So, here are the pic's
Breaker Box etc,
The photo's of the pole....
Our line is the one coming in from the left..it is a normal double line that is twisted around the guide wire thing..then just before the pole it has extra connections (hanging down) and then carrying on to the pole. At the pole, they are snugged up and wrap around to the bigger line, here they meet the neighbors lines - who by the way do not have the extra connectors in their line...our two houses lines are combined and then join the big line and head to the transformer....

If you look at the house connectoin pic, you will see another wire kind of tied up...is that cable?? it runs down the outside of electric lines and at the pole goes into those big black things below the electric lines...

Tell me if these photos are clear enough...not sure how much better I can get...

 

Really needed to remove the cover from the breaker box but I'm going to make a wild a$$ guess. You have a hot water leak, maybe under the house and the problem you are having is the water heater being on more than it should be.

 

So, here are the pic's
Breaker Box etc,
The photo's of the pole....
Our line is the one coming in from the left..it is a normal double line that is twisted around the guide wire thing..then just before the pole it has extra connections (hanging down) and then carrying on to the pole. At the pole, they are snugged up and wrap around to the bigger line, here they meet the neighbors lines - who by the way do not have the extra connectors in their line...our two houses lines are combined and then join the big line and head to the transformer....

If you look at the house connectoin pic, you will see another wire kind of tied up...is that cable?? it runs down the outside of electric lines and at the pole goes into those big black things below the electric lines...

Tell me if these photos are clear enough...not sure how much better I can get...

Maybe we are looking in the wrong place.

Your rates are really much higher than you think. The base rate may be 9 cents but when all the other stuff is added on it is real rate is about 13.5 cents. Just divide your bill by the KWH used and you will see the real rate. So this is over 50% increase.
The rest is in the usage. I tried to break down your graph a little bit and most of the cost is in the 110 volt lines - see chart. So I would buy one of these and plug it into every outlet in the house that has a plug in it and write down the results.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-Kill-A-Watt-Electricity-Monitor-P4400/202196386
It won't work for lighting but you can probably estimate that by the wattage of the bulb (If they are not led or cfl) and estimate the hours per day. You may just find there are lots of new small loads.

 

Really needed to remove the cover from the breaker box but I'm going to make a wild a$$ guess. You have a hot water leak, maybe under the house and the problem you are having is the water heater being on more than it should be.

--I wish, we just replaced the heater this last year and all pipes are over head, we have checked it, it was $50 per month to run, not cheap but not the smoking gun. No evidence of water leaks in the house..only one bath and kitchen on one side of the house.

thank you for the ideas -

 

Here's something that doesn't make sense:





If your dryer and furnace are gas, why would they be suspected of being the items that might have raised your electricity bill absurdly high?

Also, the estimate was that these two gas appliances would cost you about $80 per month seems way out of kilter. My entire electrical bill is about $90 per month and that is at a higher rate than you are at.

Just to answer...I have asked the same thing time and again...the unbelievable answer was that the tiny little motor in the furnace fan that I have set to run (to keep or old house with 9 foot ceilings) circulating. It gets stuffy..yuck, Anyway, the Auditor and electricians all have dismissed the little fan as the culprit at this time, however, the Electric Company has, despite all the evidence, held the position that it is indeed the furnace/fan that is causing our extreme bills - no kidding.

Same with the gas dryer, there is an electric connection..buzzer and timer - really???

 

I have the photos...will attempt to up/download.

Just to clarify, the Electric company did replace our meter twice and tested the one currenly on the house, they took it off and brought it in to their 'shop', tested it and returned it, telling us it was fine.

Are you suggesting we do additional, independent test on the exterior kilowatt meter?

 

Does this link at all relate to what you are dealing with?
http://xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Regulatory/Regulatory PDFs/rates/MN/Me_Section_5.pdf
If it does, no wonder no one can figure out your bill.

yes that is the company we are with..exactly.

