# electricity bills



## BurtonReptiles (May 25, 2011)

whats your highest bill thanks to your pets


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## Kurto (May 25, 2011)

currently on about $1100 a quarter. there's only 2 people in the house!


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## BurtonReptiles (May 26, 2011)

Wow that massive


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## marteed (May 26, 2011)

OMG, I complain about mine at $300, its just myself and my children (8 & 3)


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## Ozzie Python (May 26, 2011)

$650 for the quarter. bills gone up even though according to the reads i used less power than the previous billing periods. I wonder if the power companies will be happy if i increase my rates to go out and maintain their pipelines for them?


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## Lovemyreptiles (May 26, 2011)

Last one was $840 7 people ,10 enclosures + 1 hatchie rack


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## CrystalMoon (May 26, 2011)

I was mortified my last Quarter was $520.00 it is usually around $350.00 I have myself, 2 other adults and 1 power sucking Little Girl(will not turn lights off aarrgghh)
Bad Dad used his aircon 24/7 though. I am hoping it will be better this quarter(I turned off their grog fridge lol and wont allow heaters on/except in the bathroom for a short while)sounds harsh but they dont pay the bill LOL


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## Pines (May 26, 2011)

$1600 a quarter

Pines


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## Carnelian (May 26, 2011)

Our summer ones are bad, $830 was the last. We have 6 people at home with 5 home all day doing home schooling. Winter is usually about $400 but I can imagine that is going to increase now with extra additions.


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## saximus (May 26, 2011)

Luckily I don't pay the power bill (I pay the mortgage instead :/). How much do you guys think your animals contribute to these bills?


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## CrystalMoon (May 26, 2011)

saximus said:


> Luckily I don't pay the power bill (I pay the mortgage instead :/). How much do you guys think your animals contribute to these bills?


when I had 3 big fish tanks with lights and heaters, it was noticeable when I got rid of them... I only have one heat pad now, so think the humans are the power
leech's now


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## Grunter023 (May 26, 2011)

Mine is about $1600 but gets well over $2000 for the winter quarter (This includes gas for cooking and ducted gas heating). I dread my bill arriving in the mail. Thats 2 adults 3 kids and all the reptiles.


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## BurtonReptiles (May 26, 2011)

Far out is that every 3 months?


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## Grunter023 (May 26, 2011)

sure is


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## solar 17 (May 26, 2011)

last quarter [just gone] $1508.00.....


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## Defective (May 26, 2011)

just come..$600. thats with 3 humans, 2 enclosures, mum running her fan every night all night, and since the cold weather came through having a bar heater on most nights. not to shabby, we split the bill and and pay in one shot.


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## beeman (May 26, 2011)

Usually around $1500/quater


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## BurtonReptiles (May 26, 2011)

Wow how you afford that I barley afford 400


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## Defective (May 26, 2011)

a good job and the ability to budget. plus getting in good with your electric company and splitting up the amounts you pay over a number of weeks


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## snakelady-viper (May 26, 2011)

Mines around the $750 mark with two adults and lots of reptiles


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## Bez84 (May 26, 2011)

Mines around $300-$400/quarter thats one adult and the reptile room.. i use cheap forms of heating as in low wattage bulbs , heat cords, ive never used anything with a higher wattage then 60w in the 10 years ive been keeping....thick curtains on the windows to retain heat.. its a small room filled wall to wall enclosures etc.
Prob the biggest power drain in an average day is my computer as it on most of the day/night lol.


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## dossy (May 26, 2011)

we cut down our power useage by about 1/3 and we are still paying more then last year. i think power should be caped at one price


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## Tristan (May 26, 2011)

dossy said:


> we cut down our power useage by about 1/3 and we are still paying more then last year. i think power should be caped at one price


 
capped? so people earning 20-30K pay the same amount as people earning 100K even tho the people earning more probably have bigger houses, bigger TV's more appliances and generally use more electricity......

mines about $150ish goes up and down, i have been changing out old lights for more efficient ones etc


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## LiamJay (May 26, 2011)

What's more energy efficient - a regular of a ceramic heat lamp?


