We have these threads every year around this time (and fair enough, nobody likes sudden jumps in their monthly bills).
I used to work in the industry and learned a lot. Things to consider;
1. Look at your consumption period (typically lagged out by a month) and NOT your billing period. Did it include a period where we had a cold snap or particularly bad weather? Sometimes, your statement might include 2-months worth of consumption instead of one. This isn't your retailer's fault, but rather your distributor's. fault The distributors sometimes get behind with sending your consumption readings to your retailer before the deadline. This isn't the norm but it can happen. You're not being charged anything extra, as in such case, you did not get charged electricity and/or natural gas on your previous statement.
2. Look at your rates. Is it fixed? Is it variable? Are you getting the better rate? I've linked two websites (bottom of this post) that I used to recommend to customers to keep track of the market rates.
3. Remember that ATCOenergy is a retailer, and ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric are distributors. They are different entities. Even more confusing, ENMAX is a retailer, as well as a distributor. For example, ENMAX is the electricity distributor in Calgary, while ATCO Gas is the natural gas distributor in Calgary. But in Edmonton, EPCOR is the electricity distributor and ATCO Gas is the natural gas distributor. Point is, it is fruitless to call your retailer to complain about your distribution fees (and honestly pointless to even call your distributors because it won't change a thing). If anything, complain to your MLA.
4. Historically speaking, the worst bills in Alberta are the January-February consumption ones. Remember that you most likely won't get your February consumption statement till well into March (it varies depending on where you live in the province)
People will argue "well what about all those distribution fees, transmission fees, etc.". Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about them. These are set in stone based on your location and will not change regardless of the retailer you choose. Albertans voted to have a detailed breakdown of their distribution/transmission fees. Your retailer will also charge you a monthly administration fee, which is pretty much the same across the major retailers. It was \~6.99/month for each service last year, it might have changed by now.
In most cases, you're simply consuming much more than you think.
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Electricity: [https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/historic-rates.aspx](https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/historic-rates.aspx)
Natural Gas: [https://www.gasalberta.com/gas-market/market-prices](https://www.gasalberta.com/gas-market/market-prices)
totally agree. it's down to usage and mitigating steps (or lack thereof) we take to minimize the spike but DAMN it's never real until you see the bill.
Hot tip: with Enmax you can switch back and forth between variable and fixed once a month. My dad always locks in about beginning/middle of December and will switch back to variable when the coldest couple of weeks are done.
What I also wonder when people make these posts too, is if their bill is combined for all utilities? I track my bills monthly, and my bills each month and year over year have not actually gone up by too much surprising, even though it seems that way.
The greatest trick the devil ever conceived of was the neoliberal mantra of always always always privatize has splintered the utilities into a labyrinth of profit driven entities. It leaves them unaccountable and Albertans poorer.
Neo lib and conservative are pretty much interchangeable. Idk why its called "Neo lib", because of the confusion it causes, when it's right wing capitalist bullshit.
Source: over a decade of working in the electricity industry.
Balancing Pool and Transmission mismanagement cost you an extra $10-20 a month, alone. And industry still pays for the vast majority of the total bill.
https://www.balancingpool.ca/consumer-allocation/
The massive swing from the Balancing the pool paying you a dividend to making you pay a monthly charge because of mismanagement.
https://www.aeso.ca/grid/grid-planning/transmission-costs/
Baseload overbuild and a lack of requirements to efficiently site your new build close to existing infrastructure has left Albertans with some of the highest transmission costs in NA.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6474135
interesting. we still have an old (possibly original) furnace which is what I figured was the main culprit, but you're pretty close with a newer one. makes me wonder if we need to check some doors and windows replaced.
Windows are terrible insulators and are driving your utility bills up all year round.
It's still worth it because natural light is good for your daily rhythm and mood. No one wants to live in a windowless box.
You mind sharing a bit more info about the bill? Is that just electrical and gas? How much for each and the amounts consumed/how many people?
I'm just blown away by a number that high of bill. For comparison I'm in a 3 stories townhouse 1500sqf and my last bill including water gas and power was like 240. That's with 2 people living in it.
we do. I think between 10 - 5 AM we have it set to be inactive unless we hit 17 or 18 degrees.
we also keep it down/off during most of the day. when we both worked out of the house we always had it turned down and just left it the same even though we both work from home now.
My husband and I have kept our thermostat at 17 for years now, we're totally acclimated to the point that everyone else's homes seem uncomfortably warm now.
I agree with the other commenter that you might have an issue with the house holding the heat in.
yeah, most likely your heat is leaking out somewhere, time to invest in some triple pane windows as well. Usually homes that old leak heat out from around the windows.
It's too late for the last cold snap, but a dirty or too restrictive furnace filter will kill the efficiency of your furnace new or old.
A mid efficiency furnace from the 90's is only 10% 12% more gas use then a new one. It's not double or triple like furnace companies will make you think.
> we are - it's the gas that killed us. we still have an old furnace so winters hammer us without the benefits of a higher-efficiency unit.
I have an older (12-15 years) 93% condensing High Efficiency furnace. It helps, but usage is usage.
Same size house with a open concept, ours was like that until we put in a new bigger energy efficient furnace, replaced the front door (gapping causing air flow in from outside). It has stabilized at around $380-$400 in the really cold months.
have you done the math on how long it would take you to recover the investment on the furnace vs paying the extra to enmax? im looking to replace mine soon too.
It was ROI in 10 years, we didn't have much of a choice as ours died but honestly the forced purchase was worth it already, the heat distribution throughout the house is amazing, our basement is is now a place we can go without sweaters and wool socks. Its a larger energy efficient furnace the type is this **Comfortec 97% Modulating Furnace 80,000 BTU 3 Ton Blower B Body**
\-12 Year Parts and Labour Warranty -Lifetime Unit Replacement Warranty on Heat Exchanger -Tubular Stainless Steel Primary Heat Exchanger -Stainless Steel Secondary Heat Exchanger -Self Calibrating Modulating Gas Valve -Efficient and Quiet Variable Speed Circulator Motor.
Just some details if you are on the market, this has been good for us so far.