 

Is your meter read by someone calling at your house, or is it read remotely?
Have you measured the 'standby' power consumption of all your appliances when they're supposedly 'off'? It's surprisingly high for some.

 

Is your meter read by someone calling at your house, or is it read remotely?
Have you measured the 'standby' power consumption of all your appliances when they're supposedly 'off'? It's surprisingly high for some.

Read Remotely - I am going to go get that Kill A watt monitor..hopefully today or tomorrow a.m. That looks easier than the style I checked from the library. Still waiting for the electrician to call, I will ask him to check everything with his Clamp on volt meter as well...

 

Do meter readings taken by you agree with the remotely-read kWh values for which you are being billed?

 

I've been watching this thread with anticipation because we have been experiencing the same thing since 2006. Our bills have been as high as 650.00 per month in the summer with central air on, and 350.00 a month during the winter. When usage is recorded this high there is also an additional surcharge added to the bill.

We have a 3 bedroom ranch, which also has a separate meter for hot water, and we had an energy audit done at which time we added more insulation and converted to all LED bulbs. Oil furnace and central air were tested along with all major appliances and usage was estimated at half our meter reading.

Last November we purchased and installed a TED5000 from here http://www.theenergydetective.com/ and have been collecting data since.

It takes time to collect enough data to see a trend, and we are seeing a difference each month (500kWh some months).

This image shows the electric company graph on top and the TED5000 graph on the bottom. You can graph seconds, minutes, hours, days, or months as well as view real time usage. The TED Pro Home allows monitoring of up to 32 individual circuits with the spyder option.

 

I've been watching this thread with anticipation because we have been experiencing the same thing since 2006. Our bills have been as high as 650.00 per month in the summer with central air on, and 350.00 a month during the winter. When usage is recorded this high there is also an additional surcharge added to the bill.

We have a 3 bedroom ranch, which also has a separate meter for hot water, and we had an energy audit done at which time we added more insulation and converted to all LED bulbs. Oil furnace and central air were tested along with all major appliances and usage was estimated at half our meter reading.

Last November we purchased and installed a TED5000 from here http://www.theenergydetective.com/ and have been collecting data since.

It takes time to collect enough data to see a trend, and we are seeing a difference each month (500kWh some months).

This image shows the electric company graph on top and the TED5000 graph on the bottom. You can graph seconds, minutes, hours, days, or months as well as view real time usage. The TED Pro Home allows monitoring of up to 32 individual circuits with the spyder option.

View attachment 87706

Now you have a dilemma. Big difference between you and the power company. Does their measurement include the hot water?
What is your rate? $350 / 1400 is $.25. Pretty high.
Mine has the same shape, but lower in the winter. Similar house it sounds like - Three bedroom well insulated - LED lighting, all electric appliances, but gas water heater.
Only 2 people looking in the fridge.

 

Now you have a dilemma. Big difference between you and the power company. Does their measurement include the hot water?
What is your rate? $350 / 1400 is $.25. Pretty high.
Mine has the same shape, but lower in the winter. Similar house it sounds like - Three bedroom well insulated - LED lighting, all electric appliances, but gas water heater.
Only 2 people looking in the fridge.

My intention was not to hijack the thread, but to point out the TED5000 monitor.

Those higher bills we've experienced were not for this period, this has been going on for almost 10 years now. We were not even living in our house last July and August because our water was shut off while our bathroom was being remodeled and our usage still climbed to 2996 kWh.

Our bill is a bit more complicated than yours, but our usage 10 years ago was more in line with the usage on your bill.

Our electric bill does include the hot water heater, so the electric company meter has only been averaging 200kWh higher than our meter. We are still not convinced someone hasn't tapped into the line running out to our shed or our septic tank pump.

 

We are still not convinced someone hasn't tapped into the line running out to our shed or our septic tank pump.

A good way to check this is to monitor the existing pump line for one week.

Then supply the pump from a temporary extension and monitor for another week, whilst making the original pump supply dead at the breaker box.