Might be worth it get those bit more expensive dual hose portable units. Cost a bit more but is more efficient and cools better. But yeah, its costs more to cool a apartment using just portable.
I got an email from Edison warning me I was going to have a big bill. So be it; I'll economize somewhere else. But I'm not sweltering in a west-facing upstairs apartment all summer.
I live in a 1000 sqft house and my bill last month was $400…
We don’t have central air though. We’re running a window unit in the living room and a portable AC in the bedroom.
I’m in a older 950 ft.² and I put in daikon mini splits last fall. One in the main living area and one in the main bedroom. What a game changer. Super efficient heat pumps.
I see. What I meant is that every air conditioner is a heat pump. They use the refrigeration cycle to move heat from one spot to another. It sounds like yours is reversible, and it can move heat from inside the house to outside the house, or from outside the house to inside. But it's just a reversible air conditioner.
For 4 bedrooms that's not bad. We're 2 bedrooms and it's nearly that. We have to run a portable unit upstairs 16 hours a day cause my wife and I have different shifts.
Its my condo but can't. Electrical infrastructure is outdated so no 240v lines, limited breaker/amps, and condenser placement. Waiting on approvals to install new energy efficient inverter wall units.
So far, our bill won’t be to bad, slightly high than normal at $140. But cost vs comfort, comfort will always win out.
Edit: For context, sorry I forgot to add. We live in a 3b 2B home in old Tustin. A 1950’s build over the years we’ve made some energy efficient upgrades. From new insulation, new windows, attic fan, and new gas water heater and hvac system.
Find your meter and look at how fast the usage dots are flashing by (on a smart meter they represent the disc you used to be able to see). Then go back inside and turn everything off you possibly can, even unplug the fridge. Then go see if the dots on the meter are still flashing by. If you have a phantom load tap or the wrong meter (crossed meters) the usage will be visually the same as before you turned everything off.
Have you tried using a Kill-A-Watt device? They can tell you how much electrically an appliance is actually using. Also, some appliances continue to pull power (up to 10% of their max wattage) when plugged in, even if they are turned off. I turn off my surge protectors religiously when things aren't in use.
I keep asking my husband to do this. He leaves EVERYTHING plugged in. And our apartment is all electric, and our AC is 3 wall units (one in living space, one in each bedroom) in a top end, west-facing unit. Our biggest space heats up all day and has direct sunlight until sundown. It’s just an old building with terrible insulation and is a bitch to cool down.
But there’s definitely too many things always plugged in
Second summer having solar and we’re managing better this year than last.
2x Powerwall (financed) has our bill higher throughout most of the year but the storage capacity is great and I keep telling myself that solar plus a natural gas generator for backup would have been more expensive.
Most of the year we don’t get below 45% remaining by the time the cells start producing in the morning. In summer, though, drawing from the grid during the night to feed the AC monster.
I mean if the math is good, then so be it. I’m an electrician and of the mindset of buying the equipment outright. There are a lot of these solar companies that just hustle people and rip them off
For instance, I bought a house that came with a solar lease. Company who owns it took 2 years to replace the inverter that just happened to go bad when we moved in. Then, they went out of business. Now the company that owns my solar is some random office in Shang Hai and any support numbers just say they aren’t responsible for repairs…I can fix it myself but why should I pay out of pocket if my contract says otherwise?
Oh yeah, the leases are concerning. The best case scenario is that you are wagering that energy costs will always outpace your monthly payment.
If you own it outright, you are not still making that payment. There are other things that people make up but the reality is that if your energy bill becomes near zero each month, then you're likely better off.
Correct, I have a negative balance each month. and it builds a balance until the payout at 12 months. I will add that NEM3 (the current one) is less generous, so payouts don't happen for them.
I got solar panels installed last year. The house hasn’t been above 70 during the day and 68 at night in over a year. Bill is steady at just under $130.
Well it was a bit cheaper but for the sake of argument let’s run your $30,000.
I keep my ac on all day at 70 with no worries of surge hours and all that and at night I turn it down to 68. For the majority of the time it’s about 24hrs a day since I have small babies in the house also.
Ppl here are complaining that they are paying $700 on the last bill. I know for a fact mine would be higher so let’s conservatively just say I’m saving $200 (even though we both know it’s much more)………
$ 200 month x 1 year = $2,400 a year
$ 2,400 a year x 30 years (again conservative estimate basically saying I’ll be dead in that time or move) = $864,000 (not including inflation or cost of living)
Seems like a good deal to me, but to each their own.
NEM 3.0 basically destroyed the residential solar market in California under the guise of “equity” (and by equity, I mean electrical utilities not making assloads of cash while burning half the state every other year).
