[Tom Hannon]

Yes, PT- I turned the hot water heater off.

Lary---The bill was actually $157. I deducted $40 connect fee and $5 membership. Does having a de-humidistat help that much?

I keep the temp at 76. Maybe I'll adjust it to 77 and when away make it 82.

[JimJoe]

Originally Posted by Tom Hannon

Yes, PT- I turned the hot water heater off.

Lary---The bill was actually $157. I deducted $40 connect fee and $5 membership. Does having a de-humidistat help that much?

I keep the temp at 76. Maybe I'll adjust it to 77 and when away make it 82.

Be careful about letting it get too hot. If the humidity gets out of control, you will not like what you see when you get home.

[vj1213]

Tom, I just got mine..my therm. is at 74, my tv is on all the time, I run my washer & dryer & dishwasher frequently. My bill was $279.35

[laryb]

Tom, I'm told it does, but since I haven't been there full time yet it's just my opinion. The de-humidstat tells the air to go on when the humidity reaches a set point, not by temp, so it goes on a lot less. Since it's humidity that causes mold and the smell that goes with it, you shouldn't worry about how hot it gets, but how humid it gets. When we came in for a couple of days last weekend the temp inside was 89F, and every thing smelled fine and no visible mold or mildew. Now if you plan on never being away for extended periods, then you probably don't need one. On the other hand, it's only $75 installed, so it might be worth it in the long run.

[golfnut]

I'm surprised at all the settings in the mid to low 70's, we keep our house set at 80 and it is very comfortable. Setting at 80 when you are gone IMHO is too high, 82 should be sufficient, but as others have said a humidistat is the way to go. Also, gas water heaters can be shut off when u are gone....gn

[jblum8156]

Originally Posted by red tail

im in a cyv all electric and keep thermostsat on 73. my bill for the last 2 months has been $250. we have an older unit so not very energy efficient.

Wow! that's twice as much as I'm paying in a 3 brm designer with the thermostat at 78

[punkpup]

Originally Posted by Pturner

BTW, Did you turn water heater off/low when you left?

Ours is gas, so we can't turn ours off, but we do keep it on very low setting when not there.

There should be a "Vacation" setting on your gas water heater which basically keeps the pilot lit while you're away. I know of some folks who completely turn their water heaters off by turning the controls to the off position; if you do this be sure to turn the gas shutoff valve on the gas supply to the water heater OFF! The instructions for turning your water heater off/on are on the water heater itself. If you're hesitant to turn your gas appliances off because turning them back on is confusing remember the gas company is always happy to come turn them back on for you.

[Carla B]

Wow, and I was upset about our bill for the month ended 9/06. It was the highest we've received in our two years here, $169. Last year's bill for the same period was $142 and we were here both months all the time. We have an all-electric Lantana and use the oven and range daily.

I too think that it must be the air conditioner usage that drives up the bill. We keep the thermostat at 79 deg. when we're here and 83 when gone in the summer and 55 when gone during the winter. When company comes we'll set it at 77 at night to make them feel more comfortable. We moved here from south Florida and used the same settings there for seven years without any problem whatsoever with mold or mildew.

[laryb]

Originally Posted by JimJoe

Be careful about letting it get too hot. If the humidity gets out of control, you will not like what you see when you get home.

True, you don't want to let it get to hot, but with the de-humidistat, the humidity doesn't go above my 56% setting. From what I'm told, mold doesn't grow below 60% / 65%. When the humidity goes above the set point, the AC goes on and cools the house while lowering the humidity, so I think the heat wouldn't get out of hand. Now I might be totally off base with my thinking, so if somebody out there really knows what their talking about, let us know.

[mrdills]

Our last bill was 123.00 and we have a all electric house, I live in Hacienda Village and have Progressive energy. I keep our thermostat at 80, I guess I can't complain.

[golfnut]

i'm with you mrdills, we never set our thermostat below 80 (except in the winter we set it at 70), our electric bill has never been over $100....gn

[Minnesotalyn]

Hey Tom, Our guy in the Villages also told us when we put the money down on the lot, that when we started to build our house and the electric was put in we would be charged for their use.

[bluedog103]

Originally Posted by Tom Hannon

WE were in our new home for 7 days. We just received our first electic bill. OUCH! After the first time start up charge and deductiong the $40 - our bill cost $100. What would it be if we lived in it all month? We don't have any television yet nor have we used our electric oven. One load of wash and one dishwaher run. Kept the temp at 76 for the week we were there. We set it at 80 after we left for NY. What is the average electric bill for a designer home (IRIS).

Tom, we closed on our Wisteria in March. We only stayed in our house for about 1 1/2 weeks before we returned to NY.
I just checked our bills. The first one, which I guess included the construction electricity was $41.00. The bill was actually higher because of the extras such as the membership and the surge protector, which we opted to buy instead of rent but the actual electricity was $41.00.
We had a humidistat installed by Handi, a member of TOTV. The humidistat cost $75.00 which was probably the best 75 bucks I've spent on the house.
Hope this helps. These are real numbers which I just verified.

[pooh]

One thing I've noticed in the 4 years I've lived here....people who live or have lived in a warmer climate before moving here might keep their indoor temp setting a bit higher than people who have come from cooler climates (places with cold winter specifically.) Personally, I've upped the temp each summer and don't seem to have a problem. It's at 78 this summer...who knows, maybe next summer it will be 79....

[Tom Hannon]

Originally Posted by Minnesotalyn

Hey Tom, Our guy in the Villages also told us when we put the money down on the lot, that when we started to build our house and the electric was put in we would be charged for their use.

Member Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Hugo, Minnesota
Posts: 60



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Minnesotta said- Hey Tom, Our guy in the Villages also told us when we put the money down on the lot, that when we started to build our house and the electric was put in we would be charged for their use.

My house was a speck house and aside from some cleanup the house was complete. Maybe the electric used for cleanup was added to my bill? I guess I will know better when next months bill arrives.