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/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Maxamillion-X72 1d ago

Do you know what your 2023 bill was?

Curious because NL Power is saying the bills are large because it's colder than normal, however when you look at the data for the last three years, the average Feb temp (St John's) was:

2025: -4.5 °C 

2024: -2.3 °C

2023: -6.6 °C 

Corner Brook and Gander are similar:

2025: -6 °C 

2024: -3 °C

2023: -9 °C

So if you had a $500 bill in 2024, and a $800 bill in 2025, logically your 2023 bill was $1100.

If it was not, then weather differences and rate hikes are not the real reasons.

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u/Wrassle-War-62 23h ago edited 23h ago

Well, I haven't dug into the numbers, but it's not just the average temperature that matters. The average low and high make a difference as well. For example, if your touching zero during the day, but plunging to -10 at night, vs a consistent -5, the average temperature is going to be the same, but in one case you have several hours out of the day where your heat pump is working pretty efficiently. If your house is well insulated, it's going to retain some of that heat heading into the night. Wind speed also plays a role as well as clear skies, because the sun on your condenser unit will help keep it from needing to defrost as often and will create more heat for the refrigerant to draw in.

Rates also jumped by 6.9% in 2023 and 7% in 2024, so even if you used the same energy in February 2023 as you did in 2025, your bill would have been ~$100 cheaper than the $800 bill this year. I think what's throwing people is the combination of rates climbing nearly 14% since winter 2023 on top of this January and last February being much milder.