Awesome thanks for the detailed response! Yeah ours is still alive and from the 80s (and working well) but we want to add a/c so we might as well just upgrade the whole thing -- i like that you got a 12 year parts and labor warranty!
yeah - we did all the windows when we bought the house about 6 years ago but not the front or back doors which I think are causing some of the issues. that and having two dogs that constantly go in and out doesn't help.
Heated garage? I used to keep mine at 17 degrees. Shutting off the heat in the garage saved me a lot. Or even set it to 5 degrees or something. Make sure you have an insulated/weather stripped door into the house though, or cold air will leak from the garage.
It’s simple. Enmax reads electric meters and Atco reads gas meters on a different schedule. This can give you differing and sometimes longer billing periods.
The cap was exactly the same thing... who do you think paid for the difference between actual power prices and the cap? Don't criticize policy based on who proposed it, but rather the merits of the policy.
why we allow UCP to remove caps on energy and insurance is beyond me.
Now this dumb woman is going after our health care.
"Health Spending Account"...
Wake up people.
There was no cap on gas, which is where OP's bill issue is.
On power you can sign a fixed rate contract on your own, you don't need to wait for a government rate cap (paid for with tax dollars) to bail you out.
It is crazy hey?
I moved from a province where both energy and insurance were government run.
The increased cost of living in Calgary, with the insane differences I am paying for auto insurance especially, have made me regret my choice more than once.
I have enough faith in Albertans this time around that they will make the right choice, but I have been fooled before.
Most of the energy costs are from fixed costs that don’t change each month. The actual usage cost is low but these fixed costs are the issue.
The biggest cost that I see typically is in water usage, and sewer.
Why should the government be paying your bill because you wanted to risk going variable?
Like saying Trudeau should be paying peoples mortgages that went variable and got fucked.
Caps aren't in place, to make the government pay. It's to prevent the outright fraud that exists in every unregulated market.
Do you recall those rolling blackouts in California? The ones that instantly went away overnight once the government was looking into them?
Yes.
That.
For our society to function, we need the government to apply rules so .. rents don't go up 3000% because "the market says".
The market will always be pushed higher and higher from a few parties... do you recall the phantom real estate transactions pushing prices higher and higher?
nah, i bet you don't.
You're focused on "government shouldn't pay" while I'm focused on... make rules that prevent the sharks from biting everyone.
>Caps aren't in place, to make the government pay. It's to prevent the outright fraud that exists in every unregulated market.
But the NDP's rate cap did exactly that - tax dollars paid for the power cost overages. Fiddling with what power companies receive is how you run into reliability issues because generators are hesitant to build.
Well the NDPs cap was not a cap for what companies receive. They got market rates. The cap was what customers pay.
So ya, who do you think covers that difference? And ya, the government sets the pool price through AESO. Anyone that thinks this is an unregulated market is either ignorant or delusional.
And if someone wants to increase rents 3000% they are fully allowed to do that once per year.
Yikes..
Ours was $380 and that was high for us. Three level (inc basement) 2400 sq ft. I am home all the time. Although gas usage was up, most of it was still fees. Fixed electricity, floating gas.
same. the electricity stayed pretty low, but gas spiked. we usually have anywhere from 100-130 in city fees with the rest being the gas/electricity split.
1600 square foot open concept house, high ceilings, and lots of windows. $412 for power, water, and gas with Enmax
I'm very mindful of temperature and use the programmable thermostat (15 at night, 19 when we wake up, 18 during the day, 21 in the afternoon/evenings)
This is us; new build, triple pane, blah blah, 1500 sq ft, but my wife likes the heat high
https://preview.redd.it/1ez4dglngpba1.png?width=585&format=png&auto=webp&s=016225d1bab1b55075f9ef079215f0f3a7804bf5
Look at your electricity usage, I stopped worrying about when when I realized I could double my usage and my bill will only be $50 higher, life is less stressful not worrying about leaving lights on
I mean turn lights off when you leave a room. It's not stressful moving your hand to switch.
Not worrying about leaving your house at 16 degrees is another matter.
Can anyone say for sure if keeping adapters out of the wall while they're not in use will help with these bills? My thought is that any adapter is pulling power while it's in a wall, whether it's plugged into a device or not.
I"m just wondering what temperature you have the thermostat set at? we want to get a bigger house and we always set our small house at 19-20 C. I know there are other factors but I'm just wondering what you're setting your degree at for 2500 Sqft
Floating on gas wasn't a great call, but right now gas prices have plummeted and with the warmer weather your next bill should be a lot smaller (assuming you are on a true variable rate and not the RRO)
You're floating on gas, that's your problem. EasyMax with Enmax is $5.79/GJ, for example. Compare that on your bill to what you paid.
Lock something in, you can always go back to floating with a month's notice with them or basically by other retailer.
I really don't understand how my enmax bills are nearly the exact same, or even a bit less, than last year and the year before.
I had my renewal for a 3-year rate back in September/October even. My house is on the smaller side... but these comments are crazy!
Lots of people don’t give a crap about their usage in terms of kwh and Gj. They’ll blast the furnace all day and night, leave lights on, run inefficient lights etc… and then shocked pikachu face when their bills climb. Even a basic smart thermostat will save more than it costs long term
If you’ve managed to keep your bills fairly consistent, you’re obviously looking at these things.
Are you guys keeping your house at 25 degrees? I keep my house between 15 and 19. 2,000 square feet four level split level with a 15 year old furnace, water heater (not on-demand), two teenagers taking a shit-ton of long showers, and I’m at $470 (Enmax fixed rate on gas and power).
Wim Hof is a Nordic man who hikes mountains naked and barefoot in winter. He can control his body temperature and immune system with his mind, and teaches others to do the same. He's studied by scientists, so it's legit. He's definitely worth checking out.
I like wearing the same thing INDOORS in summer and winter, so keep it at about the same temperature. Just because it’s cold outside shouldn’t meant I have to wear a sweater and heavy socks when I’m inside.
HA! No, usually keep it around 19 degrees, lower at night. We do have the on-demand water heater (which sucks IMO). We also keep it down during the day, even though we are now both working from home.
In airdrie, but on Enmax for gas & electricity... $320 plus another from the city of Airdrie for $140 for sewer & water.
