CPAP and my power bill

Apneic Nation · Post by **Apneic Nation** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:58 am

I've asked this before, but I'm asking again because my power bill was unbelievable this month. I've gone from an average of 24 kwh on my monthly power bill to over 50. I started cpap in March; my power consumption went from 27.1 in April to 43.2 kwh in March, and this month it's 50.5. I have made a consciuos effort to leave all my lights, tv, everything off after March's bill, but somehow it went up. Could it be something's wrong with the meter and it just coincided with my CPAP use?
I'm already struggling to pay the bills and while the CPAP is certainly making me feel 10 years younger, this power bill is killing me!

Bob... · Post by **Bob...** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:56 pm

Well I don't know what equipment you are using but the average Respironics XPAP uses about 100 Watts so...

100 times 8 hours a night = 800 times 30 days = 24000 = 24 KWH per month.

Bob

Handgunner45 · Post by **Handgunner45** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:28 pm

WOW!!!! I wish i had electric bills that were only 50 KWH. My electric bill would only be about $6.00. My electrical usage is between 400 and 800 KWH depending on the month. I figure my CPAP uses a max of 1 amp (per the label) without the HH. Therefore

1amp X 120volts = 120watts X 8hrs/night = 960wattshours/night X 30 nights/month = 28800 wattshours/month X 1KW/1000watts = 28.8kwh/month

28.8 KWH X $0.11/KWH = $3.16/month to run my CPAP.

I fall they are billing you for is 50KWH, I wouldn't complain to them. They might find the problem with your meter and start billing you what they should.

BTW I am single and live alone. I do not use Air conditioning. My biggest electrical load in my refrigerator. So I am deffinately not a big user.

Apneic Nation · Post by **Apneic Nation** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:47 pm

Okay, I guess I should have been more specific, my usage is averaging 50.5 kwh per day.
My monthly kwh is 1517. And my bill was $90.57. I live in Idaho, where I think electricity isn't that high considering all the hydroelectric around here.

Apneic Nation · Post by **Apneic Nation** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:49 pm

Bob... wrote:Well I don't know what equipment you are using but the average Respironics XPAP uses about 100 Watts so...

100 times 8 hours a night = 800 times 30 days = 24000 = 24 KWH per month.

Bob

_________________
Yeah I'm using a Remstar plus so there must be something wrong with the meter.

Ric · Post by **Ric** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:50 pm

Here's how to measure that:

KILL-A-WATT

http://www.p3international.com/products ... 00-CE.html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009 ... e&n=172282

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... category0=

Bob... · Post by **Bob...** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 5:04 pm

Apneic Nation wrote:Okay, I guess I should have been more specific, my usage is averaging 50.5 kwh per day.
My monthly kwh is 1517. And my bill was $90.57. I live in Idaho, where I think electricity isn't that high considering all the hydroelectric around here.

1517 KWH in San Diego county last month would have cost you $296.38.

Call your power company, they will come out and check out your meter for you.

Bob

Handgunner45 · Post by **Handgunner45** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 5:42 pm

Okay, I guess I should have been more specific, my usage is averaging 50.5 kwh per day.
My monthly kwh is 1517. And my bill was $90.57. I live in Idaho, where I think electricity isn't that high considering all the hydroelectric around here.

OK, that makes sense to me now. I have been trying to figure out if I could get my usage down to what you showed.

Anyway, yes it does appear that there has been an excessive rise in your usage.

Do you have a heated humidifier? That would add a little more but I not near what appears to be showing up.

You really do need to call the power utility, but don't be surprised if they are not very accommodating.

I would still like to have your power rate. Your usage would have cost me almost $170.00.

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:59 pm

We once watched our power useage go up and up and up ...along with our bill, naturally, ... despite our efforts to conserve power. What we discovered was that our refrigerator was in a slow and painful death spiral and as it died it consumed more and more power. I later learned that this is not unusual when equipment is failing. The refrigerator just happened to be BIG equipment.

Anyways... we replaced the refirgerator and our power bill dropped so dramatically that it more than covered the cost of the refrigerator.

Bella · Post by **Bella** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:11 am

[quote="Apneic Nation"]I've asked this before, but I'm asking again because my power bill was unbelievable this month. I've gone from an average of 24 kwh on my monthly power bill to over 50. I started cpap in March; my power consumption went from 27.1 in April to 43.2 kwh in March, and this month it's 50.5. I have made a consciuos effort to leave all my lights, tv, everything off after March's bill, but somehow it went up. Could it be something's wrong with the meter and it just coincided with my CPAP use?
I'm already struggling to pay the bills and while the CPAP is certainly making me feel 10 years younger, this power bill is killing me!

Nitro Dan · Post by **Nitro Dan** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:52 am

Make sure they are actually reading the meter and not "estimating" your usage. Our power company pulled that trick on me. When I figured it out, I made them come out and read the meter. Guess what? They had overcharged me so much I didn't have a power bill for three months!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:38 pm

I think that they did estimate that winter reading. They said that they read it at the end of the three month period, but we had had a fair bit of snow around that time. I hadn't cleared a path (it's to the side of the house that only the meter reader needs to go to and there were no foot prints there. I figure that sometime they have to come and read it, but if I knew how to read a meter I'd try and keep track myself.

Bella, not logged on

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:12 pm

If the XPAP is raising your Electric bill more than $5 per month, the air coming out of it will be over 150 degrees, the power usage is converted to heat, as the electricity is doing work and that produces heat.

Check if you power bill is being AVG through the year. I would love to have your bill, I used 1132 KWH and they charged me $113, look out summer. They also sold our Electric company, and got another raise that way, it has been sold twice in 10 years with extra rate raises. Jim I'll trad you meters any time, just let me know.

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:37 pm

Wow. Our usage over the last year has always been over 2000 KWH per month. Several times it's been over 3000. But yes, we have an all electric home, so we don't have natural gas or oil bills too.

Fortunately, after 500 hrs, our rate goes down to .051. And we don't have water or sewage bills either.

Now I feel bad. I guess we are just electricity guzzlers.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Mon May 01, 2006 7:03 pm

I think the politically correct term now is un-natural gas, I think the changed it after this winters fuel bill.

CPAP and my power bill

CPAP and my power bill

kill-a-watt

Re: CPAP and my power bill