First $500 electric bill

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mepcards

mepcards

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2015
350
mesquite,tx
Was running the pump 24hrs a day, but im back on the timer..Electric bill went from $385 to $509 within a month here in Dallas...I freaked out!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do have a two speed motor, but not sure if the slower speed is efficient enough....so ive backed off to running pool 12hrs a day...Hope it comes down a bit....IF NOT, then I at least have two more high bills to anticipate before September always seems to drastically decline..I believe the electric company just charges what they want..lol
 
Look on the bill and see what the per kilowatt charge is. Most electric companies bump up 2-3 cents per kilowatt hour in the summer. $124.00 jump could be a combination of increased usage and increased rates. If you are not locked into a contract agreement with your electric company you may want to look for a lower rate.
 
yea its like 13.5 cents per kw...Funny thing is we havnt done anything diff from the $385 bill....Pool was running 24hrs since april when I was dealing with algae problem..I decided to just leave it run 24hrs, and could live with a $385-$400 for a few months before pool season ends, but now im scared it will jump up even more now we finally hit 100..yes I need to shop around or get locked into a rate..
 
Yes, a 2 speed pump on low is significantly more efficient. It will move half the water and use one quarter of the electricity on low. You should run the pump on low for filtering. It makes the filter more efficient too.
 
I was gonna say, why are you running your pump so much?!?! You only need to run it long enough to skim the surface of debris and to filter a little. I run my pump on low about 6 hours a day, split into 3 different run times evenly spaced out. And I have an SWG to chlorinate! Before I had that, I only ran my pump 3 or 4 hours a day total. Of course I don't have any trees around putting stuff in my pool either, but still
 
I usually try and keep the a/c temp around 75, but recently been reducing to around 73 since we have started to reach 100...I compared by bills from last year at this time, and the highest bill was in the high 300's, so im assuming its the 24hr running of the pump, for last year I was only running about 6hrs a day...I know all pools and pumps are different, but I hate when I talk to other ppl who leave them on 24/7, and they say it raised their bill like 40-50 bucks...Im like how????????????????? And if you see the temp I try and keep the house, that's pretty good considering where we live...
 

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It's pretty easy to figure out how much that pump costs to run. Simply take the low wattage (for low speed) and multiply it by the cost per kw on your electric bill. (or high wattage for high speed)

On low, I think you will find it quite reasonable.
 
I feel your pain! Our first electric bill post pool was $421, significantly higher than its ever been. We had our pump running 24x7 for a few weeks and it was Hot, and our AC broke. Plus the well pump running almost 20 hours didn't help. It's easy to blame the filter, but it's probably not the culprit, lol. Spending time in the pool let's me keep the ac a few degrees higher. 94 degree pool water feels so much better than 94 degree air!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Are you on a Time Of Day (TOD) rate? Or is the utility charging a demand KW rate as well as kwh? If either of these are in effect, timing of your usage is critical.
 
I have no set rate, or contract with current electric company..We have so many, I really need to see about changing, or locking in a rate...I set my pump on lower setting, but the only downfall is that my fountain that is attached to my return jet is of course now weaker, and I rely on that to help keep the water cooler..We usually don't swim really until Saturday and sundays, so I can program to kick it up Friday night to start the cooling process..
 
In the Houston area there is a price shopping site that Centerpoint has called Truecost. It looks at your previous usage and the different rates available. It's a free service. I paid $0.081/KWhr this past billing cycle.
 
Your power company probably has a feature on their website where you can look at your historical usage from last year. You can check and see if your rate went up. Also if you have not had the a/c serviced in a few years you may want to look into having that done. Cleaning the evaporator coil annually helps the unit to run more efficiently.
 
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