Looking for some ideas from anyone that has experienced this and guidance on troubleshooting

Background:

electric bill has mirrored the previous year’s fairly closely for the last 10 months -typically the electric bill drops to $50ish once we hit furnace season -In November, the bill increase 100% YOY both in terms of dollars and kWh -we decided to see what happened in December before taking action and that bill also increased 100%
no new appliances
new furnace in December but it is LP and so was the previous one. Shouldn’t affect electric significantly
we had a similar holiday schedule to last year being out of town for both thanksgiving and Christmas
not Clark Griswald aka I have a couple of LED Christmas lights up
we are WFH less than this time last year

We called the power company to have them come look at the meter and they are sending someone in a couple weeks. If the meter isn’t the issue, any ideas on what I should be looking at next? How do I determine which appliance is being an energy monster?

Thanks!

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Werewolfdad t1_j29ibai wrote on December 30, 2022 at 4:58 PM

Have you compared the bills?

You’ve included essentially none of the important details like price per kilowatt or usage

USMCWrangler t1_j29hde3 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 4:52 PM

Are your gas and electric on the same bill?

cowpokecaleb OP t1_j29jtvp wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:08 PM

No, LP and electric are separate providers

meamemg t1_j29htok wrote on December 30, 2022 at 4:55 PM

What was the weather this past couple months versus last year? If colder that could cause it.

Does your provider allow you to look and track usage by day/hour? Some do on the website. That could help identify the issue.

See https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/q8gadf/comment/hgpcfvr/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 who had a similar problem and some advice.

simonsays123 t1_j29nr2y wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:32 PM

What is the supply rate (cents/kwh) this bill compared to last November? It should be on your bills.

In the Northeast, some areas have seen their supply rates rise to 33.89cents/kwh beginning in November compared to 14.82cents/kwh last winter.

wooden_bread t1_j29klbc wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:12 PM

At least for my power company, they will bill you based on an estimate for quite a while and then surprise you with a catch up bill when they actually get off their ass and check the meter.

wickedkittylitter t1_j29mg37 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:24 PM

In addition to what others have suggested, you might buy an inexpensive electricity usage monitor to test how much power your appliances and other electronics are using.

SafecrackinSammmy t1_j29s7xq wrote on December 30, 2022 at 6:00 PM

If the KWH increased 100% YOY that means you physically used more electricity versus a change in the rates. Check the National Weather Service for a "departure from normal" temp for the months involved now and last year. Maybe it was really cold etc.

SkyliteBlueSnake t1_j29zsi2 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 6:47 PM

Both my gas and electric bills are significantly higher YOY for the past few months. However, my actual usage has been about the same YOY (as shown by the little graphy things on my bills). The unit cost has simply gone up. I already keep my house pretty cold and only have the light on in the room that I am in (I'm WFH). I mean I could unplug appliances that I'm not actively using like the TV (but realistically I'm not gonna). And I bet if I replaced my refrigerator, my usage would go down because that thing is ancient, but there are still some supply chain issues with appliances, so I'll get to it when I get to it (I do have the money saved up to replace all my appliances but as I said, supply chain issues).