How is everyone liking the New Smart Meter Billing with Hydro?

[Shwa Girl]

Is the heating in your house through electricity & not natural gas ???

If that's the case & on top of it your bill includes water ..so that might be the reason why your bill is so high .

All the other people whose bills are low have natural gas heating & the water heater is also natural gas water heater ( not electric )

Good point about the natural gas heating. Sure makes a difference in hydro bills. We also have equal billing gas bills.

[lilo0003]

We have been on TOD since May and it is a pain, but we have adjusted & now everything happends after 7. My oldest son is home at 3:30 so I can't expect him to sit in the dark & cold...or could I. We have fairly new appliances & cook with gas & have a gas dryer. These where expensive to make the switch but worth it in the long run. I replaced our old second fridge with a very small fridge that allows for a few extra deals. We use the timer on the diswasher to wash at midnight. Another crazy thing I do is when I am done cooking in the oven I open the door so the heat escapes. Our biggest saving was wickedly expensive,. but we did a total renovation of our basement (house was built in 1961) last year & both our heat & hydro dropped because everything is super efficent and super insulated.
I think the November 1st switch was the hardest as we need to use the hydro from 5-7 so there is no real way to minimize the hit.

[watergirl73]

No, we actually have a Polaris Water Heater and run on gas. Actually looks like our gas will cost us more this year compared to last and our hydro has went down just a bit. We are not on equal billing and yep the water is included. So essentially about 160.00 per month for hydro and water *well this bill)

We do have a large chest freezer that is not efficient and the basement is unfinished. We would like to pull the garage ceiling and spray foam next year as well as in the attic spaces. The stove is electric and thats on its way out with a reno. The washer and dryer we have 2 sets both electric one in the master washroom and one in the basement but should consider the gas dryer although we don't use it much. Our tele is an old tube tele but rarely watch it.

Our neighbours down the road had a bill of 396.00 for 2 months so comparable.

Hard to swollow those final figures when doing the yearly budget although this year when all is said and done all utilities and taxes will have cost us 21.00 more this year. I would like to find a way to improve that.

Thanks for your input! It's great to read how everyone makes changes to save a buck and thats what I love to learn as you can learn alot from your fellow sc'rs.

Is the heating in your house through electricity & not natural gas ???

If that's the case & on top of it your bill includes water ..so that might be the reason why your bill is so high .

All the other people whose bills are low have natural gas heating & the water heater is also natural gas water heater ( not electric )

[matty's mom]

I think that I have been one of the lucky ones. I have noticed a decrease. We have done some things for the house like re-insulated the attic. And, I am much more aware of how I do laundry, and cook. Now- I bake off peak, and often cook off peak. Eg. If we are having meatballs & spaghetti for dinner, I make the meatballs after making muffins, and then keep them in the crockpot with the sauce on warm until dinner for a couple of hours (still cheaper and still food safety aware).

[Tweets77]

I keep wondering....if we all save a bunch on TOU (for the sake of arguement) then how long until Hydro raises the rates across the board for everyone again argueing that they aren't making enough money? (just playing devil's advocate)

[walkonby]

We have been on TOU since Nov 2009!! Yes that is right. My first bill covered the 61 days from Nov-Jan 2010. On my first bill the rates were as follows

on peak 0.093 cents ..............@ $49.07
mid peak 0.080 cents .............@ $29.29
off peak 0.044 cents .............@ $68.66

add in all those lovely extras, debt retirement, delivery, regulatory charges and GST and you have a total of $287.64 for a family of 4, sometimes 5, 1400 sq ft home. This is the cost every 2 months. We have never owned a dishwasher, have mostly new ( less than 5 yrs old ) energy efficient appliances. Weakness is 2 offspring that shower in steaming hot showers longer than I do!

Still, I have always thought my Hydro bill was awfully expensive, so when TOU came in I was the first to eagerly try to cut costs by doing all laundry at night or on weekends, cook meals ahead Sat/Sun for the week. I have only ever washed clothes in cold water, so that didn't change anything. The phantom hydro we tried to reduce but no one ever wants to unplug and plug things in all the time so that we failed on. All battery powered clocks. No more fish tank, thank goodness no heater/pump etc.

Now this last bill that covered the 60 days from Jul- Sept had our dreadful A/C costs in there and we sure used our central air this summer. ( I will not sacrifice on that since I work in the heat and sun, and I reward myself with that luxury.

Of course there was an increase in the delivery charges on anything after Aug 1st, ( Ont Energy Board approved ) so there are multiple lines pertaining to the old and new rate.
Also the the TOU rates have changed since I first was introduced to this new " Smarter " meter. I find whenever I reduce my bill by changing my habits, the Hydro gets an increase on one thing or another so I end up paying the same anyway.


Now they are:

on peak 0.107 .................@ $55.15
mid peak 0.089 cents............@ $29.77
off peak 0.059 cents............@$131.87

There is clearly marked a 10% rebate given to me , something about the Ont Clean Energy Benefit, but even with that " gift " my total bill is still high! ( $378.71 )

I had no idea so many people have not even started this Smart Meter thing yet??

