I'm paying double for my electricity bill since last month, am I doing something wrong?

[skrtskrt]

I have consumer's energy right now and it says for the month of December I've used 825 kWh, cost per day is $3.89, and kWh per day is 26. I've also took delivery of my car since last month. I know the electricity bill has to go up but not by $100 lol.

I do charge it by plugging it in every chance I get but I heard something about certain hours to charge for it to be cheaper?

 

[s2kysk]

Your rate is 15 cent per kw. 825kw will cost $123.75 for month of "December". Are you saying that your monthly electric bill was $23.75 before Tesla?

 

[MP3Mike]

How many miles do you drive? How much were you paying for gas per month?

As far as cheaper times to charge that depends on if you have a TOU, Time Of Use, plan with your electricity provider.

 

[Electric Denny]

I don't know about your specific utility provider, but mine provides an EV owners rate plan. Basically, it's time-of-use with the lowest rate occurring from 11 PM to 7 AM on weekdays and 7 PM to 3 PM on weekends. It's a great deal for me at 12.5 cents/kWh. With the Tesla you can also easily choose what time to start charging and what state-of-charge (80%, for example) to reach. The downside is that at the peak periods of use, the rate is 44.5 cents/kWh, so you have to be careful not to use high wattage appliances then. In any case, I didn't notice a big change in my electric bill when I got the Tesla, so I think this rate plan is the way to go.

 

[StellarRat]

You have to ask your electric provider those questions. My electric company had an option called a "time of use" plan where I pay a higher rate during peak times and a lower rate during off peak times (after 10 PM right now.) I set the car to charge after 10 PM when the rates are really low. It's only costs me about $7 -$8 per month to charge my M3 using that system. I also do laundry and stuff like that on the weekends when possible because the price is lower specially on Sundays.

Also, keep in mind that we're in winter now, so if you have electric heat or a heat pump you're going to be paying more for that for the next couple months. That makes a huge difference in my electric bill.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

How much has your gasoline bill decreased since purchasing your Tesla?

As others mention, check if your utility offers Time of Use (TOU) plans as that could greatly reduce your electric bill.

 

[Electric Denny]

How much has your gasoline bill decreased since purchasing your Tesla?

As others mention, check if your utility offers Time of Use (TOU) plans as that could greatly reduce your electric bill.

I completely agree. I've noticed that my vehicle energy costs are 30% of what they were with my previous ICE-Age car.

 

[TonyT]

That cost does not sound too bad. You should be able to see how much electricity you used the last month on the trip meter in you car. I spend $60-100 a month for the electricity I use driving. Much better than the $200-300 I spent on gas monthly prior to driving electric.

 

[BruceW]

You should also research alternative sources for your electricity. Here in Maryland I found a supplier that had a flat (no TOU) rate that was 1 cent lower that then the lowest TOU rate provided by the utility company.

 

[skrtskrt]

How many miles do you drive? How much were you paying for gas per month?

As far as cheaper times to charge that depends on if you have a TOU, Time Of Use, plan with your electricity provider.

I've driven about 1000 miles so far.

 

[ninpb]

Also don't forget if you're not in TOU, then your on tier pricing. With EV, you'll quickly move up tiers.

 

[skrtskrt]

You have to ask your electric provider those questions. My electric company had an option called a "time of use" plan where I pay a higher rate during peak times and a lower rate during off peak times (after 10 PM right now.) I set the car to charge after 10 PM when the rates are really low. It's only costs me about $7 -$8 per month to charge my M3 using that system. I also do laundry and stuff like that on the weekends when possible because the price is lower specially on Sundays.

Also, keep in mind that we're in winter now, so if you have electric heat or a heat pump you're going to be paying more for that for the next couple months. That makes a huge difference in my electric bill.

Yeah I just looked into this. Looks awesome. I think i've just been using it during peak hours all the time LOL

 

[TonyT]

TOU Can really help. If you have rates at different times, then set your car to charge over night.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Yeah I just looked into this. Looks awesome. I think i've just been using it during peak hours all the time LOL

Oops! Once we signed up for TOU, our bills dropped by 30% since we set the cars to charge at night. We would also run the dishwasher or use high energy appliances outside of peak. Now that we have solar and Powerwalls, we can use our solar production or Powerwalls to power the house for free. The Powerwalls cover most of our daily usage so any grid usage is nearly always at the lowest off-peak rate.

 

[Gavyne]

You're in Michigan, I would imagine you're also using your in house heater more.

 

[Oldschool496]

have consumer's energy right now and it says for the month of December I've used 825 kWh, cost per day is $3.89, and kWh per day is 26. I've also took delivery of my car since last month. I know the electricity bill has to go up but not by $100 lol.

How much was your bill full month before you got the car?

How much was your bill last year same time?

What is your baseline Kwh usage for this time of year historically?

TOU will help in Off Peak hours, set your car to charge in those times.

 

[SageBrush]

How much was your bill full month before you got the car?
How much was your bill last year same time?

Yep, presuming the weather was similar.

If OP has been wasteful with heat in the car, he may have used ~ 300 - 400 kWh on the car in December. At 15 cents per kWh that would be $45 - $60.

 

[vjason]

My area doesn't have an EV-specific plan so if you go TOU you really need to study your usage. The more you drive the easier it probably is to figure out since your EV would represent more (as a %) of your total power use.

Current standard (non-TOU) rate:
July-Oct: .10 (rounded figures per kWh)
Nov-June: .09 (rounded figures per kWh)

TOU rates:
TOU costs $3 extra per month off the bat (base service charge).
April-Sep peak: .23, shoulder peak .12, off-peak: .07 (rounded figures per kWh)
Oct-March peak: .21, shoulder peak .12, off-peak: .07 (rounded figures per kWh)

All weekends off-peak.

Spring/Summer peak= 1PM-6PM
Spring/Summer shoulder= 11AM-1PM, 6PM-8PM
Spring/Summer off-peak= 8PM-11AM

Rest of time peak= 6AM-9AM
Rest of time shoulder= 9AM-12PM, 4PM-8PM
Rest of time off-peak=12PM-4PM, 8PM-6AM

If you have electric heat (water or house) and people are home during the day you could easy pay more with TOU.
Controlling other stuff (laundy) is easy.

My electric water heater keeps chugging along so that alone (plus a teacher who is home summers) probably makes it a non-starter for me (especially with cheap NC electricity). The fall/winter schedule would probably save me a little, but the rest not so much.

My state simply doesn't offer an attractive off-peak rate when compared to the standard rate.

 

[ngogas]

How much do you drive a month to equate the month to 100 in electric bill?

I drive a bit over 1k a month and i pay about 50 bucks here in utah.

 

[Oldschool496]

Yep, presuming the weather was similar.

If OP has been wasteful with heat in the car, he may have used ~ 300 - 400 kWh on the car in December. At 15 cents per kWh that would be $45 - $60.

This is not rocket science, I venture a guess where I am at you got 1000 miles it costs about $43, at our 13 cents per kWh in my Model S. I get over 3 miles per Kw(an energy eater in current terms). Still I am waiting for my bill to go up beyond unreasonable. I can't force it higher trying.