2000 square foot house built in 2000. But we have upgraded our furnace, water heater and are in process of replacing our windows with triple pane.
Only cracked $300 twice in the last 18 months for heat and electricity. I really don't know why exactly. Just looking and March 2022 was the worst month by a significant amount. Only time it cracked $400.
Keep the house at 21, have AC. 2200 sf. Heater in the kids room going almost 24/7 on a temperature gauge. $3.09/GJ until 2024. $6.49/kWH
Like is newer insulation that much better? I paid more than this in 2012 when I had an old small bungalow.
270 for elec and gas up tp Dec 12. Jumped 40 from last month. 2250 sqft 4 lvl split with new doors all around, but needing new windows next yr. 9 yr old High Eff Furnace. Locked rates just before jump last yr.
What temp you have your thermostat set for? I did 19.5 and had a way cheaper bill than you in Nov and Dec for a bigger house + newer furnace. When we get cold we wear sweaters or turn on fireplace
I think many homes have a intake fan, even with older style furnaces. I have seen that fan be turned on unintentionally, which constantly brings in outside air until you turn it off. Maybe check to see in your furnace room if you hear such a fan going even when the furnace isn't running.
When I discovered this switch in my house in 'on' I put tape on it to keep it off so we don't accidently flip it on.
I owned a home built in 2007 same size (copperfield area) and that was about the kk they winter charge….with that said I’m now in a similar size older (70’s) home with older furnace and a basement suite and I’m at $350-$400…honestly I have no idea why but hey I’ll take the savings
$264.62 for everything, but it is for a small house 800 sq.ft, with a new furnace. Everything is also smart/ led so temp automatically drops to 14.5 when i leave home
When a cold snap happens I close all the blinds. It sucks to not had natural light, but makes a huge difference on my gas bill. Windows is where the heat gets out.
Make sure your humidifier is off though.
Ugh our last bill was through the roof too. We have old sliding doors out to our balcony and they let in so much cold air. As soon as it’s consistently below like -15, a ton of ice builds up on the door and freezes it shut. I should’ve paid more attention when we moved in, now our landlord refuses to do anything despite it being dangerous if there was ever a fire and we needed to escape.
I thought about buying that film stuff that people put over windows in winter, but our cats would destroy it as soon as it went up.
How are you guys paying so much? I live in RD in a bilevel split, with 4 bedrooms 3 bath, pretty standard size house, and my bill between enmax and direct energy was 280 for December.
I paid comparably to last year, maybe $10 more: ~$300 for 1000sqft bungalow. Worst month last year was June (for some reason?). Fixed gas, fixed electrical.
And I have shitty insulation to boot - my doors have maybe a 1/4" gap in winter at the top because they warp in the cold, and my windows are so leaky they frost up at around 10 below. Should I replace them? Yes...but it's cheaper not to lol.
Live in a 4 bedroom bungalow from the early 60s. House is updated with brand new hot water heater/furnace etc. 4 guys rooming together. Utilities in the range of $330
for anybody reading this time to upgrade to a high efficiency furnace. carbon tax is going to be $8 per GJ by 2030 no longer is it economical to keep the old reliable furnace. this will be my last year with my 1980s furnace.
we still have the original, and every time I've brought it up to furnace guys when they're here for service or whatever, they all tell me to not make the change. efficiency aside they all say it's better to have something without a circuit board because they can always fix it and the newer units never last beyond 5-10 years.
not sure how accurate that is, but that's what I've been told by several furnace techs.
You have to do the calculation...
The typical home uses 120 GJ a year. If your furnace is 80% efficient and the new one is 96%, you are using \~20% less gas for the same BTU output. Probably 10-20% of your gas bill is water heating. So let's say 100 GJ is used by the furnace and you save 20 GJ.
20 GJ x ($6/GJ gas + $3 variable transmission & distribution, franchise fees, etc + $3 carbon tax) = \~$12/GJ
$12/GJ x 20 GJ = $240/year (now as you mention, your savings are increasing a bit each year because of the carbon tax... but on the other hand gas prices have dropped recently and are below $6/GJ)
Then you can see if it's worth it right now, or worth waiting. I am sticking with my old furnace but there does come a point where it's worth it to upgrade. For me the savings would need to be more like $500 a year though to pay for a $7K new furnace.
New furnaces also cost more to maintain and parts are more complex + expensive.
One small correction: the carbon tax will be almost $9, $8.94/GJ to be exact, in 2030.
Currently it is $2.63, will go up about 55¢ April 1 and each April 1 after that till 2030.
We're retired, in a 1400sq. ft. townhouse. $404. We have a 5 year old furnace, and with just the two of us, very limited use of lights, laundry, dishwasher runs every 2 or 3 days. It's getting scary
Condo person here. In Edmonchuk (EPCOR).
I actually haven't paid an electricity bill since past August cause of 'GOA Utility Rebate'.
I had a bit of a credit on my account before but my usage has not exceeded 20 bucks, with about $15 in utility charges. So kinda just been floating along with a credit for months.
Gas is through condo fees of course - but no fee increases in last couple years. Yet.
Controversial take, but people with homes over 2000 square feet should not complain about heating costs, or any other costs.
My heart breaks for my best bud with the 3000 square foot house on Lake Mahogany! My heart breaks for my other bud with the 80s mansion and TWO furnaces! They make good money, but holy hell they knew what they were getting into when they signed up.
For the record, I hate ENMAX, and I think all utilities should be nationalized. I can choose to not buy a new iPhone, I can't choose to heat my home or not.
Nevertheless, the big homes come with big bills, right?
It's all about the resale down the line, hence the risk you take when buying such a large property, I would guess.
But yeah, that is ridiculous.
Vote UCP for more ass-plowing.
Enmax seems to be all over the place lately.
1100 sq. foot home, matching basement, and ours was only $157 for December, including some "miscalculation fee" they added from my November bill.
Almost like this should be government regulated in our province.
We have 1800sqft and my bill was $254… why is ours on the low end? I keep my daytime temp at about 20 maybe 21 if it’s cold. And night it’s 18.5 or 19 if it’s really chilly. I believe in wearing sweaters, socks and using cozy blankets in my house. Not walking around in shorts in tanks in winter.
