How much is your monthly electric bill?

@babyfuzz (1078)
Philippines
November 8, 2008 4:04pm CST
As of now, I don't know how much our electrical bills cost since boyfriend and I are living under his grandmother's house. But I heard during summer days, his grandma spends like PHP 10,000.00 (roughly USD$200). Major appliances in this house include 3 big TVs, one 14" inch TV, 2 DVD players, 1 refgrigerator, 1 personal ref, 1 microwave oven, 1 blender, 3 airconditioners, 2 desktop computers (which is 24/7 open), 1 laptop (which I think doesn't consume much energy)... In my parents house, our monthly electric bill is roughly PHP 1,000 ($20). We only have a few appliance like a 14 inch TV, 1 refrigerator, electric stove, electric heater. I want to cut down some costs and at the same time save electricity. I don't want us to get used to living like this since I don't think we can handle the financial burden once we start to live on our own.
4 people like this
15 responses
@sirrob (4108)
• Philippines
8 Nov 08
Right now in where I am located, I have never spent a single penny for electricity and water bills. Three air-conditioners are on 24/7.
2 people like this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
9 Nov 08
You have all the luck in the world, sirrob. Can I join you where you are right now? First you told me a friend lend you a laptop, now you're living the life! Three airconditioners, electric bill and water bills for free! What's next? Free trip around the world? Wow.. You're so lucky! ^^v
1 person likes this
@sirrob (4108)
• Philippines
9 Nov 08
You cannot have everything with you and even you have those things there's always a downside of it. Are you going to trade being away from family with all those stuff? It's not that I decided to trade it but it is a necessity right now which I have to sacrifice something of myself. It's hard to be away from your family. That's not so lucky at all.
2 people like this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
9 Nov 08
I know.. You have to say No to something in order to say Yes.. Sacrifice... I'll bring my family with me then, would you mind? ^^v I can't live without my boyfriend and our baby. Are you in north/south pole? or in the Center of the Earth? You always give me this mysterious effect, sirrob.
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Our bill is around $100 a month. That includes our sewer and water bill too! Our stove and our furnace are natural gas. We are trying to cut back on all of these things too. Best wishes to you:)
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
9 Nov 08
I see. From what part of the world are you from, rocketj? I havent' seen a furnace yet. hehe.. I hope I can see one. What's a sewer, by the way? Does your electric bill change during summer or winter?
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
9 Nov 08
Wow.. That's a lot of digging hehe! Thanks, rocketj. It's really different living in a country with 4 seasons. In tropical countries, electricity bills go up.. in your country, it's during winter season. My dad used to share these kind of stories.. he was a seaman. Thanks for that information. It really amazes me.
1 person likes this
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
9 Nov 08
I'm from the northern midwest US. A furnace is our central heating system. Ours is run by natural gas which is piped into most homes in our area through an underground gas line. A few people in the outlying country areas here have a tank of propane that is their source of heat in the winter. Others have an underground tank for fuel oil heat. It gets very cold here. The sewer system is underground pipes that take the sewage (bathroom waste and drain water) away from our homes to a waste water treatment plant. If I lived in the country, we would have a septic system underground along with an underground well for water piped into the home. Our water comes from the city's water treatment plant and is piped underground throughout the city. Our electric bill is about the same year round. Our natural gas bill goes way up however during the winter months! I hope this answers your questions.
1 person likes this
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
14 Nov 08
My electric bill is about $100 per month or more. It depends on using air conditioner or not. During the winter is maybe more, because it gets dark sooner than during the summer.
1 person likes this
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
14 Nov 08
I have big server working 24/7 and 2 computers. I don't watch TV. I do laundry every other day, plus I have exterior light around the house. I am also using energy saving bulbs. Last year I did my own research, using limited electricity and my bill was almost the same....
