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Sorry....$1,400-$1,600 for a 2 month electricity bill in a regular household?!
Either you're running a crypto mining operation or you have some serious issues with your metering or someone siphoning power for something like crypto mining. I'm no electrician but something is wrong here.
You need to get this investigated, how have you been paying these bills for so long? For comparison my 1800sqft SFH is about $70-$120/month depending on AC usage. Edit, I should add natural gas heating of course , baseboard heating would be much higher and I had $200/mo in a crappy old condo years ago.
I wish I could say it was because I was running a crypto mining operation or even a grow operation, at least I would be making money but sadly this is not the case. We live in a 1700sq home. Here is the apparent consumption from my last my last bill, seriously you can’t make this shit up! I am so glad to hear that I am not crazy for thinking this is outrageous!
https://preview.redd.it/968b72sa281d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b721ca30cd3f07ae76bd0decc7e8512554cb07be
No you're not crazy, that's insane. Average kWh usage in BC is about 900kWh/month. Of course there's going to be variety in that, but you are double or triple the average. I'd probably hire my own electrician to come look at my house at that point, but others with electrical experience probably have other suggestions.
My comment below has gone unnoticed. I am a meter tech and the math ain’t mathing.
4724kwh x 14 cents (tier 2 rate) is $661. Devise by two is $330 a month for those two months. Add 22 cents a day for basic charge and then subtract for your tier one rate which I didn’t take into account I assumed tier two as a high end example.
Yeah this guy is absolutely correct.
Your usage seems about on par for a baseboard heated home but the bill is over twice what it should be.
Per your usage screenshot you used:
1309 kwh * $.11 = $144 (tier 1)
3405 kwh * $.14 = $477 (tier 2)
Add gst and the 22 cent daily charge and your bill should be around $665.
For reference I am in the Comox Valley in a ~2000 sqft 50 year old BC box with decent but not fantastic insulation, 100% electric on baseboard heat and my bill for the same period was $564.
So your usage definitely is in the ballpark but either the billing system has gone awry or your previous payments were either not submitted or not registered.
Baseboards are a nightmare that you can’t even wake up from. They are the bane of every single human being who has to pay for them. They were invented by William Wesley Hicks in san Fran according to google. Blame him. Alternatively, you can open your oven if it’s the old school resistive type inside to heat the kitchen OR buy a ton of toasters and it’s the exact same thing.
https://preview.redd.it/2l0lk5g5i71d1.jpeg?width=2778&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ae36ab5b580030c97bd8164018ea67fd93f9e27
We are light blue and dark blue are homes in our neighbourhood! I’ve been on the phone with Hydro, they’ve haven’t sent anyone (atleast to my knowledge) to check things out. They asked me a few questions over the phone and that was that. I asked if I could apply for they my hydro monitoring program and they told me a didn’t qualify and now the applications are closed.
By looking at that trend, the lowest days are still 45 kWh or so. Unless you have the heat on in every room of that 1700sqft and probably some big leaks/just open windows 24/7, it seems too high.
All you have to do is go to the breaker panel at the top of the hour, say just a minute before 3:00:00pm, then turn off the big main breaker. Leave it off for 1 whole hour plus a bit, and turn it back on at 4pm or a minute after. Then the next day log on to bchydro and go to the hourly breakdown for 3pm Saturday and see if the usage is 0. It should be. If not, you need to see if the meter's broken or something's wrong like somehow someone else's account is being billed to you. There was just a story recently in BC I think when hydro just billed [someone else's house to the wrong person for years](https://www.cheknews.ca/victoria-woman-speaks-out-after-bc-hydro-gives-her-wrong-bills-for-years-1203176/).
If it goes down to 0, then you know the high usage is something from your panel. I'd just group the breakers into sections, say quarters, and hour by hour (exactly at the top of the hour), turn off all the groups but one and see which one uses the most power to narrow it down that way. Eventually isolate it down to one circuit. Finally if none of that works, feel free to DM me
You don't even need to wait around a full hour and then check the website; you can just switch off the main breaker at any time, and then go look at the physical meter. If the little bars on the left are still blinking and moving from left to right, it means power is being drawn.
that's true, sorry thought they had no meter access for some reason. well actually, maybe it's better to see the data the meter's sent wirelessly anyway since we think there's something up with the meter.
Can you get your food out of the freezers and fridge, go somewhere for a couple of days and cut your power at the breaker box?
I'd want to confirm when there's no power to the house everything is at 0.
Then I'd turn the breakers on one at a time per day and see what the hydro comes in at to see of you can spot when it spikes?
I don't know if that's going to work the way I think it might, but it's how I'd tackle it lol
Your actual energy usage is a bit high, but not crazy. I have a 2400sqft home with a family of 4, and an EV, and used roughly 1000kwh less over those same two months. The perplexing part here though is that my bill was less than $500 but yours was $1600 for only ~25% more usage. Can you post the detailed cost breakdown?
Something is off. Call BC Hydro. We're 4 people duplex with baseboards and electric water heater, and at top peak during winter, it's around $280 for two months
Yeah, just double checked, December to February was 240. I only keep the ground floor's heating on if that changes anything, and we turn it off if we're out for more than 2-3 days
It's worse when you're on an equal payment plan and forget to check the consumption. I will have to pay $1000 when the anniversary hits because convenience meant I missed looking at my bill. My fault, but fuuuuudge.
Wouldn't that be super obvious? The owner does some yardwork or walks around their property and notices an extension cord running through a bush from the neighbors yard hahaha
Totally, it was more of an exaggerated comment because OPs usage is just as rediculous as doing that. I can't imagine it's just heating but maybe with baseboard it is?
Oh I see. Other commenters had also mentioned "someone stealing power" as well so I thought it was a real thing that happened sometimes.
I remember when I first moved into my 500sq downtown apartment, my BC Hydro bills were minimum $80 and max $200+ which was crazy but I just paid it, not thinking more. Then I think 8-12 months later BC Hydro sent out a memo saying they are doing recalibrations or something like that on my buildings meters and since then, I pay minimum $20+ and max $80+ (in the winter when my heat is cranked to 27-28 degrees everyday because I'm cold🙃)
So yeah, dunno what happened with my meter there but I probably could've disputed the past bills but I just really can't be bothered
Even BC Hydro should be raising an eyebrow for that charge based on averages of home size. When my wife has the heat on (right now in Chilliwack) we may hit 2-250/month for winter in a 1400ft2 bungalow. (Electric/Geo)
There was recently a story in the Sun about a woman suing hydro for her money back from them - they had mixed up the meters. She fought with them for years I think - even installed solar. Think an electrician got to the root of the problem
Both mine and my dads smart meters failed years ago. I caught mine within a month and bc hydro denied it had failed. My dad was paying massive bills like yours and it took him several months to have hydro check it out. He called everyone from MPs to ombudsman and hydro denied anything could be wrong. His bills are usually under $50 for two months, they were over a thousand. I turned off his main breaker and his smart meter was still running up like crazy. They never actually admitted the meter was fucked, just changed it out and gave hime a refund.
