It’s been really hot here this past month. For about two weeks, it was always over 100 degrees during the day, and only cooling to about 75-80 at night.
After the first few days, we broke our no-air-conditioning streak and started turning it on often. From about 4pm on, the A/C was set to 68 degrees. Since the cool evening air wasn’t enough to cool our entire upstairs, we even left the A/C on at night, as it is impossible for me to get a good night’s sleep if I feel sweaty and gross.
Needless to say, we have been expecting something quite a bit more than our typical $19/month electricity bill.
When our bill is ready, PG&E sends me an email. I got our bill yesterday.
“Uhoh, Jesse. I got our electricity bill here.”
“What! Is it bad? Oh no. Don’t tell me.”
“It’s much higher. Obviously. We used our A/C a lot this month.”
“Let me guess, $200? $150? $250?”
You have to understand. Having lived in TX for 4 years, we only think of utility bills in 3 digits. Our typical electricity bill in the summer and winter months, for a newly-built 2 bedroom apartment, was around $250. In other words, it was like a car payment.
I let Jesse agonize for a while longer, saying things like, “Wow, it makes sense, I mean, we used it a ton….”
Then I broke it to him.
$31.70.
That’s it.
Granted, that’s almost 2x more than the month before.
But still.
Added to our gas bill of $13, we’re really breaking the bank over here…
Moral of the story: never underestimate the value of living in smaller square footage with great insulation!l
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