Electric Bill !!

Shelly, we are two people living in a 2br/2b. No A/C, no washing mahine or dryer. 3 fans running 24/7. We each shower once a day and both work outside the home. We cook dinner maybe 4-5 times a week.

Our last WAPA bill was our highest - $74. go figure.

Shelly,
we live in colony cove (where you used to live) but own the unit so have always paid the electric there. (I;m assuming it used to be included in your rent ??) Ours runs from 77-97 each month -- thats the regular colony cove unit, with no a/c running - lots of tv and fans, tho. Electric on STX is approximately 6 times higher than what we paid per killowatt when we lived in Kansas City.
I have heard of 300./month tho but, yikes; whats it going to be when you turn the a/c on??? Check everything that's plugged in (refrigerator, clothes dryer etc) be sure they are not so outdated that they are running constantly; other than that I can offer no help but a shoulder to cry on.

We have a one bedroom condo at Point Pleasant Resort. Last months bill was over $400. Our average bill ususally runs about $250.
I guess the guests keep the A/C on constantantly (with the doors open).

Shelly: Your bill is certainly not normal. Is this your own house or do you rent? Is this your first month's bill?

If you bought the house, have you checked with the previous owners or, if you rent, have you checked with the landlord?

There is obviously something amiss but, depending on your situation (rental/purchase) do check as above and if you cannot find resolution then call WAPA and ask them to recheck the meter reading. The meter readers DO make mistakes. I've been there done that!

If WAPA checks the meter and then comes back at you to tell you that the reading is correct, ask them to check the meter itself. They SHOULD do this when they recheck the meter figures but often don't. Again, been there done that.

Keep a smile on your face when you talk to WAPA but be persistent! Cheers, and hope this helps.

Future Islander: I have heard the same statement/complaint about vacationers. Most condos are privately owned and the bills paid by that individual. Many stateside folks have little appreciation for the costs of things here, nor do they feel a need to care. "I'm paying for it!"seems to be the cry. In the summer, many residents do cough up the money for a/c at night or for certain periods of time. But I have seen tourists turn on the a/c IN JANUARY and leave it on all day when they are not even in the unit. Yikes!

Now, if you are a visitor, reading this board, please note that we love you! But life here is more expensive, so when you complain about the prices of rooms or even goods, one part of it is the additional cost for utilities! And while I am on a roll...Please pick up those rolly suitcases instead of allowing them to go BUMP BUMP BUMP down stairs! Another YIKES!

Okay, I guess I did live up to the "angry and bitter" deal today, huh? Go ahead and delete me Islander...

How would you count the cracks in the concrete without the BUMP BUMP BUMP? LOL

Shelly,
I have a 3 br 1 ba apartment - no ac - 5 fans going most the time, 2 tv's run probably 5 hours total w/ everyone using different times. I go around turning lights off - no electric stove, but do have electric hot water heater that is on a timer - and mine was $120 this month.
And to top it off - july's bill begins WAPA's increase of 20%!

East Ender:

You're right. The higher costs are a result of higher energy costs. Next year the rental rate for my condo will be higher. The last electric bill was $444. I wonder if I'll even break even for last month.

Note: We use electricity for A/C, cooking & hot water (those 30 minute showers sure do cost).

F.I.

FI: Do you have signs posted in your unit for incoming guests (don't flush unless you must... please turn off fans and A/C when you leave...etc?) You probably do and I'm probably being redundant but most visitors don't understand the need for conservation and need to be reminded.

Also, installation of a low pressure shower head saves a lot, along with low-flush toilets. If the latter isn't feasible, a large brick in the toilet tank reduces the water volume sitting there!

There are innumerable little things that can really reduce your electric bill. Lower wattage light bulbs, longlife low wattage fluorescents, etc. I understand why condos have to use electric stoves but those things really stink. Nothing you can do about that.

That's a huge bill for a relatively small unit of living space.

All the best!

Anna:

We do not have signs posted....our agreement with Antilles prohibits such things. We're trying to stay a 3+ Star resort.

We do, however, have a guest comments book in our unit...that's where we ask the guest to be considerate/conscious of the limited & expensive resources (water & electricity) on the island. I guess they just leave the A/C on all day while they are out doing something and want the place to be cool upon arrival. We have a 24,000 BTU A/C unit.

We do use the florescent type bulbs for lighting.

Not much more we can do.

When we were on island in March for 8 days we never used the A/C. Our unit is on the top of the hill and always gets a nice breeze.

F.I.

Wow. Alot of input. Thanks everyone. I'm not sure why we are using so much electric, but I'm going to try to figure it out. I never thought of a timer on the hot water heater, but I HAVE considered unplugging it completely. All of the appliances are new, but yes...they are all electric. I dont use the oven much at all and only cook 2 times a day on the stovetop. We get absolutely NO breeze in this house, so the fans are on most of the day. I went out and bought those energy saving lightbulbs.
The person in this house before me was single and worked full time, BUT his electric was about 75.00. I'm home with 2 kids all day (but we are all job hunting at the moment so we can get out of the house).
I guess it's time to call Wapa and figure something out.
Thanks again everyone for your input.

At least I can say I haven't had any centipedes for over a month! YAYYYYYYY!!!

