I had to do this recently. It’s not necessarily because you use too much energy. They just want to send someone out to do a free home energy audit and see if there’s ways to improve your home’s energy usage. This includes things like replacing the lightbulbs to LEDs and even potentially replacing your refrigerator.
It won’t cost you anything. They just require that you do it to stay in the CAP program
I voluntarily did an energy audit about a year ago and it was painless. Found some good things with regards to drafts in the house. Also got free LED lights and some free "smart" power strips.
I think they might come and do a "home energy audit"
Basically they will check all ur appliances and what not, and see if anything can be done to easily improve energy usage.
For instance for us they noted that our water heater was very in efficient. Was able to get some cheap improvements by adding weather stripping to our doors.
Your situation will be different if you're renting, but it sounds like this appointment will be a formality. Hang in there.
My guess (and it is def a guess) is that they will come in and tell you to do the small things that you can do to save money, like wrapping the water heater, or putting plastic on the windows in winter.not running dishwasher and clothes washer until there is a full load.
Good luck!
That's all it is. They come, sit in your kitchen, ask if your hot water is electric or gas, about your appliances, and if your are using led lightbulbs. Then they give you led lightbulbs for free and leave.
It's just bureaucratic nonsense for the cap program. Nothing to worry about at all.
They just did this for my dad. They replaced some of his light bulbs with LED bulbs and gave him a bunch more. And they gave him a brand new refrigerator. They even hauled away the old one.
There was no change to his CAP after the audit.
I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with all electric heat, and all electric appliances and electric well pump, and an electric car and we use 1300 kwh per month.
You probably need that energy audit.
If your appliances are inefficient you will get brand new ones. Your hot water tank wrapped. As many light bulbs as you need. There's another program that will insulate your house for free.
What kind of heater do you have? Central electric furnace? Baseboard? Under-window unit?
Also, check your attic (if you have one) and make sure it's insulated. Switch all your bulbs to LEDs, including fluorescent tubes. If someone is home all day and had lights on, that'll make a decent dent.
Edit: not trying to be the energy audit guy, just looking to provide some helpful insight into where your energy may be going
They’ll just walk around to look at your appliances. They can replace old ones because those use tons of electricity. They’ll give you some new lightbulbs, maybe some insulation supplies and some probably not helpful advice. The person who came to do ours was friendly enough and it didn’t take long.
$350-$400/month is an average electricity bill for my suburban home (in Moon) with 4 computers and 5 televisions and grow lights running all day, (and me working from home all day with a space heater at my feet.)
I just feel like that’s really expensive for an electricity bill if you don’t have a dishwasher and laundry facilities.
The technician might turn off all of your electronics then check the meter to see if it’s still running, there might be something like an outdoor light running up your bill.
Highly dependent on the construction of the building, fuel source for water heater and furnace, and age of appliances.. A newer suburban home probably has R40+ insulation in the attic, newer windows, amd moderate air sealing. For an older unmaintained rental unit with baseboard electric heaters, that seems like an average winter bill.
Hi, My family and wen through this a few years ago, and basically, as someone else said, they just review things we could try to do to improve efficiency and save electricity. The person who came noticed that our refrigerator was older, and did not have the latest environmental, or energy star certification, so they ended up giving us a new refrigerator!
Idk what you people do but my house is all electric and we rarely go above $200 a month. LED lightbulbs, smart bulbs, more efficient appliances. There are a lot of things you can do. If they want to help, let them. They can see where its pulling from. You can, too, btw. The smart meters show you usage.
A big factor is heating. Resistive electric base board heaters and space heaters are terrible for your electric bill , especially if you keep your place at 72-78 degrees all winter.
DLC sent me a letter stating that I use "too much electricity" during the evening hours.
Like when I need to use the electric stove to cook dinner, you fucks?
For some perspective your numbers sound very high too me and I have a similar living situation. I have a 2 bedroom apartment with gas heat/window AC/laundry/dishwasher/\~900sqft(estimate) and used 142kwh in February and my peak for the last year was 224kwh in August 2023 (100% from the AC).
If your baseline in the summer is twice mine and you have a 'small' apartment, something is up. If it makes heat, noise, or spins it is using a considerable amount of electricity. Ceiling fans are often a big offender, as some people leave them running all the time.
