Electric Bill?!? What?!?

[summoner12]

So what does it look like for ya?

Here is mine since moving to this apt.

Meter Read Date / KWH Usage / Number of Days / Average Daily Usage / Charges this period

• 08/14/2009 1141.00 30 38.03 $ 199.19
• 07/15/2009 914.00 29 31.52 $ 144.53
• 06/16/2009 802.00 33 24.3 $ 100.52
• 05/14/2009 726.00 28 25.93 $ 86.99
• 04/16/2009 712.00 30 23.73 $ 85.10
• 03/17/2009 723.00 32 22.59 $ 87.20
• 02/13/2009 700.00 30 23.33 $ 85.95
• 01/14/2009 719.00 30 23.97 $ 88.11
• 12/15/2008 806.00 32 25.19 $ 99.89
• 11/13/2008 1087.00 45 24.16 $ 85.55
• 10/14/2008 378.00 15 25.2 $ 61.96

This is operating costs for 8 chams. I have 6 cages and two free range chams.

The 6 cages each have one 50W heat lamp. Four cages share two 48" dual T12 fixtures. This comes to 160W total (each tube is 40W x 4). The other two cages each have their own 18" 13W T8 fixtures. One free range uses a dual 48" T8 fixture with two 32W lamps. The second free range uses a dual 36" T12 fixture. I think those are 32W each. And collectively the two ranges have two 100W heat lamps and one 75W heat lamp.

6*50=300W
2*100=200W
1*75=75W
4*40=160W
2*13=26W
4*32=128W
Grand total:889W

This does not include the two fans I operate during the day or the A/C when it is used... but as you can see from the bill above, you know when the A/C was on LOL. Most of the time we just have all the windows open in the apt. and have one fan on in the cham room pulling air through... but when its warmer we run a large higher volume and higher velocity fan that pulls air through from the one end of the apt. to the other. This really helps give the chams the temp swing they need. Today it may have reached 82*F ambient in the cham room and tonight it'll drop down to the mid 60's. If we run the A/C during the day we keep it around 78*F and there isn't a real good night temp drop those days because we shut down the A/C at night when it cools down. We are just trying to save on running the A/C. I haven't jumped into reading my bill real carefully but I bet running the A/C all night wouldn't cost that much but every little bit helps .

With my misting/lighting controller I can have it shut down my heat lamps when the ambient hits 82*F (or any temp really....). I just haven't hooked it up yet. This would save quite a bit. My concern with this is that the lighting in the cage will change a lot.... I don't want the cages to look all weird with only a UVB lamp on. I was thinking I could hook up a dimmer and when the temp gets hot I just swap over to that lights get more dim...


OK rambling.... What kind of bills do you guys get?

 

[Minihuey]

I live in a 3 bedroom house with 1 other person. I have 5 chams with essentially all the same lights you have.

My bill is always 84 bucks. My grandpa likes to complain how its supposedly high but I think thats pretty good for the size of the house

 

[summoner12]

I live in a 3 bedroom house with 1 other person. I have 5 chams with essentially all the same lights you have.

My bill is always 84 bucks. My grandpa likes to complain how its supposedly high but I think thats pretty good for the size of the house

Do you run A/C?

 

[Minihuey]

No A/C in this house. Northern California does not get too hot. Keeps the bills low, fortunately.

 

[Fearaffect]

wow, how the hell u 2 have such low bills??!!


My average for last year was around 450.00.
My last 3 bills were:
489
534
564
also, this is every other month bills

 

[Minihuey]

wow, how the hell u 2 have such low bills??!!


My average for the year us around 450.00.
My last 2 bills were:
534
564

Its because I am cool?

 

[summoner12]

Its because I am cool?

You mean because your house is cool

 

[Minihuey]

You mean because your house is cool

Well, I hate living with my grandpa and living at this house so the cool factor is merely an illusion

 

[philanddeb818]

9 Chams, 2 Bdrm Apt. average bill: 89.00 per month. Pretty much all the same set up as above. (Southern California). Ambient day temp is warm and toasty 82 degrees during the hot months and 72 durring winter.

