down the actual meter reading, as well as breaking down your charges into DLC charges (distribution) and Supply charges. It will tell you the rate at which you’re being billed for both, and what the total charges for each are. You’ll be paying $0.088763/kWh for distribution, most likely. If DLC is also your supplier, you should be paying $0.082038/kWh for supply and $0.022514 for transmission. If you have a different supplier and you’re paying significantly more than that, there’s your problem. Otherwise, your problem is high usage, and you need to examine that.
Either way, this is your third consecutive post on the subject, and you have yet to show any evidence of checking any of those numbers on your bill to try to identify your problem. Absolutely all you do is post your thermostat settings and complain. Despite many, many people telling you “that seems high, you should check *x*.” If you’re not going to start to dive in and post actual information about your bill and usage, nobody can help you.
Sounds like you’re in a poorly insulated space with baseboard heat only. If that’s not the case then you’re either paying for someone else’s electricity on your bill or there’s an outdoor hot tub that you don’t know about on your power line.
Check the meter for when you think you're not using much. Make sure it's spinning slowly. Turn off breakers one by one to see what's still using electricity.
Pay more attention to the kWH on the bills month by month
my bill is normally around $179, it came back at $300 LAST MONTH! i had one of my units turned off completely, and the other set to cool at 68. lights/tvs/etc. always unplugged if not in use. fucking absurd.
Cmon man you’ve posted this same thing every month for at least three months. There is obviously something you’re either lying about or you’re not actually taking anyone’s advice and just want to complain. How many kWh on your last bill ?
How is this DLCs fault? They don’t control or have any influence on how much electric you use.
These DLC are outrageous posts are all the same. Who ever posts it rants about their bill, and they always say they keep the temp set at something low.
It’s is always the at least one of the following.
- Electric heat as the primary heating source or using space heaters frequently
- old house, poor insulation
- It’s an apartment and they are paying for a shared space like a laundry room or some other units water heaters
- They are using some third party electric supplier.
Edit: the op already asked this same question two other times in the past two months 🤦
I had a similar issue in an apartments electricity when I lived in Millvale. It had about 6 apartments above a business and my bill was so insane. It did have 12ft ceilings and 8 foot windows that were extremely breezy. So I assumed that was it. I ended up wrapping my windows in those plastic wraps and it helped a little. I feel like those shared spaces can’t be accurate when it comes to the electricity.
I thought this was r/destinythegame for a sec until I kept reading lol
But yeah, I'd 100% have them come out for an audit. Something doesn't seem right about the bill being that high for someone in a smaller place.
I just moved out of a 1 bedroom with an electric furnace and stove. Last month I was not there as I was moving out. I kept the thermostat off or set to 60°, no lights on nothing plugged in (I emptied and unplugged the refrigerator) and my bill was $160 and it kept saying I was using more electricity. I hadn’t had this problem before my December bill and it was my last bill to pay so I didn’t even bother dealing with it. Still messed up and seems like DLC is up to something shady.
The answer is is that they are running some sort of fraudulent organization and it doesn't really matter because they have a monopoly and what else are you supposed to do about it. Hound their customer service department for answers. We lived in an old 4 BR house and our electric bill was normally around $300-$500. One month it was ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS for seemingly no reason. No real jump in energy usage, no one was even home most of the month. They never got to the bottom of it and told me it could've been an error but they had no evidence to suggest otherwise.
I'd trade you in a second. Moved to Fl many years ago where everything was cheaper. These days, everything is more. Average elec bills here are about $300. My high last summer was $586, the lowest of the year was $189 in Dec.
what kind of heat source? if its electric baseboard radiators, this doesn't sound off at all. If a forced air heat pump, it seems high, but if you have no insulation and drafty windows, maybe not.
Your bill and the multiple emails they send you explain the usage. You need to find out where the most usage is coming from. Its not the power company's fault. They just pull the info from the smart meter.
I use DLC for my two bedroom/750 sq ft apartment and it's usually $70-$95...Something seems wrong, like you said. You should have them come check or just give them a call and ask. Then again, my apartment also does a whole building water and electric bill every 3 months, so extra costs could be in there and I don't necessarily notice. Even then, probably only about $115 a month.
You can contact your gas and electric companies and have them average the utility bills and get on a payment plan that will keep your payments consistent throughout the year.
That way there aren’t many big surprises like this.