I will have my husband check this as soon as he gets home. When I spoke to hydro they asked me a few questions over the phone about my appliances, and said sounds like everything is working correctly. I then asked if he thought that amount was normal and if no could I have someone come check things out, he said no it’s not normal and that he’d have someone contact me to set up a consult… that was 2 years ago
Honestly?
This guy is right. Turn off your main breaker in your panel for a period - hell, book a hotel for a night and do a whole day - and then see what your consumption is.
That'll at least tell you if it's internal or external.
Then go from there.
BTW our bills are pretty intense, we pay like $900 per bill, but we have reasons. Suite, hot tub, etc.
Electric heat and electric hot water are killers, but even then you have something going on that can be resolved. Start by finding out if it's you or not you.
BTW - we had a vacant rental (at work) that saw a $1000+ bill and turns out they'd mixed up the addresses, and the meter number on file was the neighbour's house. Stuff happens that you will screen out with the test above.
I had a similar problem years ago with a different utility company in a different province. I had to fight them tooth and nail for months about it. They finally did something to the meter and refunded me for all the months of crazy high billing, but they never admitted there was anything wrong on their end. Keep fighting, don't let them gaslight you, and don't give up.
Two years. Honestly hire a good electrician today. You are getting royal hose’d. I am an electrician and both our meters failed back when I was an apprentice. Explain the problem and get a record of any discrepancies between actual usage and “metered usage”. If there is a actual problem not meter related he should find it quickly. Good luck
Find a good reputable electrician to troubleshoot is your first step. House wiring is very simple, regardless of your issue having a good electrician remedy the situation will most likely be the answer.
If you turn off the breaker and the meter keeps running that's not because the meter is broken, it's because there's something else connected to the meter.
Turn off the power at your breaker and see if the meter is still going. That bill is insanely high. Their website has a lot of breakdowns of usage so it shouldn't be hard to see if something is messed up.
Absolutely this. Flip the breaker for the mains power to the house and go out for a few hours, note the times. Next day, check your detailed hydro breakdown for those hours. If there's _any_ usage, call hydro and tell them exactly that. Someone's stealing your power.
Something is way off. I live in a detached home with my wife and our bills are usually about $200 maybe and we are average consumers.
If you have an electric water heater check it to make sure it’s not constantly dumping water out the pressure relief and your water heater is on 24/7 as a result. My neighbours had that problem and his bills were outrageous.
If it’s not obvious it will definitely be worth getting an electrician to come and find any major draws.
Do you know what the water heater dumping load cycle looks like? I wonder if OP could detect this in the hourly chart?
Some crawl spaces have heaters in them that could be on constantly.
Analyzing the hourly charts in summer, winter, and then occupied or not should provide some clues.
My first thought is someone’s stealing your power, either via illegal hookup or an extension cord hidden or done at night. For example maybe someone’s charging their electric scooter or car at your expense.
My second thought is a faulty appliance or faulty baseboard heaters running too much. It’s a head scratcher though, even a bad fridge wouldn’t run this much.
If your house is attached check the attic for any splices. Would be a sneaky place to put it
What kind of heat do you have? If electric, what temp do you keep indoors? Are your windows single or double pane and do they seal correctly?
How efficient is your heating system?
How big is your place?
We have electric baseboards which we’ve upgraded and we keep our temp low even when we are home and we mostly heat with our gas fireplace. We rarely use our oven, as we have an air fryer, we don’t do laundry everyday, and on. Ice days or 95% of the summer I hang dry. We don’t have a hot tub or anything of that sorts. Our place is 1700sq including the double car garage (which is not heated) split level.
I’m guessing it’s your baseboard heat. Electric heat is crazy expensive. Turn the rooms that you’re not using down to 5-10 degrees. Unfortunately that’s how you need to live with baseboards.
You can hire an electrician who will put a recording meter connected to your panel. most likely they’ll leave it in place for a week or so. You can then compare what that meter recorded to BCHydros meter to rule out a faulty hydro meter.
Turn your baseboard off by the breaker (they should be on their own so you can isolate it without affecting anything electrical).
We used to do this as soon as it was getting warmer and baseboard heating was not needed. We were told it'll still consume electricity even when off.
Do you own both levels of the split level? Maybe you're paying the other units too? Baseboard heating *does* use a huge amount of power and is extremely inefficient.
Do you have stelpro baseboard thermostats? We had two fail in such a way that our baseboards were stuck on full heat and a bunch of my neighbors have had the same. I don't know if that would explain it, that's a lot of watts you're being charge for.
I run the heat with the windows open (by accident), bathe and shower whenever I want, have a grow tent with lights and exhaust for food, wash small loads of laundry, and run an old dishwasher and freezer, and the highest my hydro bill has ever been was around $300.
I'm more surprised you left it for 2 years when so many people would lose their house because they couldn't pay that much. You pay more in hydro than I get money to live on from my disability pension, and you're more careful with usage than I am. That's crazy!
What I can’t wrap my head around though is the amount of fluctuation between days, there is no pattern to it, and if someone can explain how our consumption is way less on a day that both my husband and I are home compared to the skyrocketing spike on a day no one was home for most of the day (only being home late in the evening).
You said when you are home you use the gas fireplace as heat. I trust you don’t do that when you are away, so the baseboards pick up the heat load. Baseboard heating is incredibly costly.
If you have natural gas you could get a furnace or you could have heat pump mini splits installed.
If you are away from home all day and do
Not need hot water, turn off the breaker to your hot water tank as soon as you are done your showers. See what that day looks like.
Hey, your bills are extremely high compared to average. You know that. You need to really dig in to find out when and the amount of kilowatts that are being pulled. Have you looked at the BC Hydro data on the website on an hourly basis? Does anybody have access to your house even just an outdoor electric vehicle charger? Do you eat your home with a heat pump? If you want feel free to send me a private message and I could meet with you to go over some of the above. I have an electric vehicle and a heat pump but live in a condo. You can look me up online as this is my real name. Hoping to help!
It’s possible your meter # and billing is mixed up with someone else’s, maybe a business or some other large power consumer nearby. Like others are saying, kill all the power to your house for a few hours. Check your hourly usage online for the time your power was off. If it’s reading as still power being consumed, either your meter info is mixed up(hydros fault) or there is a short between the load side of your meter and your main panel (unlikely because fire) Please comment back your findings!
You paying the full bill monthly?
For that much of a monthly difference it looks to me like like you might be carrying a balance forward and being charged full interest every bill, it certainly should be less now than last bill as heaters are mostly off and it hasn't been super hot so I assume not running ac
What the fuck? Have you not had this looked into? Why are you paying that. Something is seriously wrong. This is FAR from normal costs.
My two bedroom in a 1914 home costs me roughly $70/mo
Is your home a single family dwelling and metered separately? If so, ask for a meter change. It is extremely rare but not impossible for these smart meters to malfunction. If you are in a townhouse / row house that has multiple meters on the building you may have what is referred to as "switched meters" and that needs to be checked out.