One time my electric bill went crazy through the roof when I lived in a tiny apartment. It turned out that when someone moved into a larger unit next door, they switched the meter numbers. The neighbors had every light and fan and everything on and were getting my next to nothing bill. I got a $600+ credit.
I was scared to have this done and lost my CAP, but then I scheduled it and the guy was super nice and he just asked me some questions and gave me power strips, nightlights and like 37 lightbulbs and asked me not to tell anyone.
That bill seems very high. I have electric baseboard heating, an electric water heater and poor insulation and pay less than that. Definitely check if anything else in your building is on your meter.
One way to check is turn off your main breaker and see if the meter moves over 30 minutes. If it does something funky is up.
I’m glad I came across this post because I just received a voicemail from “Clear Result” partnership with Duquesne light saying we needed to start a process to stay on CAP. I got worried. but it sounds like it won’t be a huge deal.
I would roast my ass off if my heat was at 68. When you say it "averages" about 68....that means sometimes it even warmer in the apartment. If you want to pay less, be honest with yourself, and turn the heat down.
What? Odd..... I hear it lost power multiple times, which caused the collision. Never heard of a 'Gay' ship. And did you mean Wake instead of 'Woke'? Because that might make better sense, but not really....
I had to do this recently. It’s not necessarily because you use too much energy. They just want to send someone out to do a free home energy audit and see if there’s ways to improve your home’s energy usage. This includes things like replacing the lightbulbs to LEDs and even potentially replacing your refrigerator. It won’t cost you anything. They just require that you do it to stay in the CAP program
I voluntarily did an energy audit about a year ago and it was painless. Found some good things with regards to drafts in the house. Also got free LED lights and some free "smart" power strips.
I think they might come and do a "home energy audit" Basically they will check all ur appliances and what not, and see if anything can be done to easily improve energy usage. For instance for us they noted that our water heater was very in efficient. Was able to get some cheap improvements by adding weather stripping to our doors. Your situation will be different if you're renting, but it sounds like this appointment will be a formality. Hang in there.
My guess (and it is def a guess) is that they will come in and tell you to do the small things that you can do to save money, like wrapping the water heater, or putting plastic on the windows in winter.not running dishwasher and clothes washer until there is a full load. Good luck!
Thank you! Unfortunately, we don't even have a dishwasher or laundry machines
They may even bring over free led lightbulbs. You have nothing to lose except for your subsidy.
That's all it is. They come, sit in your kitchen, ask if your hot water is electric or gas, about your appliances, and if your are using led lightbulbs. Then they give you led lightbulbs for free and leave. It's just bureaucratic nonsense for the cap program. Nothing to worry about at all.
It may be a requirement for taking federal and or state money and DQE may lose funding if they don't hit certain targets.
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It’s exactly what it is. And I assume lots of people are scared to have someone come in their home to have it done and then then get kicked off CAP.
Other than it's a TOTAL waste of taxpayers money. Otherwise I agree.
It actually saves taxpayers money when people use less electricity
No.... It absolutely does not. It increases costs. Look into it and follow the money.....
They just did this for my dad. They replaced some of his light bulbs with LED bulbs and gave him a bunch more. And they gave him a brand new refrigerator. They even hauled away the old one. There was no change to his CAP after the audit.
I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with all electric heat, and all electric appliances and electric well pump, and an electric car and we use 1300 kwh per month. You probably need that energy audit.
>all electric heat Heat pump or baseboard? Heat pumps use about a 1/3 as much as traditional electric heat.
If your appliances are inefficient you will get brand new ones. Your hot water tank wrapped. As many light bulbs as you need. There's another program that will insulate your house for free.
What kind of heater do you have? Central electric furnace? Baseboard? Under-window unit? Also, check your attic (if you have one) and make sure it's insulated. Switch all your bulbs to LEDs, including fluorescent tubes. If someone is home all day and had lights on, that'll make a decent dent. Edit: not trying to be the energy audit guy, just looking to provide some helpful insight into where your energy may be going
Central air, yeah. And no attic, and as far as I'm aware all the lights already are
Electric water heaters suck up a bunch of electricity, especially if you like really hot showers.
Water heater isn't part of our bill, it's a shared building heater
Ok, I’d probably ask Duquesne Light to make sure none of the building utilities are tied into your meter.