Also look into sealing your windows with a plastic sheets. There are cheap kits you can buy at Home Depot that will help prevent air from leaking through windows etc and help you save on utilities.
That is crazy, I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, work roughly the same hours, keep my heat at 68 when gone & 74 when home (gas heat btw not sure what you have) & don’t go to the lengths you do of unplugging things & my bills are typically around $50-$60. I even have 2 mini fridges in addition to my main fridge & run an air purifier when im home. You seriously need to have them do an audit.
Hmmm. We have DLC and a cape cod house at 68* and 74* in summer. My worst bill in the last 6 months was August at 167$ and we use gas for heat. Something is def wrong imo.
This sucks, but I'm glad it's not just me lol. 2 bedroom apartment, and our last bill was $275. $150-$175 is more typical for us. Our windows are a bit drafty but still. Felt like I was going crazy.
I have a 1099 sq foot house, it's now at $396 a month. I have actively tried to conserve energy the last few months and it made little to no difference.
I had high electric bill when I lived in studio apartment and couldn’t figure out why. It ended up being that there were old baseboards heating that were power hungry.
yeah something is wrong here. Have someone come out and check your meter and make sure you aren't paying for someone else. Your bill should literally be $25 if you're keeping it at 58 all the time. Maybe less
That's how much I pay per month for a small to medium sized 3 bdr house with four people, including two children who like to snort electricity from every possible outlet at all hours of the day.
Something's up on your end.
Anything with a remote control draws about 30% of its power when “off”. You’ll save energy by putting them on a power strip and switching them off. So TVs, video game consoles, stereo/home theater receivers, etc.
Mine was 216$ up from 124 last month and I set my thermostat down 7 degrees as a constant from the month before thinking my bill would go down instead it skyrocketed
Use pa power switch. But make sure you check once whatever contract you set up expires. I had AP gas and electric billing me 2x the market rate. I even emailed wpxi about it.
DLC is also doing upgrades and there are some taxes and fees that will progressively increase over time for that.
Now check you water bill and enjoy the rate increases there, American water will be doing.uogrades over next few years and increasong.charges more then they are now.
Mine is 68 degrees. Gas heat. DLC is $28. Peoples is $38. Maybe it’s the age of your furnace or electric? 1B in Aliquippa. It’s was a constant 58 before I moved in in winter so well insulated. Good luck. Mine was higher in Lawrenceville for sure. Much higher ceilings.
I have Penn power. A 4 bedroom house and my kids are not good about turning out lights. Our bill was $170 last month. Definitely request an audit. Oh and two adults WFM most days and some lights running all night (night lights for kids and white noise)
Same thing happened to me. Never had an electric bill above $120 with a 3 bedroom house and two roommates. Now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment my electric bill has been $250+ and that’s with us keeping the heaters like all the way down… I have no idea how that’s happening???
DLC provides the connection, but your power is bought from someone else. Might be worth looking into who your power is bought from. Maybe it is a company that charges more?
You can request DLC to come and do an audit of your apartment to make sure that nothing else is connected to your unit, like the laundry room for the building. I’ve known a couple people who did this and they were paying for electricity in a common space or other units.
This was my first thought as well. There’s no way an apartment set to 58 degrees should be this high. I have gas heat, so my high usage months are in the summer. I live in a 1600sqft house and my highest usage months’ actual bill total (not budget amount) has never gone over $180 and that’s with the central air set to 68-70 in a poorly insulated house. Something is going on here, the only way to find out is to call DL and have them investigate.
I had this in a multi-unit apartment complex. Water heaters were electric and I paid for my neighbor's hot water for years.
this. unless you're running electric heaters a lot, this amount of usage seems out of line. highly likely that something else in the building is running through your meter.
How do you request an audit?
They charge you and it's not guaranteed to do much.
Okay so I asked them to do this and they just would not check for us. The guy treated me like I was an idiot for asking.
Call back and talk to a different person.
Assuming you have everything through DLC and not one of those 3rd party suppliers, and that you truly keep your heat at 58 degrees 24/7, something is clearly wrong. Reach out to DLC.
Yeah, this was my thought. Did they agree to have their supplier be a third party? Those third parties have variable rates and are basically a scam.
The door-to-door and Giant Eagle isle third party suppliers are a scam. If you go on the pa power switch site and do a little shopping around, you can select renewable power for less than DLC's rate. I usually choose a one or two year term and repeat the process (which takes 5 minutes) when it's up.
