I've been getting very high electric bills since moving in last August. My winter months have averaged $350/mo and so far this spring has been the same. I live alone, work 8 hours a day, do 2 loads of laundry per week, rarely use the stove for baking, and my temperature in winter months is set at 68-69 deg, and in summer 72-73 degrees. The house remains comfortable for me. I don't watch a lot of TV or have a lot of appliances going regularly.
About the house:
- Built in early 1990s
- 1480 sq ft
- 2×6 exterior walls
- crawl space
- geothermal heating, closed loop (unit is 2 years old, piping is over 10 years)
- loose insulation in attic, about 10-12" thick (not the roll out type)
- insulated garage
- front entrance has vestibule (exterior door and interior door into living area)
- laminate flooring, tile in bathrooms
- high efficiency washer/dryer (new this year)
- all electric appliances
- rarely use the oven, just stove top, microwave
I was told geothermal systems were very efficient and people with 2k sqft homes were paying $80-100 for heating/cooling costs. I also leave the temperate the same throughout the day as told by the geothermal company and previous owners as its most efficient.
My neighbor has a similar sized house, with natural gas heating, and his total utility is half of what I pay. He also keeps his house a bit warmer (wife complains) in the winter months. This really ticked me off so I contacted my geo company and they came out to inspect the unit. Nothing was found wrong with it and the flow rate/psi/etc was all tested fine. I'm not seeing the savings with geothermal at all.
As I've mentioned, my house does not get a draft at the front door because of having a vestibule. My garage is insulated and I feel no draft coming in at the garage door or interior garage door. My two exterior doors in the rear both go into a sun room, so again, no cold/hot draft coming in. My windows are all sealed and I feel no cold/hot air coming in. Even using a thermal sensor, it was very efficient. I'm not seeing any leaks on the exterior walls. The three weak spots are – my hallway has an attic fan and the other hallway has the attic stair pull down. The fan area seems to be letting heat pass through, but not as bad as the flaps are closed. The crawl space has no insulation, but I can't see that being a big factor in the winter months as heat rises.
Majority of lighting in the house uses LED. I have a few CFLs but they are hallway lighting and set on a 1 minute timer.
Water heater is in the conditioned area of my house. Only the water pump is in the crawl space.
Other than possibly insulating the crawl space and sealing up the attic entrance better, I can't see how much more I can seal up the inside of the house.
What else can I do to with the house to be more efficient? Is it worth investing in a standard HVAC system?
Kansas City Metro Area
Last bill:
Avg Temp - mid 60s
2701 kWh Used = $231.92
Customer Charge = 10.71
ECA 64.76
ECA 1.91
EER 0.43
PTS 2.48
Taxes 23.92
Surge Protection 8.83
(Edited for more information)
Best Answer
Upon replacing my air filter, I noticed some warm air in the air handler. My strip heat was stuck on causing the problem the entire time. Company is replacing the circuit board.