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## reptileKev81 (May 26, 2011)

Our last quarter was about $800. That for me, my brother+mum n dad.
Got only one enclosure, but think most of the charges come from all the computer equipment, hehe
We have 3 pc's, 2 which practically run 24/7, and another 2 laptops, one of those running nearly 24/7 (it goes to sleep when I do or when I go out if its not downloading, haha)
I think its about time the planet went solar, even just partially. Save our money while saving our planet. There's an indian family up the road with solar panels on their roof. I wonder how much they are saving compared to our bill?

I look forward to moving out again. Power was all you can burn included in my $190pw rent, haha
Why is it that people renting don't pay the power bills?
Downside is the food is never as good as mums cooking


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## LiamJay (May 26, 2011)

reptileKev81 said:


> Power was all you can burn included in my $190pw rent, haha
> Why is it that people renting don't pay the power bills?



I rent and we pay for our electricity. Did you live in a share house for your last place? Most places include utilities (gas/electricity etc) in the price of the rent


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (May 26, 2011)

yeah, i am not sure what you mean renters dont pay power. we rent and ours is $1200 a quarter, havent had one since i got my snake, so dont know how much different it will be this time...


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## jham66 (May 26, 2011)

LiamJay said:


> What's more energy efficient - a regular of a ceramic heat lamp?


 

The wattage is what determines the power guzzling. If you have a 100W regular heat bulb it will draw the same as a 100W ceramic. You have to look at unconventional ways of heating to change the amount of draw on your power bill. I personally like the heat cords. Puts the heat down low where the snake is instead of heating the air in the enclosure. When heating the air the majority of it will rise before giving any warmth to the snake. I am getting away with a 25W heat cord in a 4ft tank. The cold end is cold (but the snake still uses it) and the hot end is toasty, right where my snakes are.


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## reptileKev81 (May 26, 2011)

I rented a one bedroom unit, and I didn't have to pay utilities. That was a while ago though. Same deal with my mate. The utilities bill were paid by the landlord. Back in those days though I was rarely home and the only appliance using power were my TV and PC on the rare occasion I was home other then sleeping time, haha

So you guys are telling me that power and water are no longer paid by your landlord?


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## Twitch_80 (May 26, 2011)

1200 ish but thats with a lot of fish tanks. Just bought solar so Im hoping it helps when its installed. I started a thread on it a while ago.


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## ianinoz (May 26, 2011)

Latest 1/4ly bill $390. FULL ELECTRIC HOME

3 BR hardyplank and tile home - insulated cealings and wall cavities, full blockout blinds on all windows that go down once sun sets .... makes a huge difference.

2 adults. 
Lots of baking (pies, roasts).
8kW split reverse cycle inverter aircon runs 24/7 in winter and summer.
Tastic 4 heat lamp in bathroom that runs about 60min before showers or baths.

I guess our power consumption is pretty good compared with some of you others.
We don't go out of our way to turn off stuff or lights when we are not in the room.


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## PSimmo (May 26, 2011)

1400-1500 a quarter here.
Me, my wife and 2 teenage daughters....that like to stretch their bloody showers to 20 mins


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (May 26, 2011)

reptileKev81 said:


> I rented a one bedroom unit, and I didn't have to pay utilities. That was a while ago though. Same deal with my mate. The utilities bill were paid by the landlord. Back in those days though I was rarely home and the only appliance using power were my TV and PC on the rare occasion I was home other then sleeping time, haha
> 
> So you guys are telling me that power and water are no longer paid by your landlord?


 

You get the occasional place that advertises it ,usually private rentals, if renting through a real estate hardly ever, and even then you are really still paying for popwer, its just factored into your rent every week. eg, rent total $190, and say $20 a week of that would go towards power. Nothings for free, especially not power...


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## reptileKev81 (May 26, 2011)

newtolovingsnake said:


> You get the occasional place that advertises it ,usually private rentals, if renting through a real estate hardly ever, and even then you are really still paying for popwer, its just factored into your rent every week. eg, rent total $190, and say $20 a week of that would go towards power. Nothings for free, especially not power...


 
True, but if I were a massive power user, say 5 enclosures and a massive hydroponic system running, that $190 rent per week would be great value. Landlords are lucky I wasn't a bastard, even though they were major dirtbags with a capital "F"! That's probably why these rentals are so rare these days? People abusing it to that extent would cause property owners to rent out at a loss. Would be nice with todays prices though, oh wells...


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## longirostris (May 27, 2011)

Try keeping a large collection of dragons. My power costs run at $1200 per month and thats a contracted rate with the electricity supplier.


