July-August Energy Report

2017 Energy Use

So far, this summer, we are using about 100 kWh per month more than last year.  Most of this increase is because we've been dehumidifying the basement.  However, we also added a second beverage fridge and a lot more lighting in the basement.

This summer has been somewhat cooler than average and we have used zero AC.

The following diagram shows our 2017 energy use (solid blue line) versus 2016 (dashed blue line).  For fun, it also shows the theoretical energy production from a 6kW solar panel array.  A 6kW array could provide about 85-90% of our summer energy but would, of course, fall far short in the winter when we're heating.

The average over the past four months has been roughly 30 kWh per day.  This in line with the typical consumption for an American household and quite a bit better than a typical all electric home.

For the first 8 months of this year the energy breakdown is shown below:
 - HVAC             26%
 - Refrigerator      9.5%
 - Water Heater  11.5%

Comparison to an Average Home in Georgia

Information from Georgia Power indicates that the typical breakdown for an electric home in Georgia is roughly as follows:
 - HVAC                     50%
 - Water Heater          19%
 - Other and lighting   31%

They go on to indicate that the average monthly cost for an all-electric home is approximately $195.00 per month.

In 2016 our average monthly cost was $136.00 which compares very favorably against the Georgia average.