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
15 Nov 08
hmm.. we also have an electric saving device which I don't know if it really works.. What's your server do? Is that your business? When I used to live with my parents and use electricity because of my 'small business', I pay the amount of electricity I consumed. That way also I would know if my small business is profiting. You live a very interesting life, I bet, Pola. ^^v
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
14 Nov 08
I see.. That's a huge amount, pola.. How many are you in the household? So, the airconditioner is the biggest contributor to your high electric bill? What do you use during winter? I'm curious about that part... it gets dark sooner.. like what time? ^^v
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
whoa that is a big electric bill! my partner & i live in an apartment where our appliances are personal ref, 21" tv, dvd, subwoofer, 3 industrial fans & a laptop. our average monthly bill range from 450-600PHP (9-13USD). even if it's less than 1K, we still make sure to make it lesser since i do budget our expenses especially now that we're saving for the future. what we usually do are safety electric precautions of removing all electric cords of appliances not in use before leaving the house (except for the refrigerator) this is to make sure that no appliances are plugged in which could also prevent fire. we're planning to buy AC as well but we're thinking if it's really necessary. we can live using the fans so i think we'll pass. besides most bills like you're encountering are coming form those airconditioners & computers that you use. i know it's hard to cut expenses especially with household needs but if you really want to start on your own, try to live without some of the appliances you're comfortable with... say the AC which gets the most of the electric bill & if you don't really use the computer 24/7 then i'd say to turn that off too. believe me it's hard to manage a household.
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
Thank you very much for the tip, mapi.. What's an AC by the way? Where is your apartment located? What city? How big is your apartment, may I ask? Is it a studio type or with bedrooms? My boyfriend's computer is open 24/7 since he loves to download movies and other warez. He's a programmer. His clients are from abroad and are contacting him in different times. If he shuts off the pc, it's as if he stop living too. haha! Anyway, these are the perks we're having right now and taking advantage of. I know it's going to be hard when we live on our own. It would be a huge change and sacrifice. Good luck on your savings. We are doing the same. Thank you very much for the heads up.
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
lol.. airconditioner. heheh! Is the cost of living in Pampanga lower than in Manila? I'm in Quezon City and food prices are getting higher and higher. We always have our food delivered from Jollibee, Mcdo or Domino's pizza since we seldom like the food prepared by the cook, hehe! I don't think we can save on this kind of lifestyle. Maybe when we start living on our own, then we'll be forced to manage our finances responsibly. thanks again, mapi! I'm glad you always respond on my posts. Aren't you busy with your work and household chores?
@mapi26 (549)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
i'm sorry for that, AC is the shortened term for aircon/airconditioner. i'm here in angeles city, pampanga. our apartment is not that big but can at least accomodate to a maximum of 4 person. it's 2 floors with 2 bedrooms. oh i see that's the reason why your computer is on. then that's justified then. goodluck on your savings too and the life ahead of you.
@acie_21 (5633)
• Philippines
28 Nov 09
hi there friend... hmmmmmmmm...every month its 1800 pesos... cause i often us aircon every night and day... if i seldom use it maybe 1600..heheheh! im not using refrigerator anymore cause it adds more!bills to pay!lol... and i often use tv electric fans and laptops!... i cant live with out opening my internet.. i stayed hours and hours of playing games in facebook!and ofcourse mylot!..hehehe! i dont use my microwave anymore...i dont know if it still works!lol! too much stuff adds more bills to pay!so i prefer to lessen buying not very important stuff... thanks! friend!cheers!...
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
28 Nov 09
Hi there, acie! thanks for responding. I haven't been in mylot for quite a while. And it's funny cuz starting this January, we'll be paying the electricity and other utility bills at home on our own. It's not much of a difference, if you use or don't use your air con right? My boyfriend and I can't stand the heat, because it's warmer here in the 3rd floor. So we really need to use the air conditioner. Do you live alone?
@ckyera (17332)
• Philippines
28 Nov 09
haha best that was so high! while me, i am just paying about 350...the highest! hehe but my water bill! waaaaaaaaaaaah! i pay almost 700 last month! huh! due to some leakage!
@acie_21 (5633)
• Philippines
29 Nov 09
hi there friend... so you live in with your bf???? heheh!im married already..so no i live with my hubby.... its just so hot!here in the Philippines!cant stand it..we really need aircon!!!!!!! can you live with out an aircon??? how often do you used it?? thanks! hi bff.. hehee!really???good for you.. lol!i know you dont have problems in paying your bills...lol!
1 person likes this
@yan_blue8 (1437)
• Philippines
28 Nov 09
Hi babyfuzz! Its no wonder that your boyfriend's grandma is paying that amount for her electricity. She has lots of appliance. haha. And I guess their house is so big. Well, probably, later on, when you're living together and if you only have enough space of your house with all those appliance, I don't think its gonna cost you that much Anyway, we used to spend php2,400 for our electric bill. That only include 2 laptop, ref, and TV.I don't exactly know why it is too high. My uncle who is living in the mountain area only spends php200 for their electric bills. They also have electric fans and tv too, without the laptop and the ref. Hmmmm..