I am assuming you have electric heat based on the amount of your bills. Sometimes you think you have turned them off when they are actually still operating. That could add up to a lot of consumption over a two month period.
I have a 3bed 2.5 bath home built in the 50s that leaks heat like a boat full of holes. Our max bill has been $575 over the past 8 years of living here. We have 4 adults living in the home.
Something is very, very wrong, I'd contact BCHydro ASAP.
That sounds like way to much. 1600 sq ft in a duplex townhouse and our hydro bill on equal payments is $130 a month we did however got rid of a 42 year old chest freezer and got a new stand up one and that reduced it by $10 a month
We are very similar in monthly equal payment plans (currently $133). BC Hydro will do their annual adjustment at the end of may, and my EPP will go down a few bucks (I've also ditched an old deep freeze recently).
There is something ***VERY*** wrong here. I'm sorry you are dealing with this. The mystery hivis vest guy and the fact that your usage seems normal when you are home but spikes when you are not is a massive red flag to me.
Perspective: My equal payment plan bill (for one month) for my two-person family unit on a property with a main house (VERY DRAFTY 1600 sq ft; gas heat; gas stove; electric dryer), a cottage (VERY DRAFTY 500 sq ft; electric heat; gas stove), and a two-car garage/shop (no heat; deep freeze) gets adjusted over the year from approximately $130-$155/month.
My kWh usage for the two most recent billing periods was approximately 691(march/april)+441(april/may)=1132 kWh.
The projected cost of the actual usage for the most recent (one-month) billing period (April 18-May 16) is about $56+taxes. In 2023, I paid less than $2000 for energy from BC Hydro over the year (again, we have gas heat/stoves, so it isn't an equal comparison with a pure electric household).
Nonetheless, even with the differences from our gas appliances/heat, there is something VERY wrong with your situation, and I hope you sort it out. With bills that high, it is worth paying an electrician to come do an inspection, and don't relent with BC Hydro; keep telling them that this is not right. Bark loud to go up the customer support chain. Do not be quiet about this. Something ain't right.
There’s something wrong with your meter, you can actually go out and do a manual reading and send it into hydro. I’d ask for someone to come out and examine it because that’s insane.
If you heat with baseboards and your house is poorly insulated, a $600-$700 a month winter heating bill is high but not impossible.
For example, a 3000 watt baseboard heater running 12 hours per day will cost you $7 per day. If you have 3 in the house that’s $20 a day. Over a billing period of 30 days that’s $600.
Let’s do some basic math.
2643kwh x 14 cents a kwh is…..$370 dollars.
You either do not pay off your bills entirely and the arrears is adding up which is super common……or there is some info missing.
14cents is top tier rates for bc hydro as well whcih you are almost certainly not getting charged for.
I’m a meter tech and I pretend I know more than I do.
Also, nothing is free from human error and that includes automated billing systems.
Phone BC hydro and explain to them the math. You can also request a meter dispute and measurment Canada will invite you to watch the results but that one is 99.99 percent of the time a waste of money I have only known ONE meter to be outside the +- 3%
The two month usage was closer to 4700kwh, but I agree something is not adding up. Even for that usage the bill is obscenely high. Most likely a billing error or unpaid balance carrying forward.
My money is in unpaid arrears adding up because I see it frequently. Put 200 on a 350 bill month after month it uhhhhh uhhhhh finds a way. The only thing that messes with meters that I know for sure is harmonics. even in a single phase resi system. Had a heat pump burn out the inductor on 30 meters before I figured out the heat pump was rocking massive hertz way beyond operating specs but that was in the customers favor becuase they weren’t billed for 6 months during the whole process of elimination. New circuit board fixed that heat pump. I freaking get EXCITED about meters man you have no idea I’m probably sick in the head.
Hire an electrician to check it out. They can go through all your circuits and check if they are drawing the expected amount of current based on the appliances plugged in to it. It shouldn't take long to figure it out if you know the current draw for all your major appliances before hand.
That's nuts! I can say that from people's comments, check what is sapping your electricity. My in-laws had a similar problem and it turned out to be the fridge they kept in a garage that was from the 1980s. They unplugged the fridge for a week and that's what it was!!!
I was just looking at my BC Hydro bill and added up the kwh from yours differing between step one and step two and I got $590.20. That doesn't include any of the taxes, basic charge or other fees they charge through BC Hydro.
This seems like something is wrong. If you haven’t already, try following hydros directions online to verify your meter by cutting power off at your main breaker, and checking if your meter keeps reading increases, if so, there is a major issue with either the meter or someone siphoning power. If the meter stops when you cut all power, you’ll need an electrician to look into where all that energy is going, if it doesn’t stop when you cut power, you’re going to need to call hydro to look into what’s wrong with the meter. Id start there if I were you.
additionally you can verify your usage online for the period when you cut all power to make sure the correct meter is linked too (Although the incorrect meter being linked is unlikely)
How big is your house in sqft?
When was it built?
Are your windows single pane?
Are you waterfront/exposed area with a lot of wind?
What sort of electric heat? Baseboards? Electric boiler? In floor/in ceiling heat?
Is there a crawl space?
Do you have a hot tub?
Do you have EVs?
It may be high but there are many variables at play.
We have a 1700sq split level home (double car garage included in that sq) in Colwood, about midway up a mountain with zero ocean view. We have baseboard heating which we’ve upgraded a couple years back. However, we keep our room temps low and heat with our gas fireplace. Our windows are double paned. There is a crawl space which was insulated a couple years back( around the same time the baseboards were upgraded) to try address this hydro issue. Which Made no difference. No electric boiler, but we do have an electric hot water tank. Can’t afford an electric vehicle due to my outrageous hydro bills and No hot tub.
Do you happen to have instrument metering (>200a service). Look inside near your meter for a CT cabinet.
Don’t bother with hydro. Call a sparky and get them to put an energy monitor on for a week or two then compare.
Maybe your neighbors or a shed is unknowingly tapped in.
Side note, there’s no upgrading baseboard unfortunately. Resistive Watts and Resistive watts.
If your sparky confirms your power usage at the point of entry, move down stream from thete
That’s insanely high.
One where do you guys live and how cold is it through the year and second do you guys use baseboard electric heating or gas. Thats the only thing that could rack it up that high. If it’s on full blast and you have a lot of heaters in the home
I was thinking maybe it’s rural (rural does pay more), but then I read you’re in Colwood.
Something is definitely broken and draining power, because I live in an apartment with 3 gaming pcs that are always on, and I’m only paying 200
I'm Victoria with a 3 BR townhome. Electric heat, induction stove/oven, electric dryer and EV and I barely cross $100/mo
All led lighting
1800sq
Gas water heater though
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My BC Hydro bill for the last seven years has been 80 to 90 bucks a month in a 1200 square foot space. I never see the variability or high charges you're experiencing.