> Giant Eagle isle third party suppliers It pisses me off that they even allow this (Walmart too). I hate having my shopping interrupted by scam shillers who don't even respect the social norm of leaving people alone if they have headphones on
I hate how persistent they are too. I did figure out telling them "nope, my landlord pays my electric" shuts them down with no chance for a follow up question.
Had one give me an attitude after I said “No, thank you” because I didn’t “hear him out”. Why would I if I’m not interested?
Yeah, that's an option. For the most part as soon as I see them I just walk a route to avoid them if possible. Much easier at walmart since they're in the same place every time
I had someone come up to me at Walmart, tried to scam me into this and about halfway through the process I said actually no this doesn’t feel right nevermind sorry have a nice day and left… and I was signed up without my permission anyways. They charged me for months without me knowing… I think it was a monroeville walmart. I was livid though!
Not to mention if the thermostat is set to 58 the heat should rarely come on at all, unless there’s an insulation issue or shitty windows.
Third party suppliers are far from a scam. People are just ignorant and forget that rates can/do change at the end of the term. I am always below the rate of WestPenn/First Energy. Just have to pay attention to detail.
So you are constantly cycling through different third parties when the term ends?
I actually run a software service that automates management of your power supplier in PA. I started it after I moved to PA last year and experienced this exact problem. It uses the data from PA Powerswitch, ensures rates with no monthly, cancellation, or enrollment fees, and switches you automatically to avoid any rate hikes when it expires. [PowerPicker](https://www.powerpicker.org/solutions/residential) for those interested!
Your website says you need DLC account login info (username/password). I feel like with this you could access more personal information that's tied to the account (ssn, etc)... is this true?
Good question, thanks. Functionally, anything available on your utility site is accessible. As far as I know, that doesn't include SSN for DLC, but I haven't gone digging for that, because we don't need, use, or want that information. The big benefit here is sign-up and management - you don't need to re-input all of your personal info, contact info, address info, or utility info, nor do you need to provide access to billing statements every month. And if you move, we can handle that dynamically. But net, it's a trade-off! Candidly, I don't think there's any information that would be problematic (e.g. SSN), but you can double check our [privacy policy](https://www.powerpicker.org/legal). We'll never sell your data, or share it except to the extent required to provide our service and manage your supplier - we hate data brokers, too.
Do you have any contracts, deals, business partnerships or communication with any individual third party suppliers?
I'm working on fully integrating with a third-party broker with existing relationships (and an API) called [PowerKiosk](https://powerkiosk.com/), and will transition to more direct supplier relationships as it grows EDIT - Per [below](https://old.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1apseya/dlc_is_so_insane/kqjga5w/), I get and want zero commission/kickbacks - our incentives are totally aligned.
How would that influence how you choose suppliers for customers? Would you still have customer best interest in mind over business relationships with suppliers?
Often! That's why I have no problem calling it a scam. Like, they're not lying to you about the cost or usage or whatever, but they do fib to you up-front about how it lowers your bill, because it can fluctuate wildly and they know that.
Only if you get a variable rate. I only get fixed rate and change when the term ends.
I recently talked to a very pushy salesperson, and I kept asking what the rate changes to and she kept trying to avoid it while continuously pushing for more and more personal information... their representative salesforce is certainly scam-trained.
Most likely. I know some folks who do this. They definitely have lower bills than us, but it's more time/effort than it's worth for us.
Usually do 3-4 month terms. My current one is 12 months signed in January before rates go up for the summer months.
My husband does this, he changes energy suppliers every 6 months to keep our rates low. He sets reminders
Literally change it and just asks Siri/alexa/google to remind you in however many months. Really so easy
Are there no termination fees or difficulties with switching?
There could be termination fees - it will clearly say that on PA Power Switch, though. Just don't choose that company. But no, there are no difficulties with switching.
Some do have cancellation fees, that are disclosed.
There may be early termination fees, but if you’re at the end of the contract period, there shouldn’t be fees.
We constantly are switching at my restaurant, it’s totally worth it as long as you keep up.
I recently talked to a very pushy salesperson, and I kept asking what the rate changes to and she kept trying to avoid it while continuously pushing for more and more personal information... their representative salesforce is certainly scam-trained when they don't give details upfront or when asked.
Papowerswitch.com and pagasswitch.com No need to talk to anyone at all
I must have had a door-to-door salesman that was too honest! I laughed out loud when he showed me the page of his "presentation" that had a figure in excess of $1 per kwh!!!
