Discussions

We recently bought a house, in November. Our first two hydro bills, for December and January, have been high, $350 and $450. We've only lived in apartments before, so not sure if these amounts are normal for a 4 bedroom/basement house? If not, what could be causing these high bills?  
Thanks  
Luke

Well did you see estimates for the hydro before you bought the house? Did you have a home inspection done to check the insulation and condition of the windows? How old is the house? It's a bit higher than my 3+ bedroom house.  
 
A lot of the time, if you saw an estimate for the hydro amount, it's a budgeted amount so they pay the same price every month all year.

Our hydro is around $300/month during the winter, for 3 bedroom house with basement. We have newer windows so perhaps your windows are a bit older? Just a thought.

House size?  
Heating Type?  
Upgrades?  
Comfort level?  
 
We are in a late 70s 1040 sq ft 3 bedroom with partial finished basement and gas heat/water with original 70's vintage furnace. Recently upgraded attic insulation, modern windows, and good sealing doors, but somewhat drafty walls/outlets and limited rim joist sealing in the basement. We run heat at 22.5 when at home and use a smart thermostat to turn down heat to 19 at night and 16 when away for the workday or weekend, etc. LED lighting everywhere too.  
 
We paid $176 gas/hydro combined for Jan 2020 actual reading (not equalized) and were around the whole month. Checking our bill from last year it was about the same.  
 
If you have a bigger, older, draftier house, etc with electric heat $400+ is not out of the norm I would think. Electric is a lot more vs gas.  
 
Edited by ren008, 2020-02-10 10:45:01

there are a couple of things you can do.  
 
if it is not an electric furnace, remember you have limited air-flow.  
 
ceiling fans or any fans may circulate the hot air from the top.  
 
older windows can be sealed with the clear plastic kits you can buy.  
 
the equal payment plan eliminates surprise bills, but you need a years consumption for them to put you on it  
 
the best savings are from lowering the thermostat but that is not always an option

It really depends on square footage of your home and how much electricity and gas you are using … if you are not on EPP (equal payments) I suggest looking into it

fairly reasonable to me. Our trailer house during January with two vehicles plugged in and all electric heat can easily run $380 a month.  
My farm house , shop and heated water bowls, all electric heat can run $1200 per month

I live in a 2 bedroom home and my hydro is $100 a month. I am also on EPP

Sounds about right. I recommend switching on the budget plan. So much easier to plan than having huge winter bills

Our house was built in the 50s, windows are from the 90s, Natural Gas heat, electric hot water tank. 750 sq ft house with finished basement, temp set at 68 currently and our latest bill was $150, not on EPP yet, but havent seen a bill higher than $170 in the 20 months we have lived there