How much is your electricity bill?

[1979MD]

I am starting in September and wanted to know how much to expect to pay on my electricity bill. I've seen a few post but they are more than 2 years old.

Thanks

[twentyfrets]

I read somewhere that electricity is a "pre-paid" situation, so I was just wondering how that works...Thanks in advance!

[islandthrift]

You pay X amount and then you put the # on your meter. Once on your meter you have that X amount of energry credits. When you run low you go to the store and buy more credits. Students spend between $200 - $600 EC (about $75 - $225 US) a month depending on how much you run the electricity although surcharges have gone up recently so it may be more now. If you use the AC all the time, then you will be spending a lot but if you never run you will be spending very little. Most students are somewhere between.

[sarahtarah]

I'm hardly home, and when i am i only have my fan running, something else thats constant is my fridge, on a normal day when i dont watch tv, i spend about 13EC, and on the days i watch tv etc, its about 20EC

[Cuando2]

when i was down there dumbelec was the power company, and we paid for power just the same way we do here in teh US...you get a bill stating how much you owe per kwhr.

they knew we were foreigners, which to them, meant $$bags, so they rigged many of our meters and asked us to pay ridiculously high prices for power which was never stable and was frequently out half the time anyway. If I had to choose between what was worse, dumbelec or cable and worthless, I wouldn't be able to tell ya.

[lktm831]

i'm home a lot..i run the a/c a lot (all through the night.. a majority of the day).. i play music on my ipod docking station..i watch tv.. i charge my laptop..i cook in my toaster oven.. i have an electric kettle... i'd consider myself someone who uses electricity A LOT and so far this semester i've spent $2250EC on electricity. however i know ppo who spend just like $200EC a month and they're just home to sleep. it all depends on what kind of person you are..

like islandthrift had said..surge charges have gone up and it all depends on when you get electricity. it constantly fluctuates. one day you can pay $200EC and get 175units of electricity while another day you only get like 152. Its always changing...i went one day and bought my electricity as 2 transactions.. $200EC and $300EC. For $200EC i got 164 units and for $300EC i got 221units. My landlord said that often when you buy more they take more away for surge charges and junk; something nonsensical like that.

If you live in a house opposed to an apt complex you get more units for the amount you pay. I've gone with my friend who lives in a house who paid $100EC and got 98units and I only got 82.

[Aggiemd2b]

Iktm, when you say this semester when did that start? May? So you have spent roughly $843.00. Do you live in an apt, how large is it?

[NaggingWife]

it also depends on what kind of windows and AC you have. in our first place we had shutters and a window AC unit. we spent $h!t loads of money. (i was home all day with a hairy dog and newborn, so we ran it alot)

in our second place, which was smaller, we had real windows and one of those mounted AC systems in the wall...the monthly price went down by a large amount.

when we left the island they were just starting with the pre-paid deal.

[VSR]

It also depends on what level you set you AC to. If you set it at 10-20degrees, you're gonna spend a lot more than if you set your AC to 26degrees. A good tip is to set your AC to 27degrees (so the FAN on the AC unit is working and taking moisture out of the room, but the AC unit is not always on). And you can use another fan too if you want :)

Like everyone else said, it depends on lifestyle. If you want AC running 24hrs and you want to study at home its going to cost you minimum 20EC/24hrs.

Small things like tv, laptop, fan, etc dont take much power at all.

[lktm831]

Iktm, when you say this semester when did that start? May? So you have spent roughly $843.00. Do you live in an apt, how large is it?

yes "this semester" means starting in May..i live in a small apt..its more or less like a studio.