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## wranga (May 27, 2011)

all up about $1400 a quarter.


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## BurtonReptiles (May 29, 2011)

far out... how you guys do it


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (May 29, 2011)

xMattybx said:


> far out... how you guys do it


 
$50 a week comes out of hubby's pay a week automatically, still have an excess at the end of a quarter, but its not as bad as it could be..


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## BurtonReptiles (May 29, 2011)

newtolovingsnake said:


> $50 a week comes out of hubby's pay a week automatically, still have an excess at the end of a quarter, but its not as bad as it could be..


 true that smart way of doing it .. we have been thinking of doing it that way


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (May 29, 2011)

we dont even notice its gone. its good.


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## BurtonReptiles (May 29, 2011)

i guess that the price of running so many lamps and heat matts


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## Russ2 (Jun 3, 2011)

$290 to $350 a quarter
17 enclosures
60 tub hatchy rack
24 tub adult rack
sement filled brick reptile room
double insulated roofs
and 1.5kw solar system


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## phantomreptiles (Jun 4, 2011)

$450 a quarter, 20 odd heating lamps, flatmate that runs a computer and bar heater now winter 24/7. Given some of the other responses I feel vv grateful. Though most of my enclosures are in my reptile room and it maintains temp quite well.


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (Jun 5, 2011)

the power bills in Sydney are ridiculous! and so varied from suburb to suburb. We also get excess water of $180/quarter


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## timantula (Jun 5, 2011)

1200-1500 per qtr..


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## Recharge (Jun 5, 2011)

and just think, power has gone up another 6% this month!
it's starting to get ridiculous! (their excuse is that we didn't use enough power over summer! lol so much for saving power! buggers*


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## sesa-sayin (Jun 5, 2011)

$1'200.00 per winter quarterallowing myself nothing but hot-wate rsystem on for 1 hour per week, that means hot/warm showers on 2 days per week..cold showers 5 days per week..i am not lieing to you, but i have a hot-house also, and 2 rooms for herps, fish tanks....


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## Recharge (Jun 5, 2011)

so you mean you use aircon a lot? you're not JUST using your hot water system there.
three biggest killers for power bills, hot water, fridge and aircon.
gas heating would probably be a lot cheaper (depend on your tank size/ direct line and supplier, it's worth checking into)


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## Rissa (Jun 5, 2011)

Mine is around $600 a quarter, I pay it $50 a week and I have a deal with the power company that every 6 months they credit me with a bonus $50- $75 for maintaining the regular weekly payments.


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## Mayo (Jun 5, 2011)

Ergon pays me about $100 per quarter, 3kw solar system is more than paying for it's self. When we looked into it, we found it was cheaper to pay the solar system off than pay our electricity bill each quarter. 2 adults, 2 kids and a hell of a lot of animals. If you look into it, and can manage the up front fee's I'm sure most of you can benefit from installing a system.


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## Sezzzzzzzzz (Jun 5, 2011)

Rissa said:


> Mine is around $600 a quarter, I pay it $50 a week and I have a deal with the power company that every 6 months they credit me with a bonus $50- $75 for maintaining the regular weekly payments.


 
what company are you with Rissa? I may have to hit mine up for this deal!


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## Rissa (Jun 5, 2011)

newtolovingsnake said:


> what company are you with Rissa? I may have to hit mine up for this deal!



I am with energy Australia.



Mayo said:


> Ergon pays me about $100 per quarter, 3kw solar system is more than paying for it's self. When we looked into it, we found it was cheaper to pay the solar system off than pay our electricity bill each quarter. 2 adults, 2 kids and a hell of a lot of animals. If you look into it, and can manage the up front fee's I'm sure most of you can benefit from installing a system.


 
Do you have any information on the company that you can pm me a link for please?
I have solar hot water but it has never seemed to provide me with the hot water we need so I am still having the water system heat 24/7.


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## Mayo (Jun 6, 2011)

Hey Rissa try Tom at Cleaner energy 0435862636 he looked after us really well. Ran through our power bill looking at our power usage and what size system we would need to neutralize our power bills. They had a 3yr interest free payment option that was cheaper than our current power bills which won us over. If you live on a budget I think it is the only way to go.


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## Twitch_80 (Jun 6, 2011)

Got my solar wired and turned on today  Hoping it kills half or more of the bill.


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