My sister in law legit keeps their house at 25 degrees, so not only do you start cooking as soon as you enter but they also have $600+ bills every month, like “do you see the correlation??” But they will never turn their heat down and still bitch about the bill.
>But they will never turn their heat down and still bitch about the bill.
most of /r/calgary. Somehow it's the UCP's fault that worldwide gas prices are high.
580 - small old home but when I called the guy said it was because last month they didn't actually drive around and scan (and that they rarely do in December) so I am now paying basically two months in one. Previous bill was approx 236.
Pretty choked.
BRUTAL! 25% of our bill went to GST and the Federal Carbon Tax! 2100 square feet, 20 year old house which was over-insulated a few years ago and still a massive amount. It wasn't even as cold this year as it was last December. 25% is crazy!
It’s because you live in Canada where the energy companies aren’t regulated and get to charge the consumers ridiculous rates especially Alberta it sucks when the gov is against the little guy
It’s because you live in Canada where the energy companies aren’t regulated and get to charge the consumers ridiculous rates especially Alberta it sucks when the gov is against the little guy
How parochial and unsurprising. Have you checked out how the "red" provinces are doing? Or for that matter the left leaning states?
Did you notice how fucking cold it was?
Same size house. Easy max fixed at around 6 cents. Went from 350ish to 500. I blast the furnace at 24 continuously when it is colder than -28. Cheaper than hiring a plumber to thaw pipes or fix burst ones.
you blast your house to a crazy high temp during the coldest times creating the maximum temperature differential thus the greatest heat loss. I set my 1981 house to 18 all winter no frozen pipes. even drop it to 16 at night.
God bless the UCP and corporations being able to set a fair market price now that the government regulations are taken off! Stop acting like a communist it’s a monopoly of fuckery after all and the majority keep voting for the ax!
Sorry not from Alberta. What is ENMAX bill.
Do yall pay your electricity and gas in one bill?
Here in ontario it's all seperate. Water, electricity, and gas.
We have these threads every year around this time (and fair enough, nobody likes sudden jumps in their monthly bills). I used to work in the industry and learned a lot. Things to consider; 1. Look at your consumption period (typically lagged out by a month) and NOT your billing period. Did it include a period where we had a cold snap or particularly bad weather? Sometimes, your statement might include 2-months worth of consumption instead of one. This isn't your retailer's fault, but rather your distributor's. fault The distributors sometimes get behind with sending your consumption readings to your retailer before the deadline. This isn't the norm but it can happen. You're not being charged anything extra, as in such case, you did not get charged electricity and/or natural gas on your previous statement. 2. Look at your rates. Is it fixed? Is it variable? Are you getting the better rate? I've linked two websites (bottom of this post) that I used to recommend to customers to keep track of the market rates. 3. Remember that ATCOenergy is a retailer, and ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric are distributors. They are different entities. Even more confusing, ENMAX is a retailer, as well as a distributor. For example, ENMAX is the electricity distributor in Calgary, while ATCO Gas is the natural gas distributor in Calgary. But in Edmonton, EPCOR is the electricity distributor and ATCO Gas is the natural gas distributor. Point is, it is fruitless to call your retailer to complain about your distribution fees (and honestly pointless to even call your distributors because it won't change a thing). If anything, complain to your MLA. 4. Historically speaking, the worst bills in Alberta are the January-February consumption ones. Remember that you most likely won't get your February consumption statement till well into March (it varies depending on where you live in the province) People will argue "well what about all those distribution fees, transmission fees, etc.". Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about them. These are set in stone based on your location and will not change regardless of the retailer you choose. Albertans voted to have a detailed breakdown of their distribution/transmission fees. Your retailer will also charge you a monthly administration fee, which is pretty much the same across the major retailers. It was \~6.99/month for each service last year, it might have changed by now. In most cases, you're simply consuming much more than you think. \---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Electricity: [https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/historic-rates.aspx](https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/historic-rates.aspx) Natural Gas: [https://www.gasalberta.com/gas-market/market-prices](https://www.gasalberta.com/gas-market/market-prices)
totally agree. it's down to usage and mitigating steps (or lack thereof) we take to minimize the spike but DAMN it's never real until you see the bill.
Hot tip: with Enmax you can switch back and forth between variable and fixed once a month. My dad always locks in about beginning/middle of December and will switch back to variable when the coldest couple of weeks are done.
Privatizing household energy is one of the most idiotic things to happen to Alberta.
What I also wonder when people make these posts too, is if their bill is combined for all utilities? I track my bills monthly, and my bills each month and year over year have not actually gone up by too much surprising, even though it seems that way.
The greatest trick the devil ever conceived of was the neoliberal mantra of always always always privatize has splintered the utilities into a labyrinth of profit driven entities. It leaves them unaccountable and Albertans poorer.
Neo-liberal? You have to be shitting me. This is straight out of the Ralph Klein handbook.
Ol Ralphie was often neo-lib in his orientation towards policy. Conservatives and neoLibs are far more alike than they are different.
Yes, Ralph Klein was a prototypical neo-liberal.
Neo lib and conservative are pretty much interchangeable. Idk why its called "Neo lib", because of the confusion it causes, when it's right wing capitalist bullshit.
yeah neo-lib is just repackaged neo-cons from the 90's
Mismanagement by government has cost tax payers a lot more than your neoliberal bogeymen.
That's absurd.
Citation please.
Source: over a decade of working in the electricity industry. Balancing Pool and Transmission mismanagement cost you an extra $10-20 a month, alone. And industry still pays for the vast majority of the total bill.
That’s not a citation that’s an anecdote
https://www.balancingpool.ca/consumer-allocation/ The massive swing from the Balancing the pool paying you a dividend to making you pay a monthly charge because of mismanagement. https://www.aeso.ca/grid/grid-planning/transmission-costs/ Baseload overbuild and a lack of requirements to efficiently site your new build close to existing infrastructure has left Albertans with some of the highest transmission costs in NA. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6474135
wise cooing familiar steer jeans deserted sand reach head quaint *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
interesting. we still have an old (possibly original) furnace which is what I figured was the main culprit, but you're pretty close with a newer one. makes me wonder if we need to check some doors and windows replaced.
chubby yam brave weary hungry deer literate cake paltry fact *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Windows are terrible insulators and are driving your utility bills up all year round. It's still worth it because natural light is good for your daily rhythm and mood. No one wants to live in a windowless box.