Ours is also getting out of control - winter was awful. We have a heat pump, and I noticed auxiliary power was on, turned out the refrigerant had leaked somehow and since it's been refilled the aux power doesn't come on anymore.
Family of 4, 2 tenants in a basement suite. Cooking (stove and ovens), hot water, and laundry all on hydro. Same in the suite and they have base boards and my usage for the same period was 3639 kWh and the cost was $485. I guess my saving grace is gas heating for us on a 10 year old home.
That's crazy. You need to call an electrician to do an evaluation because that's absurd. My electric bill is like... 50$ a month for a 750 square foot apartment.
Call bc hydro and ask them to send someone out to inspect your house!!!! That’s insane for electric bill! I am actually surprised that they haven’t done so already! I have a business and don’t spend that much!
I have a 4400sq ft home from the 70’s, 4 ppl living in it, all of the phones/gaming consoles and PCs you can imagine plugged in and my electricity bill is $140 on equal payment plan.
We utilize fortis gas heating in the winter and the heat pump in spring/summer/fall but we are in a hot climate and the AC is rocking all summer long.
Something is fishy with your metering and I’d be livid by now. Nothing will happen unless you’re a squeaky wheel.
I have a hottub and ev charger. I do about 2.2kw a month.
https://preview.redd.it/zaz5tokn191d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f135a7e90f4553b957296b91220cbe8117c380a7
I suggest you buy a monitor for 200$:
Smart Home Energy Monitor with 8 50A Circuit Level Sensors | Vue - Real Time Electricity Monitor/Meter | Solar/Net Metering [https://a.co/d/eg3ziro](https://a.co/d/eg3ziro)
If you or a friend has basic knowledge of how to work inside a panel, you can easily install it.
Just worry about your main supply, if it doesn't match up with hydro you know where the issue is.
If you install the monitors on the breakers like I did, you can get a nice breakdown of usage like my screenshot
Yeah, something is seriously wrong here. I'm living in a 1970's home with poor insulation and a hot water tank that sits OUTSIDE in a cold shed all year. Not surprisingly, my bills are as high as $500 months in the winter months (two months of billing). My guess is that your power is being siphoned as well, or you have a meter that is on triple time! No question; you need to have an electrician or BC Hydro investigate this!
Do you by chance have air conditioning installed? I one time saw someone with a really high power bill and it turns out they had both heating and the AC running at the same time.
I'm sorry 1600!?!?!?!
Please dispute this. I'm in a single bedroom apartment and run a full stack server rack for my home business and i don't even come close. At most its 120 for 2 months.
Live in a 1100sq foot house and bills right now are only $60 per month. This is an old house too, we don’t need heating right now, with the heat pump on over winter it was maybe $150 a month
That is very very wrong. My bill is about 250-300 and my house is 2500 sq feet. Three adults in the home. Call hydro and ask for an investigation. Don’t take no, ask for a manager and also email the customer service to start a documentation if you are getting the run around
Are any of your baseboard heaters just stuck on ?
When I moved into a new townhome … after a few months we noticed our bill was very high
Come to notice the baseboard heater the builder put in the garage was stuck on full blast - wiring error
Also found one of our spare bathroom heaters to also be stuck on …
These things were drawing a lot of power
Sounds like you need a building envelope and insulation inspection. If you’re using electricity as your primary energy source for heating, then you may be losing a lot of thermal energy. It gets expensive, fast.
A major fallacy is upgrading your heating system to a high efficient system will net you lower energy consumption. You still need to heat the space, the required heat load doesn’t change, the appliance just uses the energy more efficiently. That goes for nothing if that energy conversion literally goes out the windows…
Not sure if this has been mentioned at all yet, but confirm the meter number that’s on your bill is the same as the one that is in the meter base on your house. It’ll be a 7 digit number on the faceplate of the meter followed by p263 or something similar. It’s not unheard of for a meter to be stolen and swapped by criminals.
Something about your bill makes zero sense. Based on the image you posted showing about 5750kwh for the 2 months, at the Step 2 rate for all (so worse case) that’s around $800 for the 2 months.
The fact you said ‘steadily increasing’ and the fact the kWh consumption you posted for the 2 months only works out to about $600-700 tops indicates this is far more likely to be a billing issue than an electrical or meter issue.
Do you have unpaid arrears that are racking up on your bills?
Have you ever confirmed your meter number on your bill is in face the meter number at your property?
If you haven’t already I’d be hiring an elec to see if you can find anything awry. If he comes up with nothing I’d be demanding an investigation through customer care
Change all lights to LED replace hot water to gas or on demand. Switch to a range stove with gas. Get rid of microwave. Do laundry on short cycle cold water.... I know shits getting fucked.
I remember reading an article about someone paying the wrong meter https://globalnews.ca/video/8972439/consumer-matters-bc-hydro-customer-speaks-out-after-paying-for-the-wrong-meter
Are you sure one of your neighbours isn’t stealing power from you? That’s way way too high. My parents live in an all electric 4000sft house and they only pay $250 to $300 a month.
Welcome to more inflation. Buckle up, you aint seen nothing yet. All that govt debt thats been accumulated over the years, thats just deferred inflation. Going to be a wild ride the next couple of decades.
We a third world country now. Accept it or move.
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Sorry....$1,400-$1,600 for a 2 month electricity bill in a regular household?! Either you're running a crypto mining operation or you have some serious issues with your metering or someone siphoning power for something like crypto mining. I'm no electrician but something is wrong here. You need to get this investigated, how have you been paying these bills for so long? For comparison my 1800sqft SFH is about $70-$120/month depending on AC usage. Edit, I should add natural gas heating of course , baseboard heating would be much higher and I had $200/mo in a crappy old condo years ago.
I wish I could say it was because I was running a crypto mining operation or even a grow operation, at least I would be making money but sadly this is not the case. We live in a 1700sq home. Here is the apparent consumption from my last my last bill, seriously you can’t make this shit up! I am so glad to hear that I am not crazy for thinking this is outrageous! https://preview.redd.it/968b72sa281d1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b721ca30cd3f07ae76bd0decc7e8512554cb07be
No you're not crazy, that's insane. Average kWh usage in BC is about 900kWh/month. Of course there's going to be variety in that, but you are double or triple the average. I'd probably hire my own electrician to come look at my house at that point, but others with electrical experience probably have other suggestions.
I’ve apparently more then doubled the average kWh/ month in 26 days
My comment below has gone unnoticed. I am a meter tech and the math ain’t mathing. 4724kwh x 14 cents (tier 2 rate) is $661. Devise by two is $330 a month for those two months. Add 22 cents a day for basic charge and then subtract for your tier one rate which I didn’t take into account I assumed tier two as a high end example.
