December 31, 2012

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Well, today is the last day of 2012.

I kept my thermostat below 60° yesterday and last night. It got cold in my apartment, but not as cold as it has been, and the result appears to have been a saving in electricity.

Today's meter reading is 7528. Yesterday's reading was 7497. So, apparently, I used slightly more than 30 kWh in the last 24–hour period.

December 30, 2012

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Temperature–wise, this is supposed to be the best 24–hour period we're going to have in these parts for the next several days.

Today's high will be in the upper 40s or low 50s, and the low is supposed to be around 40. Ordinarily, that should be the kind of 24–hour period I can get through without too much electricity consumption. But there is talk of significant cloud cover this afternoon, which won't help to warm my apartment very much, and then rain is supposed to come through the area early in the morning and stay for most of the day, driving temperatures down as we wind up the old year.

The bottom line is, I don't know what to expect.

I can tell you that today's meter reading is 7497. The reading yesterday was 7457. That's 40 kWh to keep this apartment in the 50s for the last 24 hours.

That's more than I used on all but a handful of days last summer.

Something isn't right.

December 29, 2012

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I wish we would have slightly warmer temperatures — at least above freezing at night and maybe in the 50s during the day.

That would keep my heat from running as much, and I'm getting tired of having to sleep in a sweatshirt every night.

According to the meter readings, I used 50 kWh of energy in the last 24 hours — and my thermostat was set in the 50s the whole time.

As I have written here before, I don't think I ever used 50 kWh in a single 24–hour period last summer — and we definitely had days when the temperatures were in triple digits.

But now I'm burning up 50 kWh a day in a tiny one–bedroom apartment just to avoid freezing to death. Look back at my recent entries. You'll see that this has become routine.

This morning's reading is 7457. Yesterday's reading was 7407.

December 28, 2012

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The temperature was mostly in the 40s yesterday — and I don't think it went much below 40° last night — and my electricity consumption was lower in the last 24 hours than it was in the previous 24 hours.

But "lower" is a relative term in this case. Because of the sub–freezing temperatures we were having (and are predicted to have again in the next couple of nights), my electricity consumption was up dramatically.

Today's meter reading appears to be around 7407. Yesterday's reading was 7382, which means that, in the last 24 hours, I used about 25 kWh to keep this tiny, one–bedroom apartment semi–warm. The meter reading the day before yesterday was 7335 (making my consumption during that 24–hour period 47 kWh).

December 27, 2012

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I photographed my meter about 20 hours ago. Between the ice and rain and snow, I wasn't able to take a picture from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon.

Most of it has melted off now, and temperatures are supposed to get into the 40s this afternoon — although it is right around freezing (31°) as I write this. And it's supposed to stay above freezing tonight, but it's been in the 20s the last couple of nights.

I've been trying to keep my thermostat down the last couple of nights, but it was just too cold night before last so I wore a sweatshirt to bed last night.

Nevertheless, I appear to have used nearly 50 kWh since just yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday's meter reading was 7335. Today's reading is 7382.

December 26, 2012

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As I attempted to explain yesterday, I wasn't able to get a meter photo on Christmas Day because of the rain and snow and clouds.

When I did manage to make my way over there, it was so dark that my flash kept going off and washing out the image. So I have no photographic proof of what the meter reading was yesterday, and it is situated about 6–8 inches above my head so it is hard for me to read.

Nevertheless, it looked like it said 7255. It was cold, but it was before it got really cold.

Well, it is now about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 26. I have only just managed to get over to my meter — I hope to be able to do this earlier tomorrow — but, as you can see, the reading is 7335. That is slightly more than 100 kWh since my last photograph more than two days ago (Monday's photo was probably taken about 53 or 54 hours ago).

I'm not running my heat at high levels, either, but I no longer have downstairs neighbors so I can't benefit from their heat anymore. I kept my thermostat at or below 60° the last couple of days. I dressed in layers when I went to bed, and I still felt cold all night. Both nights.

And, apparently, I still used about 50 kWh per 24–hour period for the last couple of days — which is higher than any day last summer.

Cold nights are expected to linger for the next seven days, but, in general, daytime temperatures are expected to be back in the upper 40s and lower 50s.

December 25, 2012

I tried, I really did, to get a picture of the meter today.

But it's cold and gray and raining outside. And the drainage in this apartment complex isn't good, which means it doesn't take long for water to accumulate where my meter is.

If the weather is mild, I can live with that. But not when it is 45° and dropping outside.

Nevertheless, I slogged to that spot and tried to take some pictures, but the flash kept making everything illegible, and my feet were soon soaking wet (and cold) so I gave up.

This is about the nastiest Christmas I can recall.

My meter is about 6–8 inches above my head, and it's a little hard for me to read, especially when it is as dark as it is today. But I think this morning's reading was 7255. Yesterday's reading was 7233, so that would make my consumption 22 kWh. That sounds about right — a few kWh higher than yesterday.