We don't run the A/C much unless it's for a short while to bring the temp down to 80 when Deb's having hot flashes.

 

[summoner12]

We don't run the A/C much unless it's for a short while to bring the temp down to 80 when Deb's having hot flashes.

Phil I think Deb might give you a nice smack for that one

(BTW, hope you got your light from Elisa OK. )

 

[eisentrauti]

You have just the wrong collection

 

[ChrisnLisa]

Sheesh, I guess we are lucky. We live in the desert were it gets 105+ easily in the summer. Our apartment is 1200sq ft and have the a/c set to stay between 69-74 all day and night. It's usually always at 73-74. We have 20 cages and our bill for July usage was $179.

 

[Julirs]

I would LOVE a tiny electric bill!

Date Bill Taxes Total
8/3/2009 30 $442.33 $66.44 $508.77
7/1/2009 29 $426.93 $64.13 $491.06
6/2/2009 32 $397.78 $59.05 $456.83
5/1/2009 30 $334.70 $49.68 $384.38
4/1/2009 29 $302.83 $44.95 $347.78
3/3/2009 29 $330.50 $49.02 $379.52
2/2/2009 31 $373.69 $55.44 $429.13

 

[luevelvet]

Our bills have been topping out in the mid 300's lately. With 12 chams and 9 Uroplatus, it went up from 250. I think turning off lights when temps go too high is a great idea. If you don't like the looks with the dome lamps off, you can imagine it being similar to a cloud passing over the forest or do what we do for our cooler climate species, use LED's to brighten without providing the heat.

Luis

 

[Chameleoco]

My last bill for 4 months was £890. Not sure what this is in dollers but its usually around the same each quarter.
ouch

 

[Sang]

my average bill for july/august has been around 500 bucks...

and im running for 2 chams and one beardie...WTF...damn desert

 

[panthercrazy]

Here is my totals for last 3 months. 17 chameleon cages, 1 Bearded Dragon Cage, 3 Fish tanks & ceramic heater to heat snake room on cooler days. No AC in this house.

I use a 4ft ReptiSun attached to each shelf for cages below & then 3 heat lamps 25to 40w for cages on particular shelf.

May 2009 30 days usage 1369kwh $167.85
June 2009 32 days usage 1213kwh $153.93
July 2009 33 days usage 951kwh $144.62

Once I switched to the 4ft, I noticed a drop in power consumption as less individual UVB fixtures plugged in. (Each cage use to have 2 fixtures). Average bills in Jan-April ranged from the lowest $215 to highest $330!! (Snake room heater was going quite a bit more in the cool months as well).

Plus I have since added about 5 more cages for chams! Not a cheap hobby by any means, BUT is WORTH every PENNY spent

 

[ageber]

I think i have you all beat. My last bill was $933.00 and the bill before that was $761.00. I just put us on a plan for $547.00 year round. we have alot of animals though and i run my air pretty much all the time. we have 9 panther chameleons, 15 bearded dragons, a frilled dragon, 2 iguanas, 2 tortoises, a blue tree monitor, 3 collared lizards, 7 geckos, a uromastic, 2 salt water reef tanks, a mollocun cockatoo, a caique, and a dog. I don't know if i forgot any but we are adding a few more.

 

[laurie]

Juli you and I have the same type bills. My last eight bills
$184
$171
$153
$127
$406
$354
$355
$523

The only time I get a break is spring to summer. I live on top of a hill and open all my windows.

I have 9 chams, +babies, 6 bearded dragons, 2 uro's, one horny toad.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

In my area, we have a tiered billing rate so that if you use what is considered a basic amount of kilowatts you'll be charged the lowest $/KWHR rate. With chameleon lights and a big screen Plasma TV (650W), our rate is pushed into the highest level. At $0.25/KWHR it works out that for every watt of electricity per 12 hrs of chameleon lighting time it equals about $1 per year. So if I add a 100 watt chameleon room light it'll cost me $100 a year .

Now there's a thought: I could put a projection TV in the chameleon room and show 12 hrs of Madagascar jungle on the walls ...