Cripes. The Dreaded Wednesday Morning Do Over

A reader read my earlier post this morning, and pointed out to me that the billing period for National Grid in January was 35 days, and in December it was only 25.  November had 34 days.

A hat I should have worn.

Duh, Wally.

I did not take the length of the billing period into account when figuring our electricity usage.  Very important number to have left out.

So, let me share what I re-figured.

Electricity for January 2013 was 866 kWh over 35 days for an average of 24.7 kWh/day.

Electricity for December 2012=  603 kWh over 25 days for an average of 24.1 kWh/day.  

A difference of only 0.6 kWh.  Whew.

Compared to December of 2011 when we used 723 kwh over 35 days for 20.6 kWh / day. There was the an increase in daily kWh of 14% between those two December months.

November was the month I could not explain the peak in usage until I went back, and saw that November had 34 days compared to Octobers 28 days.

Double duh.

Yes, there was still an increase in kWh from 18.53 / day in October to 24.5 / day in November, but the increase of 24.3% was not as great as I had originally thought.  Septembers was  18.79 / day.

So, it looks like as the season advanced, the kWh did increase.  In the summer the kWh were higher due to using the air conditioners.  During the heating season our electrical use should not increase as the temperature outside decreases, unless it is done voluntarily by using the portable heater on the porch, or the bathroom heater.  The porch heater can be turned off, and not used.  The bathroom heater is something that is a comfortable convenience, and I'm willing to spend a couple of dollars more to keep Mary from turning into the Ice Princess.  I'll let you know how the next billing period goes.

This goes to show exactly much how heating appliances can affect your energy consumption.

We used 7382 kWh in all of 2011, and 7623 kWh in 2012, but since the kWh cost was less for us, we actually saved $7.41 last year.

The best part of all this was besides staying about even with our electrical use for the 12 months, we did manage to save 147.6 gallons of oil, a 24.7% savings compared to 2011! At an average of $3.83 / gallon that comes to a $565.30 monetary savings.

Those savings could pay for a half a year of electricity service.

I knew there would be an in increase in electrical usage, how much I was not sure.  I also knew there would be a savings in our oil usage, and I did not know that either.

Now, I that have an idea of both, another Human System, the system of Tweakin' comes into play.  I will tweak our electrical consumption more.  We've already switched over to the new CFL bulbs in 95% of our lights, but there are still a couple of candelabra lights that need to be switched over.  These bulbs DO save energy, and money.

I'll look for more ways as the months go on.

Thanks again to the reader that pointed out the difference in billing periods.  I feel a better now that the numbers can be explained better.  I am glad we are still on track.

Everyone needs a hobby, and this will be mine until the warm weather comes back.