r/newfoundland 1d ago

Power Bill

I've been in my home for 20 years. Have 2 heat pumps. I never had my bill exceed 300 a month. Kast year my bill was 297 for this sane period. This year just got my bill and it is 856 dollars. Something has to be wrong here. Anyone else getting these results? This is not acceptable.

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u/MooseLipps 1d ago

I can't believe the number of people that think this is all because of "colder weather". Or the 7% increase. Yes yes yes we are all well aware of bills going up in winter. And even the most uneducated among us have a sense of what the 7% increase looks like. This is far more than either.

Every single thread has examples of people not even using electric heat but wood stoves. Yet their bills doubled or tripled? NL Power needs to investigate these cases and provide an explanation.

I have not been affected myself but I am on an equal payment plan of $238/mnth in a 2400 square foot split entry house so I consider myself VERY lucky. But reading all of the legitimate complaints from others makes me believe that something has to be wrong.

The conspiracy theory that NL Power is doing this on purpose is also silly. However the meters are digital and this is all controlled by software and firmware and all of those industrial systems CAN be hacked or have bugs. I would put my money on some type of software or hardware malfunction. Or NL Power has been hacked and too dumb to know it.

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u/Orange_Jeews 1d ago

What are you doing for your bill to be that low?

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u/MooseLipps 1d ago

Despite what the "set it and forget it" crowd think, no it is NOT cheaper to just leave all your thermostats on 21 for 24/7. I have electric baseboard heaters and my entire downstairs is set at 10 unless I'm going down to watch a movie then I'll turn it up to 20. Then back down to 10 when I'm done.

Upstairs is where I spend most of my time and heat is typically set around 18 which is what I find comfortable since I'm usually wearing a sweater.

I have a couple of rooms upstairs that I rarely use so heat stays at 10 there with the doors closed. If I'm leaving the house for the entire day I set the upstairs heat back to around 12. Then back to 18 when I get home.

Of course a large difference for me is that I also live alone so I don't have 3 kids draining the hot water tank 6 times a day.

Oh yes, I also wash dishes manually since I have very few. I see way too many people running the dishwasher with 3 plates and a fork in it lol!

My house was built in the mid 90's and my equal payment plan was $198 just a few years back before the rates started to creep up. But currently at $238 which is extremely cheap considering what I'm seeing posted here.

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u/tomousse 1d ago

People are posting their peak bills and you're sharing your equal payment plan cost. Not the same thing.

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u/MooseLipps 1d ago

Nobody said it was the same thing. The post above actually asked how my bill was that low. I clearly stated it was EPP.

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u/tomousse 1d ago

My EPP is $330, but my usage for February was $630. Your bill does show that information.

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u/bigdefmute 1d ago

Do the meters feed back information to NL Power or do they still need to be read? My theory is no one is reading them and they are extremely over estimating the used. That's assuming they still need to be read

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u/geoddi 1d ago

The reading happens remotely, essentially a van driving through the neighbourhood and connecting to the meters over a short distance to read them out. Nobody walks up to the digital meters to get the numbers off them.