Clearly AMEREN does not believe there is a problem. They could replace the meter to be sure, but that would cost them money so you need to come up with some data that proves them wrong. Get a Kill-a-Watt and test all your stuff to see how much it is pulling. Could be a compressor on the fridge running way too much, whatever.

I'd follow their suggestion and talk to the maintenance supervisor and find out which appliance is pulling more than it should.

Now that we know that you are using more power than your neighboors you need to start looking at device in the home. Get a Kill-A-Watt on that AC unit stat.

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C(-)ris
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Do you know when the meters were replaced? Your bill history shows similar usage increases in 2016.

Have you looked at the meter? My smart meter has an LCD display that cycles through a series of numbers, Total KWH used (the meter reading), voltage, current KWH usage. So it's like a whole house Kill-a-watt.

If yours is similar, you could turn everything significant off, read the meter and see if it's reflecting close to zero, and then turn things on one at a time by themselves to see how much then add. Things like the fridge and AC use different amounts depending on if the compressor is running or not.

In the most recent billing period (7/11/17) your average continuous usage was 1665 watts (1279 KWH / 29 days / 24 hours).
A year ago (7/14/16) it was 2424 watts
Your lowest usage was (4/11/17) where it was 659 watts.

So, you've increased by about 1000 watts on a continuous basis from 3 months ago, which doesn't seem unreasonable for an AC running continuously set at 72 during June/July.

And your total cost per KWH was $0.1187 for the 7/11/17 bill, and $0.1204 for the 9/14/15 bill, so there hasn't been a drastic change in rates contributing to this.

But still trying to figure out what that baseline usage without the AC is might help find something that you didn't expect that's drawing power.

Also, what are the other appliances that you have, are they all electric?

Heat
Water Heater
Stove top
Oven
Clothes Dryer
Toaster Oven

Looking at your bills, the $65/month average billing plan never reflected reality, the lowest bill you ever had was $62, so saying that you used to pay $65 isn't a valid comparison, you need to compare the actual monthly costs shown in the usage summaries that you posted, and those really show that it's higher in the warmer months, which makes the AC usage the likely contributor.

When you compare to neighbors, you need to understand their usage pattern too. Is their AC on 24/7 set at 72, or do they leave the apt for work during the day and turn it off or adjust the temp setting when not there.

Electric includes heat, stove, oven, microwave, fridge. I don't know about water heater. I don't have one in my apartment so I'm not sure how that works. The smart meters were changed out in August of 2016. I will talk more in depth with my neighbors about their usage including AC of course and I'll get one of those Kill-A-Watt thingies if that will help.

I appreciate everyone's help with this!

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GGD
Also, what are the other appliances that you have, are they all electric?

Heat
Water Heater
Stove top
Oven
Clothes Dryer
Toaster Oven

Looking at your bills, the $65/month average billing plan never reflected reality, the lowest bill you ever had was $62, so saying that you used to pay $65 isn't a valid comparison, you need to compare the actual monthly costs shown in the usage summaries that you posted, and those really show that it's higher in the warmer months, which makes the AC usage the likely contributor.

When you compare to neighbors, you need to understand their usage pattern too. Is their AC on 24/7 set at 72, or do they leave the apt for work during the day and turn it off or adjust the temp setting when not there.

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is this what I'm looking for?

Belkin Conserve Insight Energy Use Monitor

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This is the product I have, and generally what people think of when mentioning Kill-A-Watt

[www.amazon.com]

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Jerry®
is this what I'm looking for?

Belkin Conserve Insight Energy Use Monitor

Any chance community lighting for your floor or building is being added to your bill?

From your charts:
Total electric charges, 14 July 2016: $216.45
Total electric charges, 11 July 2017: $151.81

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Don't see any bill close to $65 during the summer months. This just seems to be your usage pattern, way higher in June/July/August. AC will certainly do that.

In an apartment we lived in almost 30 years ago the exhaust fan in the bathroom ran whenever the light was on. It was a brand new building and the fan sounded like it was from a wind tunnel. It would vent the cold air very quickly, sucking in hot air wherever it could, especially from under our apartment's entrance door to the building's hallway (which was not air conditioned.). But the A/C unit was small, sized small to run a lot to remove humidity. I installed a separate switch to operate the bathroom fan only when we wanted it to run. This cut down on our A/C issues.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2017 03:44PM by Speedy.

Quote
TL
Any chance community lighting for your floor or building is being added to your bill?

That's what I'm wondering as well.

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Quote
A-Polly
From your charts:
Total electric charges, 14 July 2016: $216.45
Total electric charges, 11 July 2017: $151.81

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Don't see any bill close to $65 during the summer months. This just seems to be your usage pattern, way higher in June/July/August. AC will certainly do that.

It's not showing my bills/usage from when I moved in in 2015. And I just guesstimated the $65 - it was around that my first summer here after moving in.

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