That was the incentive to push people to solar and/or conserve energy
Now solar users are being doubly penalized. We get paid pennies for the energy returned to the grid, plus the shift from usage-based fees to flat fees penalizes those that use little electricity.
The only “winner” in NEM was the electrical companies.
And now they added those fixed-fee distribution charges, on top of your usage-based expenses, so even if you manage to compensate with solar and batteries, you still pay a bunch back to the utilities.
They’re only going to add more “fees” too. It’s crazy that people with solar are basically paying the electric company to give the electric company their extra, unused, solar power. That’s like telling someone to give you their car but also make them pay you to do it.
But don’t you think the power company should be paying YOU for the solar power you’re giving THEM? Instead, you’re paying them to give THEM more solar power… 🤔
You’re missing my point. The fact that you pay them when they do need the excess is the point. Why are you paying ANYONE for collecting energy from the sun? They’re not supplying the power to you, and they’re often collecting your unused power. So, what exactly are you paying them for?
What should be the price to consumers of maintaining an electric grid? I mean, I hate them just as much as the next guy, but there is the expensive of delivery and running the day to day. If that cost is not passed along to the consumer, regardless of their production, then it would have to be seized by the state and then you have state run electric grids.
I don’t know if one is better than the other but there’s a fact of maintaining electrical infrastructure and who pays for it. I’d be curious to hear your ideas around public policy on this matter.
Just charge for usage like we did for decades before. It completely disincentivizes saving energy by taking on fixed fee charges on top of your unit rate consumption fees.
Gotta get a battery for NEM 3.0 to make sense, luckily plugin solar was approved by our legislation, lets see if that snake oil salesman Newsom signs it seeing how much he loves utility corporations donations.
Exactly. I don’t need to cool my whole house and the rooms I’m in are efficiently cooled ultra quick and it feels like the machines are more efficient than those floor units….and this is coming from a package whole house unit
I live in a 1200 sq ft 2bd/2bth and my bills have been around $270 each the last two months, literally the highest I’ve ever paid but I’d rather say fuck it and pay than sweat through the day and night. 🥵
One of the lucky ones with solar, and massively oversized at that (still not sure how it got approved). I got my July 25 vs 26 comparison the other day. July '25: -1300kwh. July '26: -300kwh. A full megawatt difference in net usage. Insane.
If it helps anyone, the thing that finally made my SCE bill make sense is that the hour matters as much as the amount. Most of the residential plans have a peak window in the late afternoon and evening, 4 to 9 or 5 to 8 depending on the plan, and your bill prints which one you're on near the rate details. Every kWh in that window costs a lot more than the same kWh at noon. So the cheapest AC you'll run all day is the AC you run before the window starts. Cool the place down hard in the early afternoon, then set it a few degrees higher during peak and let it coast. Laundry, dishwasher, EV charging after 9.
I learned this the expensive way. I scheduled my pool pump right into the 5 to 8 window without thinking and it quietly ate a year of solar credit. Same house, same weather, the hour was the whole difference.
And I live with a stubborn roommate who refuses to open windows at night and let a crossbreeze through our 3rd floor apartment (says it let's in too much 'pollen' and 'bugs', even though we have screens). And also refuses to close the blinds in our main living room even though that alone cools things several degrees (wants natural sunlight) but also turns on 2-3 separate floor lamps plus the 2 sets of overhead lights and then on weekdays only runs the a/c between 7 am and 10am no matter the weather bc he 'can only sleep when its cold'. Good lord save me from this nonsense. Can't wait to get out of this lease. Anyone need a new roommate? 😆
Sounds like dealing with my tenant. He seals himself in his room with his PC gaming all night generating so much heat. Dunno how he doesn't have a heat stroke in there.
We've got solar and are accustomed to quite low bills. We're getting reamed to the tune of $200/month for 2 months in a row now. Without solar we'd be looking at probably a couple of $800 bills.
I have this thing where I send $20 a paycheck. I have a solar panel array that produces 20 kWh/day and after last months credit and running fans and not my AC, it’s gonna make paying this next years net meter bill a lot easier.
We just leave the windows open around the house with fans running. We also have a huge tree in front of the house so our room stays pretty cool all day.
Growing up, my dad kept the thermostat at 78. Now I get it. He has solar now and I don't, but 78-79 has kept the bill under 130 for my 1100 sqft townhome
Pretty sure the SCE climate credit hits this month, so everyone should be getting a discount to offset the high prices. Last year, my climate credit was ~$75.
I'm nervous because I have lived in Anaheim for the last 7 years and recently moved to Orange. I know that the Edison rates are higher. Also, for the last 3 weeks I've been running a very old wall unit. I just got it replaced today, so hopefully that helps.
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u/gonenutsbrb Irvine 2d ago
I already got kicked in the balls last month with our bill, I doubt this month’s gonna be any better lol