Enmax fixed vs. floating rates...

[lucky1]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

It doesn't break it out into gas or electric.

"Units represent a combination of electricity (kWh) and natural gas (GJ). This is based on 60 similar homes an average of 2 km from you. Efficient homes are the most efficient 20% of this group."

Mine is all over the place, the last few months Enmax has been telling me my house has been using 4% more energy than similar homes, but last summer I was using anywhere between 75-88% more.

I would guess -- for my house -- it's down to having the air conditioning running, and not everyone has air conditioning.

when you log into your enmax acct, and go to the 'My Energy IQ' and then 'Similar Homes' - there will be a drop down on the right for total energy, gas or electricity

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by lucky1

when you log into your enmax acct, and go to the 'My Energy IQ' and then 'Similar Homes' - there will be a drop down on the right for total energy, gas or electricity

That's good to know. It doesn't show a breakdown when they send the report as an e-mail, though, it just gives a combined 'units' number and compares that.

Looking at mine, it was definitely electricity last summer that did it.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by lucky1

is it the electrical or nat gas portion that's driving up your useage compared to similar homes? In my previous house, I always scored less than average comparative energy consumption until I added a gas heater in the garage - although it didnt really increase the gas consumption *that much* it was enough to push the property onto the high end of the enmax comparisons

Both. The graphs are kinda similar shaped, but I'm using an insane amount of extra energy. I know I use more due to slight inefficiencies and WFH, but using 20% more to almost double electricity the houses seems odd and nat gas is 40%-almost double the houses around me is also odd since many of them also have original windows, furnaces, roofs etc. like my home too.

My electricity usage is claimed to be between 500-1200 kWh during the year and ranges between 20-100% more than similar homes: within 0.4km, Nat gas heating and single detached. Efficient and "similar homes" seem to range between

Nat Gas is around 50-120% more at 4GJ in the summer to 30 in the recent December and January. Efficient and "similar homes seem to range between 1GJ to 21 GJ during the year.




I get my my family's case to reduce usage and they've been good at that, so I'm kinda at a loss as to why the discrepancy is this big. I used to live in a place where I scored as a high efficiency home all the time by quite a margin. This place is older, but are the older major appliances and original really that huge of a difference in efficiency?

EDIT: I guess AC is a good one which explains the summer, but for the rest of the time, it doesn't seem like that's the only issue.

[lucky1]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

That's good to know. It doesn't show a breakdown when they send the report as an e-mail, though, it just gives a combined 'units' number and compares that.

Looking at mine, it was definitely electricity last summer that did it.

do you have central AC? its a power hog for sure...

[lucky1]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Both. The graphs are kinda similar shaped, but I'm using an insane amount of extra energy. I know I use more due to slight inefficiencies and WFH, but using 20% more to almost double electricity the houses seems odd and nat gas is 40%-almost double the houses around me is also odd since many of them also have original windows, furnaces, roofs etc. like my home too.

My electricity usage is claimed to be between 500-1200 kWh during the year and ranges between 20-100% more than similar homes: within 0.4km, Nat gas heating and single detached. Efficient and "similar homes" seem to range between

Nat Gas is around 50-120% more at 4GJ in the summer to 30 in the recent December and January. Efficient and "similar homes seem to range between 1GJ to 21 GJ during the year.




I get my my family's case to reduce usage and they've been good at that, so I'm kinda at a loss as to why the discrepancy is this big. I used to live in a place where I scored as a high efficiency home all the time by quite a margin. This place is older, but are the older major appliances and original really that huge of a difference in efficiency?

EDIT: I guess AC is a good one which explains the summer, but for the rest of the time, it doesn't seem like that's the only issue.

hehe yeah, you can see your AC spike your electrical in the summer, but thats the cost of being comfortable for sure - I would tend to think your biggest issue may be your attic insulation (or lack of) - its incredible how much energy just disappears due to a few inches of insulation missing from the attic. Grab a tape measure and pop up there if you havent lately - you really should aim for a minimum of R-50, which would be about 15" of fill (if its modern day cellulite insulation)

[CroFlames]

So we should do floating gas and fixed electricity? I've been on floating for both for years.

Kinda been out of site out of mind for a long time.

[lucky1]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

So we should do floating gas and fixed electricity? I've been on floating for both for years.

Kinda been out of site out of mind for a long time.

This was generally the accepted route for Enmax - floating gas and fixed electrical. When coal was being phased out of Alberta, it caused wholesale electrical prices to rise and also made the supply side of the grid slightly more unstable - leading to more unplanned generator outages and higher spot prices - a fixed rate took away the worry on that.
On the Gas side, Alberta has an abundance of Nat gas which has depressed prices over the years, consumers almost always came out ahead with a floating gas contract. There was a blip in gas prices the past year (on the higher side) but prices are coming back down to near normal levels now - if Canada ever does get its poop together and start building more LNG facilities, this will cause Nat Gas retail prices to rise - but for now, floating gas would probably be your best bet

[GGG]

Are we below $3 per GJ spot floating yet?

[DoubleK]

$2.50 ish

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by lucky1

do you have central AC? its a power hog for sure...

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what it was.