Shelly:

Wow....a $75 electric bill is something I can only dream about...both in STT and NJ.

F.I.

We own our home on STT - 3 bedrooms, 2 bath - we have a few fans that run all the time but try to keep things shut off during the day when we are not home. I call myself the WAPA Nazi as I am always making sure things are off if they are not in use...our bill has been around $200 each month for the past few months. We eat out a lot - probably only cook at home 3 times a week - and that's mostly on our grill.

my last month's bill was $121.93 and the new bill is $275.10

Not much more usage this month than last, but twice the price. A couple of fans have been run more with my sons visiting.. and a couple more showers for them also. Other things haven't been turned on more than usual.

Chances are that WAPA guesstimated last month's meter reading and got the number a bit low... and then came out to really read it this month. My bills here the past 18 months have been $120 to $175, so the $275 was surprising. Maybe I don't want to hook up the new hottub after all...

Shelly - that's always a possibility for what has happened to you on the current bill. When the bill fluctuates up and down from month to month, they may have not read the meter one of the months and then balanced it out with an actual reading. What would stink for you is that this was your first reading and you might have had to pay for usage from the previous tenant if their previous month hadn't been an actual reading. C'est la vie. Hopefully next month will drop and you can breathe a sigh of relief! And, hey, maybe they just guessed on this month's reading and got the number high so next month will be much lower! One can dream...

An estimated WAPA bill is supposed to have a capital E on it in the reading area--don't have one in front of me so I can't tell you just where it goes though. Our empty house costs about $150 a month, with no one there, and no pool. Another house with a pool and 2 very conservative occupants costs about 200, but the $150 bill used to be $75 before all the increases! These are with gas stoves, too. Haven't gotten this months bills yet.

From what I've heard so far from everyone, i have to wonder how accurate WAPA's billing really is. I've never heard of electric being so expensive. I guess they know we don't have a choice.
With this 20% increase and no increase in our actual salaries, I don't know how much longer we can afford to live here.
Expenses keep going up and my husband's salary doesn't. 🙁

Good day,

We live in a 4 unit, three 1 bedroom studios and one 2 bedroom 700 square foot aprtment. Ours is the apartment. One A/C in our bedroom runs from 11pm till 8am. Cieling fans(3), only use one from 4pm till 11pm. Our monthly electric hasn't been over $25.OO! From all I read before moving down here I was expecting $200 or more a month in electric bills. What a relief. I live on STX.

here's my 2 cents:
I suspect that the people with the really low bills had their meter at one point in time (maybe the previous owner was responsible?) "adjusted" by a WAPA employee who was paid under the table to slow down their meter. Then the folks with the really high bills had their meter adjusted by a "legitimate" visit by a WAPA employee during the "resealing" the meters campaign (which is ongoing, according to a recent article in the Avis). And I suspect that WAPA has all the meters, as a matter of course, adjusted when they are resealed, to run faster than usual. Conspiracy theory? I dunno. But I'll bet that EVERYONE'S bills be much higher as a result of the 'resealing campaign"!

there's definately sopmething strange about my electric bills in stx. We (2 of us) travel back and forth between stx and the states so rarely is the house occupied all month, usually 2 weeks or so, and often by just one of us. We shut things off (except for refrig) when we leave island. Most all our bulbs are flourescent,we conserve,and don't have a pool,no a/c, have a gas stove, yet my daily usage is more than my house in the states, with 4 folks living there, and lights and TV and such on all the time--is there some way for me to test my house and see if the meter is reading right--and yes, it's now one of the new meters, but I don't see any difference.

beaches: read your WAPA bills carefully, looking at KW used and comparing it to previous readings. Best of all, call WAPA or go down to their office with your bills and they'll explain it to you.

Beaches:

Ask to have your meter calibrated (I hope they do it there).

We had a problem in NJ with our bill. The power company changed the meter, took the old one back to their facility and found a problem with the meter. We received an "estimated" refund.

F.I.

Had to add an unbelievable story about an experience I had with a utility company in Dallas (TXU). This is a cautionary tale against choosing "autopayment" on any bill that fluctuates from month to month.

The loft I was renting had meters in locked closets located in common areas. If the meter reader came by and no one was there to unlock the closets, they just recorded no hours and charged the minimum. OK, not that big a deal but it did cause some unpleasant suprises when they actually DID read the meter.

A mistake was made early on that cost me more than $300 and took months to correct.

A few months later (before the above issue had been resolved) I got the surprise of my life on my checking statement. TXU had bascially stolen NINE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS from my checking account in one month. The meter had been misread for many months. The meter was actually read correctly on that visit and the KWH were less than the previous month. They added the negative and positive rather than doing the math correctly. You'd think that an error of that magnitude would be detected, but you'd be wrong 🙂

Took a few months to get my money back and countless hours on the phone with those idiots. They did feel badly (yeah right) and paid me an extra hundred dollars for my trouble. Gee, that makes it OK (not!). It didn't even get resolved until I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I no longer choose autopayment for bills that vary in amount from month to month.

Did anyone read the headline in STX newspaper about WAPA? They wanted to raise rates 29%, but were only allowed to raise it 19% because all of the financial problems they are in are THIER fault! The newspaper article asks why we should have to pay for thier mistakes. It's in today's headlines online. GIve it a read.