Also I just found this out about a month ago. One of my customers has a condo and they installed the Smart meters in every unit quite a while ago. Now here she was doing laundry late at night, along with other cost saving measures only to find out that the TOU rates DO NOT APPLY TO CONDOMINIUMS!!
If any of you have heard different let me know and hopefully she got the wrong info. That just seems unfair to me.

[watergirl73]

Thanks for posting this info it's nice to see how others bills differ to your own and the differences in lifestyle, home and family size. Considering you have 4 people in your family and there are 2 in our household with our newest bill at $336 for hydro and water for 2 months $387 is pretty comparable.

I know what you mean about the plugging and unplugging it gets a bit tedious but we do it. I don't turn any lights on if I don't need them and yep I have candles going. I try to maximize on the natural light as we have plenty of windows in the house and 2 skylights.

I'm sure the rates will continue to climb and the "gift" will be short lived as if it's supposed to make us feel better. I guess we will see at the end of 2012 how we fared when I tally up the yearly bill.

We continue to conform otherwise we pay the price... what is society coming to? Life seemed so much easier years ago.

Is the heating in your house through electricity & not natural gas ???

If that's the case & on top of it your bill includes water ..so that might be the reason why your bill is so high .

All the other people whose bills are low have natural gas heating & the water heater is also natural gas water heater ( not electric )

We have been on TOU since Nov 2009!! Yes that is right. My first bill covered the 61 days from Nov-Jan 2010. On my first bill the rates were as follows

on peak 0.093 cents ..............@ $49.07
mid peak 0.08 cents .............@ $29.29
off peak 0.044 cents .............@ $68.66

add in all those lovely extras, debt retirement, delivery, regulatory charges and GST and you have a total of $287.64 for a family of 4, sometimes 5, 1400 sq ft home. This is the cost every 2 months. We have never owned a dishwasher, have mostly new ( less than 5 yrs old ) energy efficient appliances. Weakness is 2 offspring that shower in steaming hot showers longer than I do!

Still, I have always thought my Hydro bill was awfully expensive, so when TOU came in I was the first to eagerly try to cut costs by doing do all laundry at night or on weekends, cook meals ahead Sat/Sun for the week. I have only ever washed clothes in cold water, so that didn't change anything. The phantom hydro we tried to reduce but no one ever wants to unplug and plug things in all the time so that we failed on. All battery powered clocks. No more fish tank, thank goodness no heater/pump etc.

Now this last bill that covered the 60 days from Jul- Sept had our dreadful A/C costs in there and we sure used our central air this summer. ( I will not sacrifice on that since I work in the heat and sun, and I reward myself with that luxury.

Of course there was an increase in the delivery charges on anything after Aug 1st, ( Ont Energy Board approved ) so there are multiple lines pertaining to the old and new rate.
Also the the TOU rates have changed since I first was introduced to this new " Smarter " meter. I find whenever I reduce my bill by changing my habits, the Hydro gets an increase on one thing or another so I end up paying the same anyway.


Now they are:

on peak 0.107 .................@ $55.15
mid peak 0.089 cents............@ $29.77
off peak 0.059 cents............@$131.87

There is clearly marked a 10% rebate given to me , something about the Ont Clean Energy Benefit, but even with that " gift " my total bill is still high! ( $378.71 )

I had no idea so many people have not even started this Smart Meter thing yet??

Also I just found this out about a month ago. One of my customers has a condo and they installed the Smart meters in every unit quite a while ago. Now here she was doing laundry late at night, along with other cost saving measures only to find out that the TOU rates DO NOT APPLY TO CONDOMINIUMS!!
If any of you have heard different let me know and hopefully she got the wrong info. That just seems unfair to me.

[tjthemanto]

No, we actually have a Polaris Water Heater and run on gas. Actually looks like our gas will cost us more this year compared to last and our hydro has went down just a bit. We are not on equal billing and yep the water is included. So essentially about 160.00 per month for hydro and water *well this bill)

We do have a large chest freezer that is not efficient and the basement is unfinished. We would like to pull the garage ceiling and spray foam next year as well as in the attic spaces. The stove is electric and thats on its way out with a reno. The washer and dryer we have 2 sets both electric one in the master washroom and one in the basement but should consider the gas dryer although we don't use it much. Our tele is an old tube tele but rarely watch it.

Our neighbours down the road had a bill of 396.00 for 2 months so comparable.

Hard to swollow those final figures when doing the yearly budget although this year when all is said and done all utilities and taxes will have cost us 21.00 more this year. I would like to find a way to improve that.

Thanks for your input! It's great to read how everyone makes changes to save a buck and thats what I love to learn as you can learn alot from your fellow sc'rs.

$ 160 / month for both water & hydro is not bad at all considering the size of your house , the number of members in your family etc ..if it was just hydro it would be pretty high .

[watergirl73]

Sometimes I think it's the fact that you see 2 months on one bill as opposed to a monthly bill which would look more attractive at 160 lol.

We know of some improvements we are going to make although we have done many. We were lucky when we bought the house the basement was unfinished and no renos had been done anywhere considering its 14 yr old age.