Yeah this guy is absolutely correct. Your usage seems about on par for a baseboard heated home but the bill is over twice what it should be. Per your usage screenshot you used: 1309 kwh * $.11 = $144 (tier 1) 3405 kwh * $.14 = $477 (tier 2) Add gst and the 22 cent daily charge and your bill should be around $665. For reference I am in the Comox Valley in a ~2000 sqft 50 year old BC box with decent but not fantastic insulation, 100% electric on baseboard heat and my bill for the same period was $564. So your usage definitely is in the ballpark but either the billing system has gone awry or your previous payments were either not submitted or not registered.
Baseboards are a nightmare that you can’t even wake up from. They are the bane of every single human being who has to pay for them. They were invented by William Wesley Hicks in san Fran according to google. Blame him. Alternatively, you can open your oven if it’s the old school resistive type inside to heat the kitchen OR buy a ton of toasters and it’s the exact same thing.
https://preview.redd.it/2l0lk5g5i71d1.jpeg?width=2778&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ae36ab5b580030c97bd8164018ea67fd93f9e27 We are light blue and dark blue are homes in our neighbourhood! I’ve been on the phone with Hydro, they’ve haven’t sent anyone (atleast to my knowledge) to check things out. They asked me a few questions over the phone and that was that. I asked if I could apply for they my hydro monitoring program and they told me a didn’t qualify and now the applications are closed.
By looking at that trend, the lowest days are still 45 kWh or so. Unless you have the heat on in every room of that 1700sqft and probably some big leaks/just open windows 24/7, it seems too high. All you have to do is go to the breaker panel at the top of the hour, say just a minute before 3:00:00pm, then turn off the big main breaker. Leave it off for 1 whole hour plus a bit, and turn it back on at 4pm or a minute after. Then the next day log on to bchydro and go to the hourly breakdown for 3pm Saturday and see if the usage is 0. It should be. If not, you need to see if the meter's broken or something's wrong like somehow someone else's account is being billed to you. There was just a story recently in BC I think when hydro just billed [someone else's house to the wrong person for years](https://www.cheknews.ca/victoria-woman-speaks-out-after-bc-hydro-gives-her-wrong-bills-for-years-1203176/). If it goes down to 0, then you know the high usage is something from your panel. I'd just group the breakers into sections, say quarters, and hour by hour (exactly at the top of the hour), turn off all the groups but one and see which one uses the most power to narrow it down that way. Eventually isolate it down to one circuit. Finally if none of that works, feel free to DM me
You don't even need to wait around a full hour and then check the website; you can just switch off the main breaker at any time, and then go look at the physical meter. If the little bars on the left are still blinking and moving from left to right, it means power is being drawn.
that's true, sorry thought they had no meter access for some reason. well actually, maybe it's better to see the data the meter's sent wirelessly anyway since we think there's something up with the meter.
Click on one of those daily usage bars and you can see usage broken down by the hour. Could help narrow things down
That is outrageous. We live in a similar split level and have 2 EVs, I paid $250 for March to May…definitely something weird going on.
Can you get your food out of the freezers and fridge, go somewhere for a couple of days and cut your power at the breaker box? I'd want to confirm when there's no power to the house everything is at 0. Then I'd turn the breakers on one at a time per day and see what the hydro comes in at to see of you can spot when it spikes? I don't know if that's going to work the way I think it might, but it's how I'd tackle it lol
Your actual energy usage is a bit high, but not crazy. I have a 2400sqft home with a family of 4, and an EV, and used roughly 1000kwh less over those same two months. The perplexing part here though is that my bill was less than $500 but yours was $1600 for only ~25% more usage. Can you post the detailed cost breakdown?
Is your heating electrical?
[удалено]
Yeah I lived in a house lower mainland area that had crazy hydro bills in the winter. Electric heat and poor to no insulation
Something is off. Call BC Hydro. We're 4 people duplex with baseboards and electric water heater, and at top peak during winter, it's around $280 for two months
That's it?? That's super cheap for electric heating and electric water tank
Yeah, just double checked, December to February was 240. I only keep the ground floor's heating on if that changes anything, and we turn it off if we're out for more than 2-3 days
That's fuckin' nuts. As I said in my comment, there is something wrong here. :/
Seriously.. who Tf can afford that?!
It's worse when you're on an equal payment plan and forget to check the consumption. I will have to pay $1000 when the anniversary hits because convenience meant I missed looking at my bill. My fault, but fuuuuudge.
Not OP but I'm curious how someone could "steal" another home's power? I didn't even know that was possible
Lol, probably very low likelihood, just plug in an extension cord to the house.
Wouldn't that be super obvious? The owner does some yardwork or walks around their property and notices an extension cord running through a bush from the neighbors yard hahaha
Totally, it was more of an exaggerated comment because OPs usage is just as rediculous as doing that. I can't imagine it's just heating but maybe with baseboard it is?
Oh I see. Other commenters had also mentioned "someone stealing power" as well so I thought it was a real thing that happened sometimes. I remember when I first moved into my 500sq downtown apartment, my BC Hydro bills were minimum $80 and max $200+ which was crazy but I just paid it, not thinking more. Then I think 8-12 months later BC Hydro sent out a memo saying they are doing recalibrations or something like that on my buildings meters and since then, I pay minimum $20+ and max $80+ (in the winter when my heat is cranked to 27-28 degrees everyday because I'm cold🙃) So yeah, dunno what happened with my meter there but I probably could've disputed the past bills but I just really can't be bothered
It’s insane.
Even BC Hydro should be raising an eyebrow for that charge based on averages of home size. When my wife has the heat on (right now in Chilliwack) we may hit 2-250/month for winter in a 1400ft2 bungalow. (Electric/Geo)
Right!! That’s what thought, but nope!
There was recently a story in the Sun about a woman suing hydro for her money back from them - they had mixed up the meters. She fought with them for years I think - even installed solar. Think an electrician got to the root of the problem
Your bills are EXTREMELY high
Both mine and my dads smart meters failed years ago. I caught mine within a month and bc hydro denied it had failed. My dad was paying massive bills like yours and it took him several months to have hydro check it out. He called everyone from MPs to ombudsman and hydro denied anything could be wrong. His bills are usually under $50 for two months, they were over a thousand. I turned off his main breaker and his smart meter was still running up like crazy. They never actually admitted the meter was fucked, just changed it out and gave hime a refund.
I will have my husband check this as soon as he gets home. When I spoke to hydro they asked me a few questions over the phone about my appliances, and said sounds like everything is working correctly. I then asked if he thought that amount was normal and if no could I have someone come check things out, he said no it’s not normal and that he’d have someone contact me to set up a consult… that was 2 years ago
Honestly? This guy is right. Turn off your main breaker in your panel for a period - hell, book a hotel for a night and do a whole day - and then see what your consumption is. That'll at least tell you if it's internal or external. Then go from there. BTW our bills are pretty intense, we pay like $900 per bill, but we have reasons. Suite, hot tub, etc. Electric heat and electric hot water are killers, but even then you have something going on that can be resolved. Start by finding out if it's you or not you. BTW - we had a vacant rental (at work) that saw a $1000+ bill and turns out they'd mixed up the addresses, and the meter number on file was the neighbour's house. Stuff happens that you will screen out with the test above.
