You don't want to have to replace anything until it drops dead--they you MUST have it & you really are in no position to negotiate

Be prepared to move out of your house if the AC craps out and has to be replaced, happened to use back in 95 when we were in St.Pete

Seco Electric Bill
 

Double pane windows. AC unit serviced right after we moved in. Will be checked 2x per year per contract. It probably isn't very efficient. Keep thermostat at a steady 78 degrees and keep blinds closed when sun coming in.

I had friend over and try to lower my temp to 72 and it took awhile to get several degrees lower. I thought I had a problem.

I had my A/C checked by Chuck Farrell and he said everything was fine. He said even newer units were having problems in this extreme heat. My unit is 18 years old.

I said it must have one foot on the banana peel and the other foot in the coffin. :D He recommended having it replaced in the winter months and to watch my bills as they will be higher than usual in this extremely hot summer.

Man, it's been hot, hot, hot. :smiley:

Seco Electric Bill
 

Don't care, my 327 is iron [emoji51] actually it's a 331 ( .030 over )

We just moved from Jersey, our electric bill on the budget plan was $220 a month and the Oil bill which also supplied the hot water averaged $3600 per year. Total $6240 a year. $520 a month and I don't know the square footage. PSE&G was the electric provider...a fantastic company. They gave our power back 4 days after The Sandy Storm. Great stock to own....always steady with penny's from heaven.

Had a 336, .060 over-knocked out 538 HP with that engine--not streetable- was an 8500 RPM drag car only

Here is a site for heating and cooling degree days comparison years for any zip code. For zip code 32162, it was only 2% hotter for June 2015, than June 2016. So that leaves setting thermostats lower this year versus last year, not having humidistat set for those who have them at 50% as recommended. AC doesn't have to be set as low than. Maybe an appliance was added, company was over this year which takes more AC to keep house cooler, more water heater usage ,more dishwasher usage, lights on more...,Many variables have to be considered. My bill was up about 9% this month versus last year but I also added a spa last month, so pretty flat.
Btw. Insulating my garage door dropped the heat in garage significantly. I also have a thermal gun and it showed 115+ before on door versus 90s now.

Weather Data Depot: free downloads of heating & cooling degree days
Monthly Degree Day Comparison (Station: FLVI View Map)
Base Year (2015) Comparison Year (2016) Comparison Percentages
Month HDD CDD TDD HDD CDD TDD HDD CDD TDD
January 116 75 191 148 53 201 27% -29% 5%
February 117 34 151 97 97 194 -17% 185% 28%
March 9 339 348 9 318 327 -6% -6%
April 0 475 475 0 380 380 -20% -20%
May 0 564 564 0 537 537 -4% -4%
June 0 681 681 0 696 696 2% 2%
July 0 710 710
August 0 707 707
September 0 631 631
October 0 463 463
November 6 419 425
December 8 345 353
Through June 242 2168 2410 254 2081 2335 5% -4% -3%
Annual Total 256 5443 5699

Just moved in.... Des SECO put you on a budget plan after a year or is it an actual bill every month. Have been worried about the bill... I think the A/C is running 100% of the time!!! :-O

Welcome, sunset seeker(s)! I've been here 9 years and have never been offered a budget plan so I don't think so. You are not going to have such a swing in temperatures as up North so no "surprise" high bills. You will like your bill during the winter down here.

Humidistat
 

Do you have a humidistat? I think you would save a bit more if you had one.

My SECO bill went up last month for no real reason so I called and asked them to come re-read my meter. They did and realized they made a mistake. They credited my account $57. Might be worth a call to SECO!!!

There's a lot of variable, not all thermostats read the same temp. maybe you have it set the same but it's really a degree lower. Also check the insulation in the attic, sometimes they do a terrible job of covering the entire attic

Twice SECO has misread our meter. After we got the really high bills we checked the meter ourselves and the readings were much lower. A call to SECO straightened the matter out.

Our thermostat is also two degrees off. When it registers 80 deg. it really is 78 deg. in the room.

There is a good chance you can go into one of the maintenance panels on your thermostat and apply an adjustment to have it display the correct temperature. Google the model of thermostat and you can find the instruction manual on-line.

I'm sure some of it has to do with all levels of govt. with the rise of everything. We really don't have a choice what they charge for electricity, it's regulated by our local & state govt. & I'm sure it's passed down from higher up. Right now I'm vacationing at Robson Ranch in Texas & the electric bills are never over 50 to $70. a month, depending on the size of your house. If it's over say $50. a month, they pay it & they do what they say because my daughter & grand daughter live in the area. So I'm sure you'll just have to suck it up & pay it. It's really a shame our govt's don't give us retirees & the ones that are on a fixed income some kind of a break. They're going to get our retirements & pensions somehow.