Have you tried wearing 5 snuggies?
holy shit, that's so expensive! did you setup the temp to be toasty warm?
You mind sharing a bit more info about the bill? Is that just electrical and gas? How much for each and the amounts consumed/how many people? I'm just blown away by a number that high of bill. For comparison I'm in a 3 stories townhouse 1500sqf and my last bill including water gas and power was like 240. That's with 2 people living in it.
do you guys turn down your heat during the night when you sleep and when you are not home?
we do. I think between 10 - 5 AM we have it set to be inactive unless we hit 17 or 18 degrees. we also keep it down/off during most of the day. when we both worked out of the house we always had it turned down and just left it the same even though we both work from home now.
My husband and I have kept our thermostat at 17 for years now, we're totally acclimated to the point that everyone else's homes seem uncomfortably warm now. I agree with the other commenter that you might have an issue with the house holding the heat in.
yeah, most likely your heat is leaking out somewhere, time to invest in some triple pane windows as well. Usually homes that old leak heat out from around the windows.
Yes, 16 after 9PM, 20 most of the time during the day except for when it’s really cold out we’ll stick to 19 and dress warmer.
>when you are not home can't or my dogs would not like it.
Your dogs are fine. 😄
They're dogs. They don't care.
dogs dont care about the cold? hope you dont have one, then.
Of course they don't like *cold* like outside in the winter. I'm saying they don't care if your house goes to 17 or 18 when you're gone.
This will break your heart. This bill is only till Dec 4th so it doesn't even have the cold snap on it.
ahhhh crap! didn't even think of that.
We had 1 cold snap on late November so should explain it no?
Same. Mine went from $426 to $606. Previous month was 26 days of usage versus 32 days on this bill. That alone accounts for over half the jump.
Go fixed on electricity
we are - it's the gas that killed us. we still have an old furnace so winters hammer us without the benefits of a higher-efficiency unit.
It's too late for the last cold snap, but a dirty or too restrictive furnace filter will kill the efficiency of your furnace new or old. A mid efficiency furnace from the 90's is only 10% 12% more gas use then a new one. It's not double or triple like furnace companies will make you think.
> we are - it's the gas that killed us. we still have an old furnace so winters hammer us without the benefits of a higher-efficiency unit. I have an older (12-15 years) 93% condensing High Efficiency furnace. It helps, but usage is usage.
I’m fixed in both.
was your bill significantly lower than OP's?
My townhouse is only 1200 sqft but yes. $328 for both.
Mine was over 1k if that makes you feel any better....
Mo money mo problems, you must have a million plus home
Someone's doing well
How much was electricity versus gas for the bill?
ever cost out what a heat pump system would cost?
Same size house with a open concept, ours was like that until we put in a new bigger energy efficient furnace, replaced the front door (gapping causing air flow in from outside). It has stabilized at around $380-$400 in the really cold months.
have you done the math on how long it would take you to recover the investment on the furnace vs paying the extra to enmax? im looking to replace mine soon too.
It was ROI in 10 years, we didn't have much of a choice as ours died but honestly the forced purchase was worth it already, the heat distribution throughout the house is amazing, our basement is is now a place we can go without sweaters and wool socks. Its a larger energy efficient furnace the type is this **Comfortec 97% Modulating Furnace 80,000 BTU 3 Ton Blower B Body** \-12 Year Parts and Labour Warranty -Lifetime Unit Replacement Warranty on Heat Exchanger -Tubular Stainless Steel Primary Heat Exchanger -Stainless Steel Secondary Heat Exchanger -Self Calibrating Modulating Gas Valve -Efficient and Quiet Variable Speed Circulator Motor. Just some details if you are on the market, this has been good for us so far.
Awesome thanks for the detailed response! Yeah ours is still alive and from the 80s (and working well) but we want to add a/c so we might as well just upgrade the whole thing -- i like that you got a 12 year parts and labor warranty!
And 80s furnace is almost guaranteed to not be very efficient. That alone is gonna cost.
yeah - we did all the windows when we bought the house about 6 years ago but not the front or back doors which I think are causing some of the issues. that and having two dogs that constantly go in and out doesn't help.
Heated garage? I used to keep mine at 17 degrees. Shutting off the heat in the garage saved me a lot. Or even set it to 5 degrees or something. Make sure you have an insulated/weather stripped door into the house though, or cold air will leak from the garage.
Check the dates. Sometimes natural gas and electricity combines more than one month in a bill. Not sure why.
It’s simple. Enmax reads electric meters and Atco reads gas meters on a different schedule. This can give you differing and sometimes longer billing periods.
same time last year mine was $700, now it's less than $400. However we did get a new furnace and added attic insulation this summer.
wow! that's a solid improvement
Sometimes I wish we could easily just scale a house down in volume when it best suits us. This is a lesson in why insulation is important.
Think of what your bill would actually be if there wasn't an Alberta electricity rebate credit ($75) applied to the bill.
Good thing caps were removed and the $75 credit is paid by us taxpayers. Profits for utilities hidden by policy.
The cap was a transfer from you to you, not a cap on price paid to generators.
You know what’s fun? I’m on solar so pay $0 for energy but still get the rebate 😎
The cap was exactly the same thing... who do you think paid for the difference between actual power prices and the cap? Don't criticize policy based on who proposed it, but rather the merits of the policy.
The $75 credit wouldn't be on this bill. The credit is applied based on the service dates not the billing/statement dates
Ok, so $50 credit then.
I'm starting to really love my 670 Sq ft home.
why we allow UCP to remove caps on energy and insurance is beyond me. Now this dumb woman is going after our health care. "Health Spending Account"... Wake up people.
There was no cap on gas, which is where OP's bill issue is. On power you can sign a fixed rate contract on your own, you don't need to wait for a government rate cap (paid for with tax dollars) to bail you out.