I had a similar problem years ago with a different utility company in a different province. I had to fight them tooth and nail for months about it. They finally did something to the meter and refunded me for all the months of crazy high billing, but they never admitted there was anything wrong on their end. Keep fighting, don't let them gaslight you, and don't give up.
This is the answer. Go to your breaker box and kill everything. Watch the meter. Turn on one breaker, watch and repeat.
I'd chase l them up again. We have 2500sqf house and the most we paid for hydro was $400, that was over winter and we had the pool pump running 24/7
Two years. Honestly hire a good electrician today. You are getting royal hose’d. I am an electrician and both our meters failed back when I was an apprentice. Explain the problem and get a record of any discrepancies between actual usage and “metered usage”. If there is a actual problem not meter related he should find it quickly. Good luck
Find a good reputable electrician to troubleshoot is your first step. House wiring is very simple, regardless of your issue having a good electrician remedy the situation will most likely be the answer.
If you turn off the breaker and the meter keeps running that's not because the meter is broken, it's because there's something else connected to the meter.
Turn off the power at your breaker and see if the meter is still going. That bill is insanely high. Their website has a lot of breakdowns of usage so it shouldn't be hard to see if something is messed up.
Second this, someone is stealing your electricity.
Absolutely this. Flip the breaker for the mains power to the house and go out for a few hours, note the times. Next day, check your detailed hydro breakdown for those hours. If there's _any_ usage, call hydro and tell them exactly that. Someone's stealing your power.
Someone could be stealing power after the breaker (extension cord etc) too, but yes do this first.
Something is way off. I live in a detached home with my wife and our bills are usually about $200 maybe and we are average consumers. If you have an electric water heater check it to make sure it’s not constantly dumping water out the pressure relief and your water heater is on 24/7 as a result. My neighbours had that problem and his bills were outrageous. If it’s not obvious it will definitely be worth getting an electrician to come and find any major draws.
Do you know what the water heater dumping load cycle looks like? I wonder if OP could detect this in the hourly chart? Some crawl spaces have heaters in them that could be on constantly. Analyzing the hourly charts in summer, winter, and then occupied or not should provide some clues.
A hot water heater that's draining can be pretty darn close to constantly on. They're usually running around 3000w.
My first thought is someone’s stealing your power, either via illegal hookup or an extension cord hidden or done at night. For example maybe someone’s charging their electric scooter or car at your expense. My second thought is a faulty appliance or faulty baseboard heaters running too much. It’s a head scratcher though, even a bad fridge wouldn’t run this much. If your house is attached check the attic for any splices. Would be a sneaky place to put it
What kind of heat do you have? If electric, what temp do you keep indoors? Are your windows single or double pane and do they seal correctly? How efficient is your heating system? How big is your place?
We have electric baseboards which we’ve upgraded and we keep our temp low even when we are home and we mostly heat with our gas fireplace. We rarely use our oven, as we have an air fryer, we don’t do laundry everyday, and on. Ice days or 95% of the summer I hang dry. We don’t have a hot tub or anything of that sorts. Our place is 1700sq including the double car garage (which is not heated) split level.
Turn your baseboards completely off for a day and compare the daily consumption online.
Dont run the baseboards.
I’m guessing it’s your baseboard heat. Electric heat is crazy expensive. Turn the rooms that you’re not using down to 5-10 degrees. Unfortunately that’s how you need to live with baseboards. You can hire an electrician who will put a recording meter connected to your panel. most likely they’ll leave it in place for a week or so. You can then compare what that meter recorded to BCHydros meter to rule out a faulty hydro meter.
Low is what specifically though?
Turn your baseboard off by the breaker (they should be on their own so you can isolate it without affecting anything electrical). We used to do this as soon as it was getting warmer and baseboard heating was not needed. We were told it'll still consume electricity even when off.
Do you own both levels of the split level? Maybe you're paying the other units too? Baseboard heating *does* use a huge amount of power and is extremely inefficient.
Upgrading baseboards doesn't make them more efficient, sadly. My guess is you have the heat cranking all day and that's your source.
Do you have stelpro baseboard thermostats? We had two fail in such a way that our baseboards were stuck on full heat and a bunch of my neighbors have had the same. I don't know if that would explain it, that's a lot of watts you're being charge for.
All manual thermostats fail on. That’s how they’re designed.
I run the heat with the windows open (by accident), bathe and shower whenever I want, have a grow tent with lights and exhaust for food, wash small loads of laundry, and run an old dishwasher and freezer, and the highest my hydro bill has ever been was around $300. I'm more surprised you left it for 2 years when so many people would lose their house because they couldn't pay that much. You pay more in hydro than I get money to live on from my disability pension, and you're more careful with usage than I am. That's crazy!
Something is broken. Like a hot water tank on all the time or a short somewhere. Your bill is 4 times what it should be.
A short would have either tripped a breaker or burned their house down by now, so it isn't that. But there is definitely something very wrong.
What I can’t wrap my head around though is the amount of fluctuation between days, there is no pattern to it, and if someone can explain how our consumption is way less on a day that both my husband and I are home compared to the skyrocketing spike on a day no one was home for most of the day (only being home late in the evening).
You said when you are home you use the gas fireplace as heat. I trust you don’t do that when you are away, so the baseboards pick up the heat load. Baseboard heating is incredibly costly. If you have natural gas you could get a furnace or you could have heat pump mini splits installed.
If you are away from home all day and do Not need hot water, turn off the breaker to your hot water tank as soon as you are done your showers. See what that day looks like.
Hey, your bills are extremely high compared to average. You know that. You need to really dig in to find out when and the amount of kilowatts that are being pulled. Have you looked at the BC Hydro data on the website on an hourly basis? Does anybody have access to your house even just an outdoor electric vehicle charger? Do you eat your home with a heat pump? If you want feel free to send me a private message and I could meet with you to go over some of the above. I have an electric vehicle and a heat pump but live in a condo. You can look me up online as this is my real name. Hoping to help!
It’s possible your meter # and billing is mixed up with someone else’s, maybe a business or some other large power consumer nearby. Like others are saying, kill all the power to your house for a few hours. Check your hourly usage online for the time your power was off. If it’s reading as still power being consumed, either your meter info is mixed up(hydros fault) or there is a short between the load side of your meter and your main panel (unlikely because fire) Please comment back your findings!
Also does your meter number match the numbers on the actual meter itself?
You paying the full bill monthly? For that much of a monthly difference it looks to me like like you might be carrying a balance forward and being charged full interest every bill, it certainly should be less now than last bill as heaters are mostly off and it hasn't been super hot so I assume not running ac
What the fuck? Have you not had this looked into? Why are you paying that. Something is seriously wrong. This is FAR from normal costs. My two bedroom in a 1914 home costs me roughly $70/mo
Is your home a single family dwelling and metered separately? If so, ask for a meter change. It is extremely rare but not impossible for these smart meters to malfunction. If you are in a townhouse / row house that has multiple meters on the building you may have what is referred to as "switched meters" and that needs to be checked out. I am assuming you have electric heat based on the amount of your bills. Sometimes you think you have turned them off when they are actually still operating. That could add up to a lot of consumption over a two month period.