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
7 Dec 09
hehe. Hey, yan! actually, it's not really that huge. it's a 3-storey townhouse. Inside the granny's room, there's also a personal ref and the aircon, a 21 inch TV. It's almost the same in every room. so you can just imagine. Yes, utility bills are way much cheaper in the province, that's why the boyfriend wants to transfer somewhere in Tagaytay, or Baguio. ^^
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
23 Dec 09
Thanks, yan. right now we're enjoying our last days of free internet, electricity and water. So even though it's cold, we use and savor the coolness of airconditioner. hihi.
@yan_blue8 (1437)
• Philippines
8 Dec 09
A three-storey townhouse is indeed huge! So fair enough that his granny is having that much bill Yes, Tagaytag and Baguio are such a nice place to live in. And you will save a lot by not using an aircon. Lol! Goodluck to you both!
1 person likes this
@oldboy46 (2129)
• Australia
15 Nov 08
Our electricity accoount varies from month to month, depending on the time of the year plus we have a combined one with the home and farm together. In the summer and autumn they are much higher as we have the pump going to fill the tank and for irrigation as well as the cool room where we keep the fruit and vegetables till they are ready for market. In our home itself it is not a lot. We have the computer, fridge and freezer, washing machine, various electrical appliances like the griller, toaster, kettle, television etc. One small air conditioning unit which is in our bedroom and is only used when it is very hot. A few years ago when we first bought this place, we did noto have a lot of extra money as we had a mortgage to pay plus I was paying child support to my ex-wife for our daughters. So, we reduced our expenses as much as we could and found different ways to do things in order to pay our way. Some of the things we did included cooking up huge lot of food and then freezing the extras into meal sized. When we wanted to have that meal, it meant all we had to do was reheat it and that was a lot less electricity that cooking each meal from scratch. Also in the summer months we nearly always eat salads which do not need cooking and sometimes we have cold meat. On those days there is no electricity used at all for cooking purposes. For example you can rug up with extra clothes or under a blanket in the winter rather than put a heater on, as generally heaters cost a fair amount to run. There are many ways to reduce your electricity usage so look at what you use and then look for an alternative. Good luck to you with you efforts to reduce your electricity usage.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
15 Nov 08
Thank you for all the tips, oldboy.. How hot and how cold does it get there.. you're in Australia, right? I've heard from the news that when it gets so hot, the trees get burned.. aww... Here in our country, the hottest I think was like 37 degree Celsius and the coldest would be like 20 degrees C. We want to buy a house that's fully paid so we can deduct that from daily expenses. I guess when we have to move in to our own settlements, then we would be forced to lessen our electricity consumption. Cooking big meals is a great idea.. but don't you get tired of eating the same food for the whole day, or you eat it throughout the week? right now we're saving up as much as we can so when the time comes that we have to live on our own, we have money to splurge, lol.. ^^v
@yuna15 (2706)
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
Wow P10,000 pesos a month?!? What a huge amount! Your grandma is indeed rich to be able to afford something like that. Well mine is around P2,400 a month (more or less $50. It used to be just less than P2,000 but it went up. Our major appliance is just an 8 cubic meter fridge, computer (on for 24 hours by the way), a DVD player, washing machine then minor appliances are 4 electric fans and at least 8-9 light bulbs. The biggest contributor for my electric bill is my fridge which usually consumes 800-900 pesos a month.
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
I see, Yuna. You're a very responsible and generous person. ^^v May I know how many are you in the family? How many people do you support? Are you in charge of all the bills? When I was living with my parents I sometimes give money, but usually my brother and I are in charge of the food/groceries. Do you still have time to sleep, yuna? My brother is working in a call center also and barely sleeps since he spend most of his time traveling. Our house is like an hour away from his work, and that depends on the traffic.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
Actually it reached about PHP11,000.00 last summer. That's maybe because of the 3 airconditioners working 24/7. No, she's not that rich. Granny is just spoiling us, hehe.. She's that kind of person. She's not really my boyfriend's grandmother. She's the sister of boyfriend's real grandmother, who adopted him and his mom. And now, she adopted me and our baby.. Wow.. I have to be ready for a PHP2,500 a month expense on electricity or more when we decided to live on our own. I hope we'll be able to afford that. Do you work full time, yuna? What are your main sources of income? thanks
@yuna15 (2706)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
Actually that's P2,500 is really high. I suggest that you get just a 7 cubic meter fridge rather than the one I have because it consumes to much energy not to mention that it's "no-frost." If you have time to clean up your fridge at least twice a month then you just go for a "semi-frost" fridge. I work in a call center and that's where I get my money to pay for all the bills. I'm the breadwinner of the family basically.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
28 Nov 09
Hi, babyfuzz. Your grandmother bill is an average bill, kind of like my grandmas too. Your parents bill is weigh too cheap. Which is great! For the usage period of our electric bill for October 27,-November 17, it was $94.33. That is 22 days of service. Which isn't that bad. I hope for it to be much lower by next month.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
28 Nov 09
Hey, cream. I guess it also depends where you at. In the provinces here, electricity can be as cheap as $4 a month. Yeah, I guess we all need to save energy even in small ways, like unplugging unused appliances. ^^ That way, you'll find less electricity bill next month. hihi
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
We are only 3 in the house and during the whole day we are always out for our work so we only are at home during the night. We don't use the aircon so often because our house is well ventilated and the atmosphere is rather cool because I have lots of trees and plants round my house. Our electricity each month is as low as Php 1,300 and the highest is around Php1,500.00.