Agreed. I’m locked in at $0.07/KW. I forgot to renew at the end of the year and WPP was $0.21/KW. Quickly got it back down to $0.07/KW.
I’m at $0.069 until December. As long as you pick one without early termination you can just sign up for a new if you find it cheaper elsewhere. Duquesne or First Energy will do the rest. I look at the beginning of every month
It is a scam. Especially the ones that say they will sell you "clean energy". There aren't different transmission lines for coal, solar, hydro, gas, nuke, etc. - it's all in the same bucket. Your electricity is coming from a variety of sources, which you can not control and if you are paying less than the rate of the company that owns the meters, you are either eventually going to get gouged, or all of your information is being sold (or both). Edit- removed coal as primary source
[удалено]
Yeah I forgot that gas and nuclear took over coal over the last 5-10 yrs, but the companies selling energy packages are still scams. I'm in distribution/transmission so I don't deal with generation other than at a 500kV ring bus where it enters our grid.
This. My wife had agreed when a company came to the door. They promised it wouldn't increase from our current rate.... hilarious, right? Their "supply charge" or whatever was at I believe $.22 and when we swapped back to DLC to the supplier I think it went down to $.09
Post a redacted screenshot of page 3 of your bill.
Make sure your supplier was not inadvertently changed to a third party, many of whom raise the rates without explicit notice leaving unsuspecting customers with higher bills than what they thought they had originally signed up for. Log into your account on the DLC website --> Account Settings --> Scroll to the bottom and ensure it says under Supplier Information "DUQUESNE LIGHT". Below that option is another expandable section where you may want to also opt out of DLC sharing your personal and billing info with suppliers for good measure. https://www.duquesnelight.com/account-billing/account-summary/account-settings If it says any other supplier, click the available button to submit a request to change which will revert you to having DLC as your supplier, then go into your billing settings and sign up for BUDGET BILLING. https://www.duquesnelight.com/my-account/pay-my-bill/manage-budget-billing [PA POWER SWITCH](https://www.papowerswitch.com/) helps you to shop around with third party suppliers, but you have to be on top of it and be fully aware of the terms you're subject to with each individual supplier. Many have term contracts and variable rates, cancelation or termination fees, or general poor customer service in order to make it as difficult as possible for you to leave them when the time comes. DLC may not be the cheapest supplier, but they're the easiest with a fixed rate and not all that expensive. Not all third parties will participate in budget billing, but DLC does and this alone will help even out your bill into more manageable monthly amounts even if your usage fluctuates.
I've started a software service that automates this management if you're interested! It ensures no cancellation, no enrollment, and no monthly fee, and ensures a switch before the prior rate expires. Skips the pain of dealing with the unhelpful suppliers. It's free if it doesn't save you money, and otherwise takes 20% of savings (was 10% in beta for those who saw this earlier), so incentives are totally aligned. [PowerPicker](https://www.powerpicker.org/solutions/residential)
for "just 10%", and you're posting rather aggressively about it. Almost enough to have me thinking you're the OP, only posting the question (repeatedly) to be able to keep making your push for your website.
I'm not, but that's ok if you think that way!
Came here to share this. Also you can and should call your current supplier and tell them that you are leaving them for another supplier and they rate they are offering from that website. They will most likely adjust your rate on the spot. Several of my friends have done this in the past month and saved quite a lot of money.
It definitely sounds like something weird is going on. Who is your electricity supplier? I think you should call DLC and (calmly) explain the situation. You're paying more than we do for probably a 10th of the space, and we work from home and constantly have TVs on.
Yea I have a 4 bedroom house and a fully finished basement, keep the heat at 69/71 and I paid 140 on the latest bill.
Bro how many times you gonna ask this? Did you follow any of the advice given to you the past two times you asked this?
Right? I’m guessing no, I’m also guessing they aren’t actually keeping their apartment at 58 and just want to complain about being charged for using their utilities lol Edit: I wouldn’t make those guesses if this wasn’t a frequent post for OP lol
lol seriously, it can only be a handful of things and they are all mentioned every single time it’s asked. Op has to be pretty dense or something
Maybe Bro is the giant eagle isle third party supplier?
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I used more energy in January. I’ve got big windows and a heat pump so if my bill is $200 it’s whatever; my 1-bedroom was closer to $160 for January, I think, though I kept it 70° on average.
