Air conditioners are usually the guilty culprits, if it jacked up rapidly in the fall and you're new there even a small AC unit can suck down the wattage.
Its the middle of winter here (WI) so no AC units have been used since Aug. And even then my bill was less than 50 bucks.
Sometimes there is a baseboard heater in a bathroom that is turned to "low" and its just running forever and you don't know about it.
We dont have anything like that. Literally there is nothing else that can be plugged in in the place. Maybe a phone charger, a printer, and occasionally my gal's hair straightener.
If you're living in an apartment, make sure where your meter location goes straight to your breaker box, and all the switches control shit inside your pad. Sometimes in old houses theres a rogue switch that goes to a porch light or something weird, like an outside porch plug, and if the neighbors know about it, they may run a cord off it to power a heater. You must be aware of where all wires go, and what they power.
I may have to go scouting around outside then. Maybe the plugs the landlord (I live in the upper half of a house, shes downstairs) uses to power Christmas lights are wired to my meter?
So you'll need to turn all your lights on, plug stuff into all your outlets, the go to the breaker box and shut everything off. Then, 1 by 1, come back and turn each switch on, and check what it powers. Its really the only way to get familiar with the routing of the wiring. If you have extra switches in the box that don't seem to power anything in your pad, leave them turned off.
I dont think I have access to a breaker. I think it is in the landlords basement, and when I have called her about the ridiculously high bills (other bills are unreasonably high too, but thats a different story) she says she wont do anything, I just have to talk to the utility companies.
If the water heater is electric, check the dial and turn it down to as low as you can comfortably tolerate the warm water.
I have about 5 minutes of warm water before it is completely gone when I take a shower. I've timed it at about 6 if I keep it lukewarm and turn the water on when I'm standing directly under the spout. I havent seen the water heater, but if a smaller version for homes exists I'd be very surprised.
Put a thermometer in your fridge for a few days and keep turning the cold setting down until the fridge reads 36 degrees.
I'm not sure how that helps? Turn the temp
down?
They may say its confidential information, ask for a manager. Tell the manager you have no interest in anyones personal information, but would like him/her to compare your account to others in the building. They should be similar.
If they insist the 2000 kw/h is correct and everyone else is using about 20/30ish, tell them you want the meter socket replaced.
When I talked to them on the phone they said multiple things which necessitate me storming their physical turf. First off, they refuse to give me a past history of any data beyond the small amount that gave me the 20 vs 2000. They claimed it was "illegal" for them to do so. Second, I wanted to speak to a manager, but they would not let me. >

Finally, they said that the meter was actually recently replaced. This was something I had noticed on my own because the first electric bill I received was reasonable, all the rest just got outrageous as they grew and grew and grew. The first bill I noticed said meter #XXXXXXX but all the rest after that said #YYYYYYYY. I pointed this out to them thinking perhaps they were reading someone elses house or something but nope, they claimed the whole town got new meters at that time.
My last electric bills were in the $60-70/mo range and I ran central air all summer long at 73*, and everything was electric. I have no idea how many kw/h I was using, but it sure as fuck wasn't 2000, it was more like 100ish.
I kept the AC off and stripped clothing off when it was hot, I almost always have the heat at 55 F unless my gal is around for a few days during which I temporarily crank it up to 65. I dont have anything really in my apartment that does anything and I dont even do many dishes or cooking since I work as a cook and eat the majority of my meals at work.
I was really
really shocked when I saw my parents bill. If you combine their bill for the house with theirs for the barn (which uses a lot due to poor heating, heating water, lights, freezers, etc.) it still barely breaks 200 bucks.
In sum I am mostly pissed because I was told utilities (gas, water, elec, water, sewer, etc.) would come to about 150 per month when I signed the lease. Actual total last month for those: 400+. Thats an entire paycheck, or half my total pay each month straight to these bills.