The hot weather started here in Eastern Ontario over the last couple weeks and up until this past weekend, it was usually quite manageable. Unfortunately on Sunday, with the humidity really high at 7am, I caved around 9am and turned on the air conditioning until about 10pm.
Thanks to the Time of Use meter we have and Hydro One’s nifty online electricity usage tool, I’m able to see how much electricity we used to keep ourselves cool(er) for the day.
Yeah, that’s a whopping 46.05 kWh used in one day. We are normally around 10-12 kWh/day. Ugh.
Now, the graph above shows the cost per hour to run the AC (and I think the dryer must have been on to cause the spike around noon) but let’s remember that these rates are not the real rates we’re paying per kWh consumed. The real rate for the 2011 Summer Season for Off-Peak is more like 12.00892¢/kWh (based on Urban High Density and before tax).
So, 46.05kWh is going to cost $5.53Â (plus tax) and not the $2.72 shown by the graph. Guess we’ll be selecting our cooling days a little more diligently.
The best part of this whole deal is that it was a Sunday and thus the whole day is at the Off-Peak rate. We would have just hidden in the basement all day if it was a week day. :)
Uh, not that I’m saying you are cheap or anything, but for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee a day (keep in mind that you’d be using some energy even without the extra load of the AC), you are keeping your family from killing each other in the heat (or hiding in the basement).
Don’t you love your family? Don’t you?
Hehe. Yeah. I’m cheap. ;) Typical for us is 10-12 kWh/day without the AC so figure $4 to run the AC for 12 hours. Did I mention I’m cheap?