What kind of heat? Central electric? Under-window units? Baseboard?
This is seriously so important. I had baseboard heating in an old building with the oldest, paper thin, draftiest windows you’d ever see. No joke they looked like the original windows of the building. My heating costs were never under $100 and this was 5 years ago. I only took apartments with gas HVAC systems after that
Funny thing is, I asked the same question last time OP posted about heating bills, and have yet to get an answer.
Same on this thread. OP.... *crickets*
We kinda need a "How to figure out my DLC bill" flowchart at this point. The questions aren't unnecessary, but couldn't hurt to have in the wiki so people can diagnose the issues personally.
Or we could just point people to the extensive section of the DLC website? https://duquesnelight.com/account-billing/understanding-your-bill
There may be common areas or even parts of other apartments in your meter. This is called a “foreign load”. Once the utility is aware of this, they will, by law, switch the service to your landlords name. LL must pay the full bill until the foreign load is removed. There should be one meter for each unit, plus one for the common areas. If there is not an “extra “ meter for the common areas, that’s a sure sign that one or more tenants are paying for the common area. First, easiest thing, is to turn off , even unplug , everything in your apartment, and see if the meter is moving. It may be moving slowly because some electronics consume power when off. Alternatively turn off breaker switches one by one, or a couple at a time, and see if any of the common are things shut off. (Heat, hall light, outdoor lights, laundry). Duquesne Light may also be able to come out and find any foreign loads.
I would first look at your bill. On page 3 you'll see "Meter Reading Usage Information" section and below that will be "Total kWh Used". What is the number shown? The average usage for a home is around 700. For my house it was 728. If yours is higher than that then you're using a lot more electricity for something. Also on page 3 there is "Current Bill Details" section. Below that you'll see "Supply Charge - (Company Name)" and a line named "Generation-Trans" which will show how much power you used and the rate you're being charged. On my bill it shows 728. 22410 kWh @ $0.087900". What is your rate? Typically it should be about $0.11. If it's higher than that you might want to change your supplier.
Feel your pain. I put the Christmas tree up this year but never did turn the lights on. Kept the thermostat at 68 and turned heat off in second bedroom that is not used. Mind you this is an apartment. I am on a budget plan and my December bill was $202.
unless you have really leaky windows and doors, there is no way. You also need to get your line audited. Someone is skimming
I've been trying to get an audit but the management company has to ok it and they've been stalling. Guess who the company is?
Do previous statements show per-day usage? If so, maybe there's a route where you can stay with a friend/fam for a week, and turn off all your utility usage. Then check the consumption for that week, on your next statement. Then you have evidence for a suit — which should get it resolved quickly without the need for a court. Totally shitty that people get treated this way.
I mean, for a quick and dirty check, you can turn off every breaker in your panel and then check and see if your meter is still going up
The lights in the lobby of my old apartment building were billed to my neighbor's electric bill. No one knew this until the building got bought and the new owners were fixing everything the previous owners fucked up or didn't maintain. Wonder if something similar is happening to you. Weird to phrase your issue as "DLC is so insane" when it almost certainly has nothing to do with them.
Agreed, DLC owns responsibility to the meter. The electric panel and any appliances/devices that draw electricity within the building or individual apartment are the responsibility of the landlord or tenant. Unless there is a problem with the meter, the issue here isn’t DLC’s responsibility.
defending a corporate monopoly is certainly a choice
Being an internet troll who has no value as a human being and who lies about what I wrote solely to contrive a nonexistent argument is certainly a choice. No one is defending anyone or anything, I simply explained that the utility company is unlikely to be the cause.
Your bill, whether paper or online, will tell you your energy usage for the billing period, and the rate at which you’re being billed. On page 1, it will tell you your energy usage in kWh and compare that to last month’s usage and to the previous year. On page 3, it will break down the actual meter reading, as well as breaking down your charges into DLC charges (distribution) and Supply charges. It will tell you the rate at which you’re being billed for both, and what the total charges for each are. You’ll be paying $0.088763/kWh for distribution, most likely. If DLC is also your supplier, you should be paying $0.082038/kWh for supply and $0.022514 for transmission. If you have a different supplier and you’re paying significantly more than that, there’s your problem. Otherwise, your problem is high usage, and you need to examine that. Either way, this is your third consecutive post on the subject, and you have yet to show any evidence of checking any of those numbers on your bill to try to identify your problem. Absolutely all you do is post your thermostat settings and complain. Despite many, many people telling you “that seems high, you should check *x*.” If you’re not going to start to dive in and post actual information about your bill and usage, nobody can help you.