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
Wow.. That's cool. We need the aircon especially during summer. It's like a hot oven here inside the room. We're on the third floor of a 3 storey townhouse. The wind blows cold breeze from the other room, but it doesn't reach here. I used to ventilate manually at times... use 2 electric fans - one blowing the air from the window and one facing the door. But now that there's a little kid running around the room, I can't do that anymore, considering that we have a room not big enough for the 3 of us.
@Chevee (5905)
• United States
11 Nov 08
Too much and it is constantly going up instead of down. I am on the budget plan but it still isn't doing any good. It went down about $10 this summer for about one quarter which is 3 months and it went right back up again after that. Can't win for loosing.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
Yeah, I think electricity bills will tend to go up, because of global warming. If it's getting hotter here in our country, then there are countries that's going to be colder. We spend most of our electricity on aircon especially during summer, but still use it regularly even cold months. Where are you from, chevee? what major appliances do you have? ^^v
@SaintAnne (5453)
• United States
11 Nov 08
Last month, it was about $40+ and that was with three people in the house. Three computers, at least 3 TV sets and other appliances. P10000 is a bit much, babyfuzz. I hope you find a way to transition yourself from that kind of a bill to a much lower one once you guys live on your own. Take care.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
11 Nov 08
Thanks, SaintAnne.. yeah, I really want to start conserving now. I'm actually used to living less use of electricity since my father is an electrician and he controls every little appliance in his house. When I came to live here with boyfriend, I got used to living with his ways. His grandma was quite lenient about it before. But now that we're using the electricity to earn money, she wants us to share. ^^v We would want to save up for our future because someday.. in the near future, we'll be separating from her, especially since she bought a condo unit and is planning to leave this house. Is your monthly income enough to foot the electricity and other bills?
• Malaysia
28 Nov 09
$200 was quite an amount of money for electric bill. Usually the air-conditioner is taking up so much power the most, so, by having three of them inside the house and if they were just switched on the whole day, no wonder the electricity meter would rise and so did the bill. Ours the average amount is $40, still a lot than yours, but if you want to cut down some costs on electricity, I think you should lessen the usage of the heater, which consume more power like the air-cond.
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
7 Dec 09
Hi. wow, yeah. that's really too much. My father's an electrician and he told me the same thing. What other appliances do you have at home?
@madteaparty (2748)
• Japan
29 Nov 09
I pay my bill in yens, and is usually less than 4000 yens. I live by myself in a small house, and I don't spend much time here, so that's why I usually don't worry much about electricity bill.
1 person likes this
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
7 Dec 09
Hello, madteaparty. Are you a Japanese? Yeah, if you don't really stay that long at home, then the bills are much lesser. We practically live at home and we also work here. ^^
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
Our bill is about P6000 ... still trying to find ways to save but that already includes TV, aircon at night and ref .. good luck in budgeting .. I think meralco has a website with tips on which appliances are cost effective
@babyfuzz (1078)
• Philippines
10 Nov 08
Wow.. Php 6,000 is a huge amount too. How many are you in the house? Thanks for the tip. I'll be checking out Meralco's website in a while. How about you? Do you use any electrical saving devices? My dad is an electrician so he's like cutting down every appliance in the house. He said we can also cut down cost by unplugging our appliances when not in use since electricity still runs even if they're turned off. Like the TV, I know it's a habit of most of us to just turn it off from the power. By unplugging you're saving your money and the electricity. ^^v