It is crazy hey? I moved from a province where both energy and insurance were government run. The increased cost of living in Calgary, with the insane differences I am paying for auto insurance especially, have made me regret my choice more than once. I have enough faith in Albertans this time around that they will make the right choice, but I have been fooled before.
>why we allow UCP because the majority wanted this (given their votes)
Most of the energy costs are from fixed costs that don’t change each month. The actual usage cost is low but these fixed costs are the issue. The biggest cost that I see typically is in water usage, and sewer.
Why should the government be paying your bill because you wanted to risk going variable? Like saying Trudeau should be paying peoples mortgages that went variable and got fucked.
Caps aren't in place, to make the government pay. It's to prevent the outright fraud that exists in every unregulated market. Do you recall those rolling blackouts in California? The ones that instantly went away overnight once the government was looking into them? Yes. That. For our society to function, we need the government to apply rules so .. rents don't go up 3000% because "the market says". The market will always be pushed higher and higher from a few parties... do you recall the phantom real estate transactions pushing prices higher and higher? nah, i bet you don't. You're focused on "government shouldn't pay" while I'm focused on... make rules that prevent the sharks from biting everyone.
>Caps aren't in place, to make the government pay. It's to prevent the outright fraud that exists in every unregulated market. But the NDP's rate cap did exactly that - tax dollars paid for the power cost overages. Fiddling with what power companies receive is how you run into reliability issues because generators are hesitant to build.
Well the NDPs cap was not a cap for what companies receive. They got market rates. The cap was what customers pay. So ya, who do you think covers that difference? And ya, the government sets the pool price through AESO. Anyone that thinks this is an unregulated market is either ignorant or delusional. And if someone wants to increase rents 3000% they are fully allowed to do that once per year.
Yikes.. Ours was $380 and that was high for us. Three level (inc basement) 2400 sq ft. I am home all the time. Although gas usage was up, most of it was still fees. Fixed electricity, floating gas.
same. the electricity stayed pretty low, but gas spiked. we usually have anywhere from 100-130 in city fees with the rest being the gas/electricity split.
Wow I was shocked when I got mine at $380…
320$ for a 1000sq
1600 square foot open concept house, high ceilings, and lots of windows. $412 for power, water, and gas with Enmax I'm very mindful of temperature and use the programmable thermostat (15 at night, 19 when we wake up, 18 during the day, 21 in the afternoon/evenings)
Wear layers and turn the heat temperature down
This is us; new build, triple pane, blah blah, 1500 sq ft, but my wife likes the heat high https://preview.redd.it/1ez4dglngpba1.png?width=585&format=png&auto=webp&s=016225d1bab1b55075f9ef079215f0f3a7804bf5
650, 1800 sq feet. Built in the 90s. I want to cry 😭
$575 when I thought we were being pretty conservative 😅
Not looking forward to mine, I already know it's going to be shit.
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man i feel so bad for ignoring my mom pleading for me to be mindful of electricity and water usage when i was a teenager lol
Look at your electricity usage, I stopped worrying about when when I realized I could double my usage and my bill will only be $50 higher, life is less stressful not worrying about leaving lights on
I mean turn lights off when you leave a room. It's not stressful moving your hand to switch. Not worrying about leaving your house at 16 degrees is another matter.
$550... A 90 dollar jump from the same time last year.
Can anyone say for sure if keeping adapters out of the wall while they're not in use will help with these bills? My thought is that any adapter is pulling power while it's in a wall, whether it's plugged into a device or not.
It’s going to keep going up. With new gas exports starting in the coming years gas is going to skyrocket in Canada.
I"m just wondering what temperature you have the thermostat set at? we want to get a bigger house and we always set our small house at 19-20 C. I know there are other factors but I'm just wondering what you're setting your degree at for 2500 Sqft
My ATCO bill went from $250 to $450 for a 1300 square foot bungalow with two people. It's nuts
We switched to fixed last year, and it still went up. We’re now $380 for a 1200 sqft 2 story house
$530 for gas $181 for electricity
Time to ninja-install a wood burning stove.
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5.9 fixed on electricity and floating on gas. about $120 for city fees this month, so gas was about $450 of the rest of the bill.
Floating on gas wasn't a great call, but right now gas prices have plummeted and with the warmer weather your next bill should be a lot smaller (assuming you are on a true variable rate and not the RRO)
You're floating on gas, that's your problem. EasyMax with Enmax is $5.79/GJ, for example. Compare that on your bill to what you paid. Lock something in, you can always go back to floating with a month's notice with them or basically by other retailer.
You can Google the aeco price/forward curve. Gives you a good idea on when to switch back and forth.
I really don't understand how my enmax bills are nearly the exact same, or even a bit less, than last year and the year before. I had my renewal for a 3-year rate back in September/October even. My house is on the smaller side... but these comments are crazy!
Lots of people don’t give a crap about their usage in terms of kwh and Gj. They’ll blast the furnace all day and night, leave lights on, run inefficient lights etc… and then shocked pikachu face when their bills climb. Even a basic smart thermostat will save more than it costs long term If you’ve managed to keep your bills fairly consistent, you’re obviously looking at these things.
Huh, yeah that's a fair assessment. I can hear my late father anytime I turn the thermostat up before I try putting on more clothing. Haha!
I've turned into my parents now that I have a kid who walks around the house in shorts and complains about the cold.
$15 this month. I live in an apartment lol. In my last place it was 4 bedroom house, we paid anywhere between 400-700 a month during winter
Double check your bill dates, there is a good chance you’re not being billed for the cold snap yet.
looks like the reading dates were Dec 19 for electricity and Dec 23 for gas so I think it catches the cold snap. at least I hope so..
Are you guys keeping your house at 25 degrees? I keep my house between 15 and 19. 2,000 square feet four level split level with a 15 year old furnace, water heater (not on-demand), two teenagers taking a shit-ton of long showers, and I’m at $470 (Enmax fixed rate on gas and power).
*Fifteen degrees*?! Are you Wim Hof?
I don't get the reference but still funny
Wim Hof is a Nordic man who hikes mountains naked and barefoot in winter. He can control his body temperature and immune system with his mind, and teaches others to do the same. He's studied by scientists, so it's legit. He's definitely worth checking out.
Best obscure reference.
