Home Electrical Calculation Worksheet

[Dyngoe]

Hey All,

I recently had a VERY high electricity bill and I was absolutely confused of the cause. So, I made a simple XLS file that broke down our home electrical and allowed me to play with the numbers. I've heard from others that we all struggle with this, so I thought I'd share the sheet with everyone.

It's not the MOST robust calculator out there but it should help those with decent Excel skills get started.

I hope this helps.

 

[jkreefer]

Very cool, how acurate was that compared to your bill?

 

[Dyngoe]

Well, I had to estimate usage quite a bit but in the end I was off by ~10%. Without a kill-a-watt I was pleased with the results. 10% is significant but considering I don't know exactly how much my dryer or refrigerator (for example) use, I found it helpful. I'll let you know in three days if it helped us cut down our usage in any way.

 

[sfsuphysics]

colder weather, more evaporation, that sort of thing could have easily added quite a bit of "inaccurate" readings since figuring out how long your heaters are isn't an exact science.

 

[GreshamH]

[quote author=sfsuphysics link=topic=6295.msg80329#msg80329 date=1234369289]
colder weather, more evaporation, that sort of thing could have easily added quite a bit of "inaccurate" readings since figuring out how long your heaters are isn't an exact science.

[/quote]

I measured mine and both are 12". Seems pretty exact to me, I even used a dial caliper like this one (but larger model)