Wide range in common area electric charges?
Any idea what could cause my 4-family common area/hall energy bill to vary so much? I’ve had anywhere from $60 to $160 from Con Ed. over the past year with no particular seasonal pattern. The building has hall lights, gas hot water heaters, gas/steam heat and that’s about it. The things we have in use…
Any idea what could cause my 4-family common area/hall energy bill to vary so much? I’ve had anywhere from $60 to $160 from Con Ed. over the past year with no particular seasonal pattern.
The building has hall lights, gas hot water heaters, gas/steam heat and that’s about it.
The things we have in use are the same things we always have in use year round so I don’t get why it might vary so much from month to month.
So if the usage doesn’t vary, why does the cost?
Any theories?
Energy bills do fluctuate from month to month. I truly don’t know why that is but they do.
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There are no contracts in the company so if you feel you aren’t saving money you can switch right back to your old provider with no penalties. If you refer customers and you remain one yourself you can reduce/eliminate your energy supply costs.
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I just picked up some light sensors. They screw in under your light bulb and turn on at dusk and off at a dawn or when ever you set them. They are as easy to put in as a light bulb.
I use to have a timer switch but it went wonky and stayed on all day.
Anyway they cost about 10 bucks at home depot and so far work great. Your PLP is 20% more than your home electric.
As for heating your common area. Many places don’t do it and use it as a cold porch.
and the billing rate should be EL-2 General, Small commercial which is not that much higher than residential.
I’d take what Dave in Bedstuy into account if you do find a miswiring that ConEd won’t fix it for you. Maybe as a second step consult with an electrician with what you did or didn’t determine first.
WCK Electric did mine and they are great.
Your readings are super duper high. When I was a new homeowner circuits to panels to meters were allover the place which is not uncommon in older houses. I updated the panel and supply to add the public light panel. Since then, my PLP kwh has been around 57-82 per month for three floor house for the use I posted above.
If, say an airconditioner was on the common light panel, it wouldn’t make sense that the bill would go down in July. Hmmm.
Do the checks like suggested above, if you can’t find the culprit, have ConEd check the meter is working and connected properly.
The issue that causes the meters to be switched is that typically the previous owners did work that wasn’t filed and changed floorplans around without re-routing all of the electric to the correct meters.
ConEd will not come out and change the meters without the whole thing being done properly. In my case the wiring was all run properly bot one of the bills is printed !st & 2nd floor when it is actually only the first floor (billing for correct usage) and the other bill is printed 3rd floor but actually serves the owner’s parlour & 3rd floor duplex. The Common Area (HCOB) is correctly wired as well (and is commercial rate).
You’ll need an electrician to sort out the circuits correctly.
Of course the way to check this is to see what breakers actually control what outlets/switches/etc.
Good Qs, Vinca- no central air or heat. No vacation in July. No electric baseboard heating.
I’m going to look into seeing if things are incorrectly metered- it seems like the only possibility.
I didn’t realize they were skyhigh, only that they were inconsistent.
Anyone else care to share kWh’s for common areas in a multifamily?
The numbers for your kWh usage are skyhigh. Standard usage for common areas in a brownstone multifamily comes in at less than 100 kWh/mo, including outdoor lighting. One apartment with many electrical/electronic appliances and devices will run under 200 kWh/mo., even with a meter multiplier. Was someone on vacation in July? Odd that usage is higher in winter-ish months. Do you have electric baseboard heating? Inefficient/improperly sized central air and heating? As suggested above, either meters are switched, service is not properly separated at meters (i.e. meter supposedly dedicated to common area is also supplying juice to one or more outlets elsewhere in building), or some appliance is constantly cycling.
Good ideas again- I am a new owner so don’t really have more than a year of bills to go off of.
Oh and nothing on a timer- all lights are on all the time.
Or, now looking at your monthly readings: are your lights on a timer? Seems you are using more energy in the darker months. The difference could be using lights for significantly longer during winter (June-August show lowest usage).