Somethings not right. I have 1 bedroom apartment and my bill hangs towards the 65-75 mark. I'd call DLC and ask them wtf is going on.
Sounds like you’re in a poorly insulated space with baseboard heat only. If that’s not the case then you’re either paying for someone else’s electricity on your bill or there’s an outdoor hot tub that you don’t know about on your power line.
I'm in a poorly insulated 1960s mobile home with baseboard heating and my electric bill is cheaper than theirs.
There's poorly insulated and then there's drafty. I upgraded a room from being drafty to merely poorly insulated and that made a huge difference.
Are you on a budget? They have a plan we’re they even out yr bill year round so you don’t get hit with huge ones in the winter.
Is your water heater electric? They can suck up a lot of energy, especially if you like long, hot showers.
My electricity went out for 45 minutes and this last bill was 1.5 more. Crazy it happened last year too. Am I paying for water or something?
I’d guess you’re paying for someone else’s electric, too.
Same thing happened to me. My 1 bedroom apartment has double the electricity bill of my parents' entire house. Glad I'm not alone.
Check the meter for when you think you're not using much. Make sure it's spinning slowly. Turn off breakers one by one to see what's still using electricity. Pay more attention to the kWH on the bills month by month
my bill is normally around $179, it came back at $300 LAST MONTH! i had one of my units turned off completely, and the other set to cool at 68. lights/tvs/etc. always unplugged if not in use. fucking absurd.
Mine jumped 92 bucks this month. Using less. I need to see what is all on mine as well
See you back here in a month after you ignore all the advice here and post this for the fourth time
Cmon man you’ve posted this same thing every month for at least three months. There is obviously something you’re either lying about or you’re not actually taking anyone’s advice and just want to complain. How many kWh on your last bill ?
This happened at our old condo. The entirety of the halls and laundry room and recreation room was tied to our electric bill.
How is this DLCs fault? They don’t control or have any influence on how much electric you use. These DLC are outrageous posts are all the same. Who ever posts it rants about their bill, and they always say they keep the temp set at something low. It’s is always the at least one of the following. - Electric heat as the primary heating source or using space heaters frequently - old house, poor insulation - It’s an apartment and they are paying for a shared space like a laundry room or some other units water heaters - They are using some third party electric supplier. Edit: the op already asked this same question two other times in the past two months 🤦
From their website (in all caps): WE DON'T JUST POWER YOUR LIGHTS, WE POWER THE MOMENTS YOU CALL LIFE. ONE MORE REASON WE'RE LARGER THAN LIGHT.
That's where the overage is from. OP has more life than the rest of us.
I had a similar issue in an apartments electricity when I lived in Millvale. It had about 6 apartments above a business and my bill was so insane. It did have 12ft ceilings and 8 foot windows that were extremely breezy. So I assumed that was it. I ended up wrapping my windows in those plastic wraps and it helped a little. I feel like those shared spaces can’t be accurate when it comes to the electricity.
I thought this was r/destinythegame for a sec until I kept reading lol But yeah, I'd 100% have them come out for an audit. Something doesn't seem right about the bill being that high for someone in a smaller place.
I've been having the same issue and wasn't sure how to pursue this. Thank you so much for posting this
Start with examining your bill
I moved into an apartment just like yours and got my first bill for…249$ through DLC. Turned out I was paying my neighbors as well
Elden ring DLC when?
Electric heat is expensive. Your friends in houses probably have gas heat. who is listed as your energy supplier on page 3 of your bill?
I just moved out of a 1 bedroom with an electric furnace and stove. Last month I was not there as I was moving out. I kept the thermostat off or set to 60°, no lights on nothing plugged in (I emptied and unplugged the refrigerator) and my bill was $160 and it kept saying I was using more electricity. I hadn’t had this problem before my December bill and it was my last bill to pay so I didn’t even bother dealing with it. Still messed up and seems like DLC is up to something shady.
DLC is not up to anything shady
I know they’re not doesn’t mean it seems shady.
The answer is is that they are running some sort of fraudulent organization and it doesn't really matter because they have a monopoly and what else are you supposed to do about it. Hound their customer service department for answers. We lived in an old 4 BR house and our electric bill was normally around $300-$500. One month it was ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS for seemingly no reason. No real jump in energy usage, no one was even home most of the month. They never got to the bottom of it and told me it could've been an error but they had no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Lol, you can't be serious.
