After a recent near-complete rebuild of my home—where we upgraded everything including electrical, plumbing, and added several HVAC units and water heaters—I've noticed something concerning. Despite all the energy-efficient upgrades and improvements, my power bill has nearly doubled compared to last year at this same time. I'm looking for advice on where to start troubleshooting this issue. I think a smart energy consumption monitoring system could help, but I'd love to hear what others think. What's the best way to tackle this? Should I focus on checking my energy consumption first, and if so, what kind of monitoring system do you recommend for someone with my electrical setup? Any other tips would be appreciated!
3 Answers
Considering you upgraded your electrical system and installed more equipment, it’s really important to look closely at your electric panels. The new additions, like water heaters and multiple HVAC units, can definitely increase your consumption. Make sure the panels are set up to handle this new load efficiently. If your old panels couldn’t support that much demand, you might be seeing power losses. Monitoring systems like Sense or Emporia can help you get precise readings of your consumption and even identify which appliances are using the most power.
First off, make sure your rate hasn’t changed since you locked it in. Sometimes, bills jump due to rate hikes rather than actual consumption increases. Once you’ve confirmed it’s not the rate, check how much energy you used last year at this time compared to now. Your utility company can give you those figures, which will help pinpoint where the spike started. You might just find a specific month or season that stands out and leads you to the culprit.
Good point, looking at specific months can really help. Sometimes, just a few extra appliances running can change everything.
It sounds like the increase might relate to the new setup. Did you add any major appliances or HVAC units during the rebuild? Those can draw a significant amount of power. Also, take a closer look at the square footage that you’re now heating or cooling. If you added areas like a basement or gym that are climate-controlled, that could be a big factor as well. Overall, try to keep track of how often those new systems are running and see if there’s a pattern with your bill.
Exactly! Those systems are great. They can help you spot energy hogs in your home.