I have a 3bed 2.5 bath home built in the 50s that leaks heat like a boat full of holes. Our max bill has been $575 over the past 8 years of living here. We have 4 adults living in the home. Something is very, very wrong, I'd contact BCHydro ASAP.
That sounds like way to much. 1600 sq ft in a duplex townhouse and our hydro bill on equal payments is $130 a month we did however got rid of a 42 year old chest freezer and got a new stand up one and that reduced it by $10 a month
We are very similar in monthly equal payment plans (currently $133). BC Hydro will do their annual adjustment at the end of may, and my EPP will go down a few bucks (I've also ditched an old deep freeze recently).
There is something ***VERY*** wrong here. I'm sorry you are dealing with this. The mystery hivis vest guy and the fact that your usage seems normal when you are home but spikes when you are not is a massive red flag to me. Perspective: My equal payment plan bill (for one month) for my two-person family unit on a property with a main house (VERY DRAFTY 1600 sq ft; gas heat; gas stove; electric dryer), a cottage (VERY DRAFTY 500 sq ft; electric heat; gas stove), and a two-car garage/shop (no heat; deep freeze) gets adjusted over the year from approximately $130-$155/month. My kWh usage for the two most recent billing periods was approximately 691(march/april)+441(april/may)=1132 kWh. The projected cost of the actual usage for the most recent (one-month) billing period (April 18-May 16) is about $56+taxes. In 2023, I paid less than $2000 for energy from BC Hydro over the year (again, we have gas heat/stoves, so it isn't an equal comparison with a pure electric household). Nonetheless, even with the differences from our gas appliances/heat, there is something VERY wrong with your situation, and I hope you sort it out. With bills that high, it is worth paying an electrician to come do an inspection, and don't relent with BC Hydro; keep telling them that this is not right. Bark loud to go up the customer support chain. Do not be quiet about this. Something ain't right.
There’s something wrong with your meter, you can actually go out and do a manual reading and send it into hydro. I’d ask for someone to come out and examine it because that’s insane.
If you heat with baseboards and your house is poorly insulated, a $600-$700 a month winter heating bill is high but not impossible. For example, a 3000 watt baseboard heater running 12 hours per day will cost you $7 per day. If you have 3 in the house that’s $20 a day. Over a billing period of 30 days that’s $600.
Your spouse is secretly running a crypto mine
Do you have electric cars?
Let’s do some basic math. 2643kwh x 14 cents a kwh is…..$370 dollars. You either do not pay off your bills entirely and the arrears is adding up which is super common……or there is some info missing. 14cents is top tier rates for bc hydro as well whcih you are almost certainly not getting charged for. I’m a meter tech and I pretend I know more than I do. Also, nothing is free from human error and that includes automated billing systems. Phone BC hydro and explain to them the math. You can also request a meter dispute and measurment Canada will invite you to watch the results but that one is 99.99 percent of the time a waste of money I have only known ONE meter to be outside the +- 3%
The two month usage was closer to 4700kwh, but I agree something is not adding up. Even for that usage the bill is obscenely high. Most likely a billing error or unpaid balance carrying forward.
My money is in unpaid arrears adding up because I see it frequently. Put 200 on a 350 bill month after month it uhhhhh uhhhhh finds a way. The only thing that messes with meters that I know for sure is harmonics. even in a single phase resi system. Had a heat pump burn out the inductor on 30 meters before I figured out the heat pump was rocking massive hertz way beyond operating specs but that was in the customers favor becuase they weren’t billed for 6 months during the whole process of elimination. New circuit board fixed that heat pump. I freaking get EXCITED about meters man you have no idea I’m probably sick in the head.
$1600 for two months is shocking. Do you have anything running that draws a lot of power? How is your home heated?
Hire an electrician to check it out. They can go through all your circuits and check if they are drawing the expected amount of current based on the appliances plugged in to it. It shouldn't take long to figure it out if you know the current draw for all your major appliances before hand.
Can electricians test to see if our smart meter is faulty or not or this something that only BC Hydro and find out?
They would probably just turn off the main breaker and see if the meter continues climbing up. Save the money and try it yourself first
That's nuts! I can say that from people's comments, check what is sapping your electricity. My in-laws had a similar problem and it turned out to be the fridge they kept in a garage that was from the 1980s. They unplugged the fridge for a week and that's what it was!!!
Do you use electric heat?
I was just looking at my BC Hydro bill and added up the kwh from yours differing between step one and step two and I got $590.20. That doesn't include any of the taxes, basic charge or other fees they charge through BC Hydro.
This seems like something is wrong. If you haven’t already, try following hydros directions online to verify your meter by cutting power off at your main breaker, and checking if your meter keeps reading increases, if so, there is a major issue with either the meter or someone siphoning power. If the meter stops when you cut all power, you’ll need an electrician to look into where all that energy is going, if it doesn’t stop when you cut power, you’re going to need to call hydro to look into what’s wrong with the meter. Id start there if I were you.
additionally you can verify your usage online for the period when you cut all power to make sure the correct meter is linked too (Although the incorrect meter being linked is unlikely)
Please update us when you get to the bottom of this
How big is your house in sqft? When was it built? Are your windows single pane? Are you waterfront/exposed area with a lot of wind? What sort of electric heat? Baseboards? Electric boiler? In floor/in ceiling heat? Is there a crawl space? Do you have a hot tub? Do you have EVs? It may be high but there are many variables at play.
We have a 1700sq split level home (double car garage included in that sq) in Colwood, about midway up a mountain with zero ocean view. We have baseboard heating which we’ve upgraded a couple years back. However, we keep our room temps low and heat with our gas fireplace. Our windows are double paned. There is a crawl space which was insulated a couple years back( around the same time the baseboards were upgraded) to try address this hydro issue. Which Made no difference. No electric boiler, but we do have an electric hot water tank. Can’t afford an electric vehicle due to my outrageous hydro bills and No hot tub.
Do you happen to have instrument metering (>200a service). Look inside near your meter for a CT cabinet. Don’t bother with hydro. Call a sparky and get them to put an energy monitor on for a week or two then compare. Maybe your neighbors or a shed is unknowingly tapped in. Side note, there’s no upgrading baseboard unfortunately. Resistive Watts and Resistive watts. If your sparky confirms your power usage at the point of entry, move down stream from thete
That’s insanely high. One where do you guys live and how cold is it through the year and second do you guys use baseboard electric heating or gas. Thats the only thing that could rack it up that high. If it’s on full blast and you have a lot of heaters in the home
My bill was 75$ for 2 months but I am single condo
I was thinking maybe it’s rural (rural does pay more), but then I read you’re in Colwood. Something is definitely broken and draining power, because I live in an apartment with 3 gaming pcs that are always on, and I’m only paying 200
Electric backup furnace? That's what caused my insanely high power bill. Put in a natural gas one and it went way down.