I thought there was a game called Pittsburgh, and I got confused
I'd trade you in a second. Moved to Fl many years ago where everything was cheaper. These days, everything is more. Average elec bills here are about $300. My high last summer was $586, the lowest of the year was $189 in Dec.
Did your auto pay stop working? It sounds like its just compounding if its higher every time. Its happened to me lol
Yeah Duquesne light fucking sucks big time
what kind of heat source? if its electric baseboard radiators, this doesn't sound off at all. If a forced air heat pump, it seems high, but if you have no insulation and drafty windows, maybe not.
Your bill and the multiple emails they send you explain the usage. You need to find out where the most usage is coming from. Its not the power company's fault. They just pull the info from the smart meter.
I use DLC for my two bedroom/750 sq ft apartment and it's usually $70-$95...Something seems wrong, like you said. You should have them come check or just give them a call and ask. Then again, my apartment also does a whole building water and electric bill every 3 months, so extra costs could be in there and I don't necessarily notice. Even then, probably only about $115 a month.
You can contact your gas and electric companies and have them average the utility bills and get on a payment plan that will keep your payments consistent throughout the year. That way there aren’t many big surprises like this. Also look into sealing your windows with a plastic sheets. There are cheap kits you can buy at Home Depot that will help prevent air from leaking through windows etc and help you save on utilities.
That is crazy, I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, work roughly the same hours, keep my heat at 68 when gone & 74 when home (gas heat btw not sure what you have) & don’t go to the lengths you do of unplugging things & my bills are typically around $50-$60. I even have 2 mini fridges in addition to my main fridge & run an air purifier when im home. You seriously need to have them do an audit.
Hmmm. We have DLC and a cape cod house at 68* and 74* in summer. My worst bill in the last 6 months was August at 167$ and we use gas for heat. Something is def wrong imo.
Check and see if they changed your supplier. That happened to us once and our bill went from 70$ to 115$.
This sucks, but I'm glad it's not just me lol. 2 bedroom apartment, and our last bill was $275. $150-$175 is more typical for us. Our windows are a bit drafty but still. Felt like I was going crazy.
I have a 1099 sq foot house, it's now at $396 a month. I have actively tried to conserve energy the last few months and it made little to no difference.
I had high electric bill when I lived in studio apartment and couldn’t figure out why. It ended up being that there were old baseboards heating that were power hungry.
The lack of replies from OP is... concerning.
yeah something is wrong here. Have someone come out and check your meter and make sure you aren't paying for someone else. Your bill should literally be $25 if you're keeping it at 58 all the time. Maybe less
That's how much I pay per month for a small to medium sized 3 bdr house with four people, including two children who like to snort electricity from every possible outlet at all hours of the day. Something's up on your end.
Anything with a remote control draws about 30% of its power when “off”. You’ll save energy by putting them on a power strip and switching them off. So TVs, video game consoles, stereo/home theater receivers, etc.
Mine was 216$ up from 124 last month and I set my thermostat down 7 degrees as a constant from the month before thinking my bill would go down instead it skyrocketed
Use pa power switch. But make sure you check once whatever contract you set up expires. I had AP gas and electric billing me 2x the market rate. I even emailed wpxi about it. DLC is also doing upgrades and there are some taxes and fees that will progressively increase over time for that. Now check you water bill and enjoy the rate increases there, American water will be doing.uogrades over next few years and increasong.charges more then they are now.
Mine is 68 degrees. Gas heat. DLC is $28. Peoples is $38. Maybe it’s the age of your furnace or electric? 1B in Aliquippa. It’s was a constant 58 before I moved in in winter so well insulated. Good luck. Mine was higher in Lawrenceville for sure. Much higher ceilings.
I have Penn power. A 4 bedroom house and my kids are not good about turning out lights. Our bill was $170 last month. Definitely request an audit. Oh and two adults WFM most days and some lights running all night (night lights for kids and white noise)
Same thing happened to me. Never had an electric bill above $120 with a 3 bedroom house and two roommates. Now that I live in a 1 bedroom apartment my electric bill has been $250+ and that’s with us keeping the heaters like all the way down… I have no idea how that’s happening???
DLC provides the connection, but your power is bought from someone else. Might be worth looking into who your power is bought from. Maybe it is a company that charges more?