We are currently upgrading everything slowly and the next piece of junk getting tossed after the cheap builder grade bathroom fans is the extractor fan!

Looked into the home energy audit but not sure thats going to help us out at all as we only would use the spray foaming and a new front door.

Have you done the home energy audit or have you heard anything from anyone who has done it? The rules kinda get me with all the stipulations.

$ 160 / month for both water & hydro is not bad at all considering the size of your house , the number of members in your family etc ..if it was just hydro it would be pretty high .

[tjthemanto]

We have been on TOU since Nov 2009!! Yes that is right. My first bill covered the 61 days from Nov-Jan 2010. On my first bill the rates were as follows

on peak 0.093 cents ..............@ $49.07
mid peak 0.08 cents .............@ $29.29
off peak 0.044 cents .............@ $68.66

add in all those lovely extras, debt retirement, delivery, regulatory charges and GST and you have a total of $287.64 for a family of 4, sometimes 5, 1400 sq ft home. This is the cost every 2 months. We have never owned a dishwasher, have mostly new ( less than 5 yrs old ) energy efficient appliances. Weakness is 2 offspring that shower in steaming hot showers longer than I do!
...

If your water heater is an electric one that's a killer i.e the hot water is actually being heated by hydro ( not natural gas ) ..but most people generally have natural gas water heater i.e the water is actually being heated by natural gas , since the electric one is too expensive.

If your water heater is also a natural gas one ..it won't increase your hydro bill but it will increase your heating ( natural gas ) bill if you take long hot showers .

[newb]

Just a word of caution to those who burn a lot of candles...if you have a forced air furnace..make sure the filter gets checked more often..I use the pleated 4" thick ones and change them every 6 mo...my last one was covered in black greasy soot and was restricting the flow of air...I couldn`t figure why..we were burning a lot of candles and thats all I could think would cause that.

[vibrantflame]

I just find it an annoyance, as I now have to do my "hydro-wasting" chores at specific times, and I'm not seeing a difference in my bill. Plus, my problem is is that there are certain things like your fridge and freezer that *have* to run all day, and so you are being charged extra during high and middle peak hours for those necessities.

We live in a 3 bedroom townhouse, we have 2 children, dog and cat, and we pay approx. $125 per month for hydro and water, but our heat is natural gas. What cheeses me though is that over half of that bill is "extra costs". Our actual hydro usage is less then $50 most months!!

[watergirl73]

I know what you mean yes. Considering you are 2 adults and 2 children $125 a month is pretty darn good compared to others. We are 2 adults and we at aprox $167 a month at the moment. Either way there is only so low you can go with all the 'extra service fees" we pay and the items like you mentioned that run all the time unless we rid of our freezer and unplug the fridge in the winter and store our food sealed outdoors

What do you do to keep the hydro costs down besides follow the 'rules' of TOU.

I have been reading all morning about these smart meters and the effects it is having on people's health and am trying to learn more about it. Let the wheels spin!

I just find it an annoyance, as I now have to do my "hydro-wasting" chores at specific times, and I'm not seeing a difference in my bill. Plus, my problem is is that there are certain things like your fridge and freezer that *have* to run all day, and so you are being charged extra during high and middle peak hours for those necessities.

We live in a 3 bedroom townhouse, we have 2 children, dog and cat, and we pay approx. $125 per month for hydro and water, but our heat is natural gas. What cheeses me though is that over half of that bill is "extra costs". Our actual hydro usage is less then $50 most months!!

[watergirl73]

That could be true, imagine if people smoked in the house. DH installed a Swordfish® UV Air Treatment System a couple months ago and keeps a chart on the furnace when he checks and changes filters. He also went around and taped all the furnace ducting which had many gaps (go figure, fast and furious new builders) and since then the air flow has been so much better although he is changing the filter every 2-3 months as opposed to the 6 before. We are noticing a huge improvement with dust in the house which was a big concern.

He has removed all the carpet on the upper level and will be working on the main level this winter. I can't even begin to tell you how happy i am to see the dust diminished upstairs.

We burn one candle every day and am now thinking of getting rid of all the glade pluggins in the house ( pointless waste) not sure why we bothered but when its free with a coupon it still costs you in the long run.

Just a word of caution to those who burn a lot of candles...if you have a forced air furnace..make sure the filter gets checked more often..I use the pleated 4" thick ones and change them every 6 mo...my last one was covered in black greasy soot and was restricting the flow of air...I couldn`t figure why..we were burning a lot of candles and thats all I could think would cause that.

[Tweets77]

My home is only 4 years old. It is superinsulated and completely airtight. We built it and DH is anal for all that stuff plus stringent building codes in the north. We have a ground source heatpump that heats the house, preheats the hot water, heats the basement floor and heats his garage workshop which is 85 ft. from the house. We pay our hydro to Hydro One. Last year our bill for the whole year was $2400. We figured out it was $900 for the heating season. The air conditioning is almost free with this system. I think that if we lived in the city it would be more than that. That is what I am finding in speaking with co-workers that live in the city.