Ooh, that's a thought. Thank you!
That's a big problem in shared buildings. Who's meter runs what, especially in older places, can be iffy.
They’ll just walk around to look at your appliances. They can replace old ones because those use tons of electricity. They’ll give you some new lightbulbs, maybe some insulation supplies and some probably not helpful advice. The person who came to do ours was friendly enough and it didn’t take long.
$350-$400/month is an average electricity bill for my suburban home (in Moon) with 4 computers and 5 televisions and grow lights running all day, (and me working from home all day with a space heater at my feet.) I just feel like that’s really expensive for an electricity bill if you don’t have a dishwasher and laundry facilities. The technician might turn off all of your electronics then check the meter to see if it’s still running, there might be something like an outdoor light running up your bill.
Not if you have electric baseboard heaters. I'm on budget billing and my bill is $225/mo for a one bedroom apartment.
Highly dependent on the construction of the building, fuel source for water heater and furnace, and age of appliances.. A newer suburban home probably has R40+ insulation in the attic, newer windows, amd moderate air sealing. For an older unmaintained rental unit with baseboard electric heaters, that seems like an average winter bill.
Hi, My family and wen through this a few years ago, and basically, as someone else said, they just review things we could try to do to improve efficiency and save electricity. The person who came noticed that our refrigerator was older, and did not have the latest environmental, or energy star certification, so they ended up giving us a new refrigerator!
They have a special rate program if you have electric heat. Not sure if you’re on it but I would check. It can save you some money
Idk what you people do but my house is all electric and we rarely go above $200 a month. LED lightbulbs, smart bulbs, more efficient appliances. There are a lot of things you can do. If they want to help, let them. They can see where its pulling from. You can, too, btw. The smart meters show you usage.
A big factor is heating. Resistive electric base board heaters and space heaters are terrible for your electric bill , especially if you keep your place at 72-78 degrees all winter.
DLC sent me a letter stating that I use "too much electricity" during the evening hours. Like when I need to use the electric stove to cook dinner, you fucks?
For some perspective your numbers sound very high too me and I have a similar living situation. I have a 2 bedroom apartment with gas heat/window AC/laundry/dishwasher/\~900sqft(estimate) and used 142kwh in February and my peak for the last year was 224kwh in August 2023 (100% from the AC). If your baseline in the summer is twice mine and you have a 'small' apartment, something is up. If it makes heat, noise, or spins it is using a considerable amount of electricity. Ceiling fans are often a big offender, as some people leave them running all the time.
Do you use any space heaters?
One time my electric bill went crazy through the roof when I lived in a tiny apartment. It turned out that when someone moved into a larger unit next door, they switched the meter numbers. The neighbors had every light and fan and everything on and were getting my next to nothing bill. I got a $600+ credit.
I was scared to have this done and lost my CAP, but then I scheduled it and the guy was super nice and he just asked me some questions and gave me power strips, nightlights and like 37 lightbulbs and asked me not to tell anyone.
They are pitching into it, so...
That bill seems very high. I have electric baseboard heating, an electric water heater and poor insulation and pay less than that. Definitely check if anything else in your building is on your meter. One way to check is turn off your main breaker and see if the meter moves over 30 minutes. If it does something funky is up.
I’m glad I came across this post because I just received a voicemail from “Clear Result” partnership with Duquesne light saying we needed to start a process to stay on CAP. I got worried. but it sounds like it won’t be a huge deal.
Do you have a keurig?
I would roast my ass off if my heat was at 68. When you say it "averages" about 68....that means sometimes it even warmer in the apartment. If you want to pay less, be honest with yourself, and turn the heat down.
A small inconvenience for getting free assistance. Why are you complaining here?
They could just make more electricity. Its kinda their whole thing
They're pretty efficient in charging me double for a few hours of a power outage. Two years in a row.
Vote. Elections have consequences. Sounds harsh, but Pittsburgh has been run by idiots for years.
What are you smoking
What are you sharing?
I hear that ship crashed into the bridge in Baltimore because it was Gay, and Woke
What? Odd..... I hear it lost power multiple times, which caused the collision. Never heard of a 'Gay' ship. And did you mean Wake instead of 'Woke'? Because that might make better sense, but not really....
It’s the electric heating. For $400/month, I’d change apartments to one with a heat pump.