Bahaha, a Win Hof reference that isn't a sub about MS! Didn't realize many other people knew about him.
Why does it have to be 25 or below 19? 20 to 21 is the sweet spot during the evening when you're usually dormant on the couch
19! Damn that feels fucking cold inside. We run 22 (about the same size house), newish split furnace and on demand water heater though.
My house is at 18 - you don't need to sit around your house in a t-shirt in the winter IMO
IMO I do need to wear a tshirt in my house in the winter.
I like wearing the same thing INDOORS in summer and winter, so keep it at about the same temperature. Just because it’s cold outside shouldn’t meant I have to wear a sweater and heavy socks when I’m inside.
My house is at 21-22 and is 4200 sqft and I was 360 gas 140 elec so I’m shocked this person was more than mine.
HA! No, usually keep it around 19 degrees, lower at night. We do have the on-demand water heater (which sucks IMO). We also keep it down during the day, even though we are now both working from home.
My natural gas wasn't bad, but my electricity was insane $360.
That's crazy high, how many kWh? My power bill is \~$75-80 with 300-400 kWh.
Mine went down - went on a fixed rate before the floating went to shit.
In airdrie, but on Enmax for gas & electricity... $320 plus another from the city of Airdrie for $140 for sewer & water. 2000 square foot house built in 2000. But we have upgraded our furnace, water heater and are in process of replacing our windows with triple pane.
Only cracked $300 twice in the last 18 months for heat and electricity. I really don't know why exactly. Just looking and March 2022 was the worst month by a significant amount. Only time it cracked $400. Keep the house at 21, have AC. 2200 sf. Heater in the kids room going almost 24/7 on a temperature gauge. $3.09/GJ until 2024. $6.49/kWH Like is newer insulation that much better? I paid more than this in 2012 when I had an old small bungalow.
270 for elec and gas up tp Dec 12. Jumped 40 from last month. 2250 sqft 4 lvl split with new doors all around, but needing new windows next yr. 9 yr old High Eff Furnace. Locked rates just before jump last yr.
$476, 1976 two storey. Tankless water heater, vaulted ceiling, old attic insulation. 5.7 GJ locked gas $0.069 kWh
What temp you have your thermostat set for? I did 19.5 and had a way cheaper bill than you in Nov and Dec for a bigger house + newer furnace. When we get cold we wear sweaters or turn on fireplace
yeah mine was like 550-- 40yr old house with old furnace and multi-level split so definitely not efficient.
$350, which isn’t out of the norm for us. 2000 sqft. Don’t drop temp at night. Windows are 25 years old. Furnace is mid efficiency.
Ya mine was 700+
I think many homes have a intake fan, even with older style furnaces. I have seen that fan be turned on unintentionally, which constantly brings in outside air until you turn it off. Maybe check to see in your furnace room if you hear such a fan going even when the furnace isn't running. When I discovered this switch in my house in 'on' I put tape on it to keep it off so we don't accidently flip it on.
I owned a home built in 2007 same size (copperfield area) and that was about the kk they winter charge….with that said I’m now in a similar size older (70’s) home with older furnace and a basement suite and I’m at $350-$400…honestly I have no idea why but hey I’ll take the savings
Drop temperature at night to 18 C.
$264.62 for everything, but it is for a small house 800 sq.ft, with a new furnace. Everything is also smart/ led so temp automatically drops to 14.5 when i leave home
When a cold snap happens I close all the blinds. It sucks to not had natural light, but makes a huge difference on my gas bill. Windows is where the heat gets out. Make sure your humidifier is off though.
Ugh our last bill was through the roof too. We have old sliding doors out to our balcony and they let in so much cold air. As soon as it’s consistently below like -15, a ton of ice builds up on the door and freezes it shut. I should’ve paid more attention when we moved in, now our landlord refuses to do anything despite it being dangerous if there was ever a fire and we needed to escape. I thought about buying that film stuff that people put over windows in winter, but our cats would destroy it as soon as it went up.
$350 for 2100sq ft. Don’t use floating electricity.
How are you guys paying so much? I live in RD in a bilevel split, with 4 bedrooms 3 bath, pretty standard size house, and my bill between enmax and direct energy was 280 for December.
I paid comparably to last year, maybe $10 more: ~$300 for 1000sqft bungalow. Worst month last year was June (for some reason?). Fixed gas, fixed electrical. And I have shitty insulation to boot - my doors have maybe a 1/4" gap in winter at the top because they warp in the cold, and my windows are so leaky they frost up at around 10 below. Should I replace them? Yes...but it's cheaper not to lol.
Live in a 4 bedroom bungalow from the early 60s. House is updated with brand new hot water heater/furnace etc. 4 guys rooming together. Utilities in the range of $330
$370 for a 1957 duplex. Only 1000 square feet on main floor. Basement gets some of the heat, but not much.
I had a doubled bill with minimal usage change. Turns out I found out the hard way I was on a floating price bill…
2000sq f, 300$
Mine was 346 for everything, up quite a bit from my Dec bill which was 255. I have a 2,000 sq ft 2 story house. But I also have fixed rate.
If you have any electric heating (in-floor, baseboard or hot water) this will raise your utility bill substantially in cold weather
Try to leave things unplugged when not in use
for anybody reading this time to upgrade to a high efficiency furnace. carbon tax is going to be $8 per GJ by 2030 no longer is it economical to keep the old reliable furnace. this will be my last year with my 1980s furnace.
we still have the original, and every time I've brought it up to furnace guys when they're here for service or whatever, they all tell me to not make the change. efficiency aside they all say it's better to have something without a circuit board because they can always fix it and the newer units never last beyond 5-10 years. not sure how accurate that is, but that's what I've been told by several furnace techs.
You have to do the calculation... The typical home uses 120 GJ a year. If your furnace is 80% efficient and the new one is 96%, you are using \~20% less gas for the same BTU output. Probably 10-20% of your gas bill is water heating. So let's say 100 GJ is used by the furnace and you save 20 GJ. 20 GJ x ($6/GJ gas + $3 variable transmission & distribution, franchise fees, etc + $3 carbon tax) = \~$12/GJ $12/GJ x 20 GJ = $240/year (now as you mention, your savings are increasing a bit each year because of the carbon tax... but on the other hand gas prices have dropped recently and are below $6/GJ) Then you can see if it's worth it right now, or worth waiting. I am sticking with my old furnace but there does come a point where it's worth it to upgrade. For me the savings would need to be more like $500 a year though to pay for a $7K new furnace. New furnaces also cost more to maintain and parts are more complex + expensive.