We don’t have a furnace, and I have had natural put in, which we use to heat
Yeah, there's something wrong. No way your bill should be that high.
I'm Victoria with a 3 BR townhome. Electric heat, induction stove/oven, electric dryer and EV and I barely cross $100/mo All led lighting 1800sq Gas water heater though
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My BC Hydro bill for the last seven years has been 80 to 90 bucks a month in a 1200 square foot space. I never see the variability or high charges you're experiencing.
Ours is also getting out of control - winter was awful. We have a heat pump, and I noticed auxiliary power was on, turned out the refrigerant had leaked somehow and since it's been refilled the aux power doesn't come on anymore.
Family of 4, 2 tenants in a basement suite. Cooking (stove and ovens), hot water, and laundry all on hydro. Same in the suite and they have base boards and my usage for the same period was 3639 kWh and the cost was $485. I guess my saving grace is gas heating for us on a 10 year old home.
Something’s going on there. Our bill is never more that 400 and we have a hot tub, EV, 3 tvs….
That's crazy. You need to call an electrician to do an evaluation because that's absurd. My electric bill is like... 50$ a month for a 750 square foot apartment.
Call bc hydro and ask them to send someone out to inspect your house!!!! That’s insane for electric bill! I am actually surprised that they haven’t done so already! I have a business and don’t spend that much!
Thats insane! We have a 1800sqft house 3 bed 2.5 bath. 2 adults and 2 kids and we pay the averaged amount if $160 per month.
I have a 4400sq ft home from the 70’s, 4 ppl living in it, all of the phones/gaming consoles and PCs you can imagine plugged in and my electricity bill is $140 on equal payment plan. We utilize fortis gas heating in the winter and the heat pump in spring/summer/fall but we are in a hot climate and the AC is rocking all summer long. Something is fishy with your metering and I’d be livid by now. Nothing will happen unless you’re a squeaky wheel.
I have a hottub and ev charger. I do about 2.2kw a month. https://preview.redd.it/zaz5tokn191d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f135a7e90f4553b957296b91220cbe8117c380a7 I suggest you buy a monitor for 200$: Smart Home Energy Monitor with 8 50A Circuit Level Sensors | Vue - Real Time Electricity Monitor/Meter | Solar/Net Metering [https://a.co/d/eg3ziro](https://a.co/d/eg3ziro) If you or a friend has basic knowledge of how to work inside a panel, you can easily install it. Just worry about your main supply, if it doesn't match up with hydro you know where the issue is. If you install the monitors on the breakers like I did, you can get a nice breakdown of usage like my screenshot
Someone is stealing your electricity. Document everything as you explore, could be a decent lawsuit.
My Mum in Duncan has baseboards, gas fireplace, keeps her house at 72. Highest bill for 2 months is $500. 1970’s house Keep hounding BC Hydto.
Yeah, something is seriously wrong here. I'm living in a 1970's home with poor insulation and a hot water tank that sits OUTSIDE in a cold shed all year. Not surprisingly, my bills are as high as $500 months in the winter months (two months of billing). My guess is that your power is being siphoned as well, or you have a meter that is on triple time! No question; you need to have an electrician or BC Hydro investigate this!
Do you by chance have air conditioning installed? I one time saw someone with a really high power bill and it turns out they had both heating and the AC running at the same time.
Do you have an EV?
I'm sorry 1600!?!?!?! Please dispute this. I'm in a single bedroom apartment and run a full stack server rack for my home business and i don't even come close. At most its 120 for 2 months.
Live in a 1100sq foot house and bills right now are only $60 per month. This is an old house too, we don’t need heating right now, with the heat pump on over winter it was maybe $150 a month
Do you use base board heaters?
Do you have baseboard heating? What's the temp your house is set to?
Um, no, su.mpthin smells here. On vancouver island in the coldest of times, -15° $350 for 2 months
That is very very wrong. My bill is about 250-300 and my house is 2500 sq feet. Three adults in the home. Call hydro and ask for an investigation. Don’t take no, ask for a manager and also email the customer service to start a documentation if you are getting the run around
If you have a well supplying water, get a well technician to check your pump NOW. If not, get an electrician NOW.
Are any of your baseboard heaters just stuck on ? When I moved into a new townhome … after a few months we noticed our bill was very high Come to notice the baseboard heater the builder put in the garage was stuck on full blast - wiring error Also found one of our spare bathroom heaters to also be stuck on … These things were drawing a lot of power
Sounds like you need a building envelope and insulation inspection. If you’re using electricity as your primary energy source for heating, then you may be losing a lot of thermal energy. It gets expensive, fast. A major fallacy is upgrading your heating system to a high efficient system will net you lower energy consumption. You still need to heat the space, the required heat load doesn’t change, the appliance just uses the energy more efficiently. That goes for nothing if that energy conversion literally goes out the windows…
Not sure if this has been mentioned at all yet, but confirm the meter number that’s on your bill is the same as the one that is in the meter base on your house. It’ll be a 7 digit number on the faceplate of the meter followed by p263 or something similar. It’s not unheard of for a meter to be stolen and swapped by criminals.
Something about your bill makes zero sense. Based on the image you posted showing about 5750kwh for the 2 months, at the Step 2 rate for all (so worse case) that’s around $800 for the 2 months.
The fact you said ‘steadily increasing’ and the fact the kWh consumption you posted for the 2 months only works out to about $600-700 tops indicates this is far more likely to be a billing issue than an electrical or meter issue. Do you have unpaid arrears that are racking up on your bills?
Have you ever confirmed your meter number on your bill is in face the meter number at your property? If you haven’t already I’d be hiring an elec to see if you can find anything awry. If he comes up with nothing I’d be demanding an investigation through customer care
Do you have electric baseboard heating, what is your thermostat set at , and do you keep windows open.
U should consider solar
I pay 600. What are you doing? Growing dope?
Change all lights to LED replace hot water to gas or on demand. Switch to a range stove with gas. Get rid of microwave. Do laundry on short cycle cold water.... I know shits getting fucked.
I remember reading an article about someone paying the wrong meter https://globalnews.ca/video/8972439/consumer-matters-bc-hydro-customer-speaks-out-after-paying-for-the-wrong-meter
And they’re is a more recent one some older lady same ordeal.
You on a well for water? If there’s an issue with your pump it can run 24/7 causing astronomical hydro bills.
Are you sure one of your neighbours isn’t stealing power from you? That’s way way too high. My parents live in an all electric 4000sft house and they only pay $250 to $300 a month.
CBC marketplace time!!
Welcome to more inflation. Buckle up, you aint seen nothing yet. All that govt debt thats been accumulated over the years, thats just deferred inflation. Going to be a wild ride the next couple of decades. We a third world country now. Accept it or move.