Come On Down!!!
You’re the next contestant on the Erwin House Guess Our Massive August Electric Bill Contest Game Event!
Our first electric bill will be in the mail soon. How much will it be? Let’s see who can guess the highest without going over.
Here are a few hints.
1. August in Texas is hot. The average high has been 101 degrees this month.
2. We’ve had the doors open a lot. We moved, workers have been in and out, and the kids are still learning how to close the doors with these weird handles.
3. We’re still figuring out how to set the AC. We’ve had it set on 76 upstairs and down, 24 hours.
4. We’ve been running the bathroom vent fans for white noise and to get rid of the new house smell. Basically pumping cold air out of the house for hours on end.
5. We have 2200 sqft, two 14 SEER Lennox ACs, insulation, a bunch of low-E windows, and a thin layer of attic space.
6. Last year we had 830 sqft, 3 window unit ACs, no insulation, single pane windows, and a flat roof. The average temperature was 97 degrees. We used 1360 kilowatts. It cost $129.03.
Who’s going to make the first guess? Who’s going to guess one dollar over?
We’ll announce the winner when we get the bill.
[Christiane adds: Just to make it more interesting (and fair), I will bake a batch of brownies (in my convection oven, whoopee!) for the winner. Make sure to leave a valid email addy, k?]
[David adds: To be precise, this is just the electric part of the bill. Not including water and trash. And our meter is read around the 10th of the month. The City of Austin charges the first 500 KWH at one rate, and additional KWH at another rate. Maybe it would have been more fair to guess in kilowatt-hours, but that ship has sailed.]
Given that my last electric bill for my uninsulated 800 sq ft house of draftiness was $147.68. I’m going to guess $300.01 bob. When is summer over????
Wow, at least 2x, right? I’ll bet $350. Man, you should take up a collection.
I’ll guess $327.06. I hope I’m wrong, for your sake.
LOL…if your energy supplier is Entergy it’s going to be quite high.
My initial guess is $474.51. If you’re not with Entergy I’m going to guess $387.24. Smile.
Hmm, High efficentcy everywhere! AC set at 76! $234.56
This is just for the electricity, right? $210.
$245
is this price is right style and you can’t go over or is it the whoever is closest wins….im dying for some brownies
Check out this free software called ‘Watt-U-Use’ home energy calculator . It claims to be able to show you the costs of running a variety of household appliances, so you can budget for your next utility bills. I don’t know of its accuracy.
I will just take a wild guess: $266, Austin Energy, without Green Choice, electric only.
I’m guessing 2013 KW.
We are paying close attention these days too. We just got a radiant barrier and roof vents and will have new windows next month. We are hoping to see significant improvement next summer. Hope.
yeeeeikes it’s been hot this summer. In fact, I baked cookies in my car on Sunday.
My guess is $325.01
I just found your blog and I love your house.
I’ll take door number 2….no 3…. no, make that what’s behind curtain number 1!!!!
I’m going to have to go with an amazing guess of $284.56
I can taste those brownies now.
let me be the optimist and go for the low ball #, $197.03
brownies and chocolate chip cookies are my weakness…. well one of my many vices.
I can’t recall if you had solar panels installed?… still, insulation and new technology should help keep the bill from spiking even w/ all the new sq ftg.
for teh sake of your bank acct and for my love of chocolate I hope I’m close.
paul
I’m going to guess $457.00. I sincerely hope I’m way wrong on this.
My guess is $279.81
The prices don’t go up at an exact incremental rate– i.e. double square footage doesn’t equal double bill. The doors open a lot could definitely skew things, though.
Just to bring in the cutthroat element of TPIR gamesmanship, I’m going to bid $245.01.
hmmmm tough one. I’m going ot go with 215.73. Its been soooo super hot here! since it’s september, does that mean its fall now?
I’m thinking 337.00
My guess is $404.01. And I like my brownies without nuts. Gawd, I hope it’s not that bad, but at least you will know the rest of the year it will be all down hill from there.
Oh, the brownies are so tempting…especially since we DON’T have a/c and the oven’s a no go in the summer
I’m betting $317.11
Fingers crossed(but for your sake, I’m hoping it’s lower!)
I’ll say 327.19. Our cute little 2 bedroom bungalow ran us 326.00 this month and we live at 80 all the time. ARggggh.
redtruckbetty@hotmail.com
$249.99
If you have a Lennox model 13ACD-036 $ 244.40
If it is a 13ACX-036 $ 281.04
Based on 3276.87 Kw/Hrs and 3745 Kw/Hrs respectively. The cost also includes the $6.00 per month basic charge and the $3.50 per month Solar Explorer Rider.. I can taste those brownies now !
$407. Hope I’m way over, but Amanda’s comment persuaded me to guess high. … And as the proprietor of a fixing-up-a-midcentury-house blog that’s far inferior to yours, I’ll just add that I’m really enjoying your blog.
Whatever the bill for the juice, congrats on the new place.
$389.47
I’ve never had air conditioning before, but those were the numbers on the back of my fortune cookie paper last night.
I’ll guess what mine was for August, $344.71.
OUCH……..
I have one floor, you have two, but, part of my house was built in the 30’s and part in the 70’s–BUT, you have LOTS of new energy SAVING features that I surely do not.
I hope it is less than that. If it is I will be MIGHTY impressed.
Let me lower my guess to $297.85; I see you are only wanting the electric part. Post the results soon.
Been all the way to Illinois and back, and STILL waiting with bated breath.
Ok I would say 426.00 you can bet it will be worse
after deregulation 2007 with no choices like
we have in the country there is only the
choice of turning off every thing at dark