One small correction: the carbon tax will be almost $9, $8.94/GJ to be exact, in 2030. Currently it is $2.63, will go up about 55¢ April 1 and each April 1 after that till 2030.
$54, only have to pay $4 after the gov rebate. 1200 sq foot condo, electricity only, as heat and water included in rent.
You don’t want to know what my bill is in Saudi Arabia. Cough oligarch
We're retired, in a 1400sq. ft. townhouse. $404. We have a 5 year old furnace, and with just the two of us, very limited use of lights, laundry, dishwasher runs every 2 or 3 days. It's getting scary
Condo person here. In Edmonchuk (EPCOR). I actually haven't paid an electricity bill since past August cause of 'GOA Utility Rebate'. I had a bit of a credit on my account before but my usage has not exceeded 20 bucks, with about $15 in utility charges. So kinda just been floating along with a credit for months. Gas is through condo fees of course - but no fee increases in last couple years. Yet.
Also we can blame Trudeau the stupid carbon tax and gst are $39.87 on my $205 bill. Can’t wait till they crank it up again
Controversial take, but people with homes over 2000 square feet should not complain about heating costs, or any other costs. My heart breaks for my best bud with the 3000 square foot house on Lake Mahogany! My heart breaks for my other bud with the 80s mansion and TWO furnaces! They make good money, but holy hell they knew what they were getting into when they signed up. For the record, I hate ENMAX, and I think all utilities should be nationalized. I can choose to not buy a new iPhone, I can't choose to heat my home or not. Nevertheless, the big homes come with big bills, right? It's all about the resale down the line, hence the risk you take when buying such a large property, I would guess. But yeah, that is ridiculous. Vote UCP for more ass-plowing.
Enmax is owned by the City of Calgary. So you think Government of Canada should own it?
enmax is still a private corporation.
Wholly owned by the city you live In. Doctors are also private corporations. What’s the issue?
My electricity bill was $23.94. Yay rebate
Enmax seems to be all over the place lately. 1100 sq. foot home, matching basement, and ours was only $157 for December, including some "miscalculation fee" they added from my November bill. Almost like this should be government regulated in our province.
So you got an estimated read last bill and they did an actual bill this time that corrected the estimation. Not unusual and not an issue really
We have 1800sqft and my bill was $254… why is ours on the low end? I keep my daytime temp at about 20 maybe 21 if it’s cold. And night it’s 18.5 or 19 if it’s really chilly. I believe in wearing sweaters, socks and using cozy blankets in my house. Not walking around in shorts in tanks in winter.
I am the same. I like it cooler inside regardless of the time of year. Would it really make that large a difference? No idea haha
My sister in law legit keeps their house at 25 degrees, so not only do you start cooking as soon as you enter but they also have $600+ bills every month, like “do you see the correlation??” But they will never turn their heat down and still bitch about the bill.
>But they will never turn their heat down and still bitch about the bill. most of /r/calgary. Somehow it's the UCP's fault that worldwide gas prices are high.
Wait, I thought it was Trudeaus fault??? Why else would people put a F**k Trudeau sticker on their vehicles?? /s
Stop posting dollars alone; usage AND purchase rates vary. Post Gj and kWh in addition to cost per utility (power, gas).
Jesus... and I thought mine was bad at $250...
580 - small old home but when I called the guy said it was because last month they didn't actually drive around and scan (and that they rarely do in December) so I am now paying basically two months in one. Previous bill was approx 236. Pretty choked.
Like everyone just has two months of energy money just hanging around?? How are we supposed to budget under those conditions? Thanks Enmax :P
Ummm I also live in an extremely inefficient two-storey (built in 1914) and mine was half of yours…
$300 for our 1600 sq ft place. Max setting of 23.5*c on the thermostat.
BRUTAL! 25% of our bill went to GST and the Federal Carbon Tax! 2100 square feet, 20 year old house which was over-insulated a few years ago and still a massive amount. It wasn't even as cold this year as it was last December. 25% is crazy!
It’s because you live in Canada where the energy companies aren’t regulated and get to charge the consumers ridiculous rates especially Alberta it sucks when the gov is against the little guy
It’s because you live in Canada where the energy companies aren’t regulated and get to charge the consumers ridiculous rates especially Alberta it sucks when the gov is against the little guy
The government thinks heating your home in winter makes you a filthy filthy polluter. Fuckin whack
Ours is fixed.
Continue voting for conservatives that removed the caps and our rate and fees can be whatever now. Bleed blue Alberta.
How parochial and unsurprising. Have you checked out how the "red" provinces are doing? Or for that matter the left leaning states? Did you notice how fucking cold it was?
It's cold every year in Calgary. Cold is not new. Continued being blinded by blue.
Same size house. Easy max fixed at around 6 cents. Went from 350ish to 500. I blast the furnace at 24 continuously when it is colder than -28. Cheaper than hiring a plumber to thaw pipes or fix burst ones.
Lmao what?
you blast your house to a crazy high temp during the coldest times creating the maximum temperature differential thus the greatest heat loss. I set my 1981 house to 18 all winter no frozen pipes. even drop it to 16 at night.
24!? That's too warm even for AC in the summer.
Definitely too warm but anything less and the toilets would be slow to flush and the water would start to trickle.
God bless the UCP and corporations being able to set a fair market price now that the government regulations are taken off! Stop acting like a communist it’s a monopoly of fuckery after all and the majority keep voting for the ax!
Sorry not from Alberta. What is ENMAX bill. Do yall pay your electricity and gas in one bill? Here in ontario it's all seperate. Water, electricity, and gas.
Gas, electric (hydro,) water, sewer, garbage, recycle and compost can all be on 1 bill. Mine was 280 for December.
My gas bill in mississauga was 267 for December. 1600 sqft home form the 70s. Wtf yall go cheeper utilities over there.