I noticed the gas was high too, which might be down to the fact that we stupidly left the pilot lights lit on the fireplaces instead of turning them off over the summer. Won't be making that mistake again.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

EDIT: I guess AC is a good one which explains the summer, but for the rest of the time, it doesn't seem like that's the only issue.

Your electricity usage peaking in October and November usage is very strange, normally that's shoulder season and shouldn't be that high because it's neither very hot or very cold. Jokingly I say somebody is stealing electricity from you for EV charging or cryptomining but for the typical home, there really isn't that many electricity consuming tasks that could double you power use compared to the spring.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Your electricity usage peaking in October and November usage is very strange, normally that's shoulder season and shouldn't be that high because it's neither very hot or very cold. Jokingly I say somebody is stealing electricity from you for EV charging or cryptomining but for the typical home, there really isn't that many electricity consuming tasks that could double you power use compared to the spring.

Agreed. I've been kinda been loosely keeping track over the last few years. I can kinda see really minor changes in the consumption when I implement energy saving strategies or consumption. I wouldn't consider it too unreasonable if I'm using 10-40% more electricity and gas in my home than my neighbors, but 40-100% more makes me wonder if the meter is broken or something.

Even if I were to replace all my major appliances to energy efficient ones, I would not be confident that I'd be back in that plus 10-30% range for electricity and I honestly don't think I use that much more electricity on a regular basis than retirees, even with WFH going on at my place.

Replacing windows and original furnace might pull the usage down a lot, but again, there's no confidence that it will be on par with similar homes if I go through that much work and I feel like it should be nearly automatic to assume that I should be close to being an energy efficient home if I put in that much work into the house (vs the houses around my place).

Should I get Enmax to investigate my meters? Energy audit might be better?

Originally Posted by lucky1

hehe yeah, you can see your AC spike your electrical in the summer, but thats the cost of being comfortable for sure - I would tend to think your biggest issue may be your attic insulation (or lack of) - its incredible how much energy just disappears due to a few inches of insulation missing from the attic. Grab a tape measure and pop up there if you havent lately - you really should aim for a minimum of R-50, which would be about 15" of fill (if its modern day cellulite insulation)

I'll definitely go and take a look up there to see as soon as I get a chance and sort out getting the insulation upgraded ASAP. I was going to do it sooner or later and I've been kicking the can down the road on that one. I didn't think it would have such a major difference on the energy bill though, but it makes sense. Thanks!

It does seem like it kinda could be a potential reason for needing much more heating and much more cooling in my house... but then I would assume if it was that significant, I'd have significant attic rain issues? I've had completely no issues with attic rain at all.

[lucky1]

Attic rain is caused by a few different things, the biggest issue would be poor attic ventilation. As long as your roof and soffit venting are properly sized you would probably never condense out during a chinook. Also, if you had a leaking furnace hatch allowing direct moist air into your attic, that will cause attic rain - but usually poor insulation wont cause it, but will add to the problem if it already existed.

is your electrical meter electronic or one of the older analog ones with the spinning 'wheel' inside? the city of calgary are changing out all of the old electrical meters with the newer electronic ones, starting in the oldest areas up. If you have a spinning meter, you can get someone to open/close breakers in the panel to see which circuit is drawing the most (or a clamp on ammeter on the main panel feed) - older fridges are power hogs, as are older single stage furnaces - the single speed fans take a surprising amount of juice during the heating season. The sweet spot for furnaces are the dual stage mid efficient - damn bullet proof as long as you maintain them

[Fuzz]

Do you go crazy with Halloween and Christmas decorations/lights? I bought a Kill-a-watt meter that really helped track down phantom power draw.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I noticed the gas was high too, which might be down to the fact that we stupidly left the pilot lights lit on the fireplaces instead of turning them off over the summer. Won't be making that mistake again.

That can’t be more than a couple bucks, can it?

[Sylvanfan]

My March Natural gas was 2.22/GJ on the floating rate.

So fixed Electricity from last year and floating gas has been okay for me. Sadly the Carbon Tax was worth more than the gas for me last month.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

That can’t be more than a couple bucks, can it?

It was the 'you used X more than efficient households' that was high, the price not so much.

I want to win the game. If I save a few bucks then that's a nice bonus.

[BigNumbers]

I have a rather large house and do a bit of crypto stuff - so I have a pretty solid power bill - Sitting on a decent fixed price rate since my 4.9c expired in January... Any suggestions (other than I have already moved off fixed gas...)

Wonder if ATCO would be better... They have a .127c fixed rate option, which is ~10% more than I am paying now with Enmax, but maybe they have a better fee setup?

Wish there was an online tool where you put in usage and it told you the best plan with one of the many providers - I'd pay for that!

[Fuzz]

Good news, you don't have to pay for it:

https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/cost-comparison-tool.aspx

[timun]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Wonder if ATCO would be better... They have a .127c fixed rate option, which is ~10% more than I am paying now with Enmax, but maybe they have a better fee setup?

There is no reason to switch to ATCO at the rates they're offering right now.

The only differences on your bill would be the energy charge and the administration charge; everything else would be identical.

ATCO charges $8.99/mo. (average) for an administration charge; about 45¢ more than Enmax. So if you jumped ship to ATCO for their 3-year, 12.69¢/kWh electricity plan your energy charge would have been $366.23, administration charge would have been $9.75, and your total bill would have been $666.65: $40.93 more.