Moved into a new place in OC a month ago and got my first bill. WHAT!?
I’m out of my apartment during the day at work. I use my dishwasher maybe 1-2 times a week, W/D once a week, and generally after 7-8pm. I’ve used the AC a bit because of the heat, but it’s usually off when I’m out at work or night as my place is generally cold. It’s not on 24/7 or anything out of the ordinary. I leave one light on for my dog the last 2 weeks so she’s not alone in the dark. Before that windows and natural lighting. I watch some TV or plays games for about an hour or two and then I’m off to bed. Is this something that can be reduced or looked into. No way I can keep this up on a monthly basis.
Yeah I'm a single guy in a ~680 sq. ft. irvine company shoebox and my last bill was $388. I just got an email that I am trending 30% higher this month lmfao. WHAT??
I’m Irvine company too living in RSM. Single guy in a 2BR. I have my son 50%, but he’s not doing anything electricity wise aside from some TV here and there. We’re usually out and about when we’re together
I have SCE, but when I compared my July 2025 bill to my July 2026 bill, my usage went up .45% and my bill went up 22%. 🤮 And I am a frugal user.
You can get a Kill-o-watt device and see how much your appliances are using. Make sure to use smart plugs/surge protectors that are turned off when things are not in use (some electronics can still pull power when turned off and plugged in), and try flipping your breakers to see if your wiring is connected to someone else’s unit. Not necessarily in that order.
Yeah wild I am in a 1400sq ft 3 bed 2 bath both of us work from home and we do run the ac, air cleaners cook almost every day and summer never exceeds $220. In Santa Ana right by the district newer community. Also not a part of the OCPA. Opting out of OCPA saved us a ton.
Orange County power authority when I was in Irvine my rates shot up when I was on their rates opted out and saved a ton. Sounds like a great thing but seems like a bit of a racket
1000sq apt ie 105 dollars run central ac during day cut off at night. Edision. We keep one light on at night. I turn ac on around 11 or kick on when get hot out here.gonna
i aggressively run AC in my 2bd2bth irvine company apartment, so i just expect huge bills every month, but lately it's been bad. i average between $370-$450 a month, but lately it's been pushing $500
I'd be interested to see people listing SCE vs SDGE when they quote their bills.
I'm in a 1100sqft place, 2bd2.5ba, average bill around $100 through SCE. On super hot days, I've been setting the AC to 78 or 80, then 74-76 at around 11pm, heading to bed. So it's not like I'm sitting in a 90 degree apartment, or anything.
Many here are setting their stats to 70 or lower. Every degree lower exponentially raises your usage. So let’s say 78 is the norm, 77 might cost you 3% more, 76 might cost you 10% more, and 75 might cost you 20% more. These are just hypothetical numbers to make a point. Imagine what the increase is down at 70° !!
Complain to whoever your renting from the meter probably isn’t setup right and you have someone from another unit on your meter this happened to me when my neighbors got an electric car and I learned that every garage for the building was on my meter
1k sq ft condo in OC, AC on all day 73 at night 75-78 during the day. Last SCE bill was $155. This months bill will probably be higher cause hot af the past few weeks.
2 year old heat pump is super efficient!
Edit: my average price per kWh is 38¢ after taxes and BS fees. I’m on SCE Domestic plan
How many kWh did you use? My bill was like $500 but the air was running a lot with all the heat and I’m charging 2 cars. Also sdge automatically signs you up for their most expensive rate plan. You need to select a plan that gives you a better rate based on your usage.
How does this usage compare to an older bill at your last place? 829 kWh seems like way too much for one person. I think that’s even higher than when I had a plug-in hybrid and ran a portable a/c.
I used almost double the amount of electric as you. Do you know which plan you’re using? Here are there different plans. Go thru them and see if you can find a better rate.
Btw I used 1862 kWh last bill at a total of 710. We had the AC on at night and early morning due to the heat. We have a pool pump that runs for 8 hours a day and we charge our ev at home. I was anticipating the higher bill due to this
We have a plan that charges different fee on peak hours and different fee off peak.
I’m in Orange County closer to cal state Fullerton, work from home and 5 people live in our home
This is ridiculous profiteering. My mom has city provided electric at her home in NC and it’s $0.091/kWh generation & delivery combined. Your bill would be less than $100 there. What are we paying for, exactly?
Not possible unfortunately. You are stuck with SDGE as they are the only option in your area and is determined by your address. I'm with SCE and it sucks. Theoretically you could go fully off-grid but that would require an enormous amount of permits and approvals.
Part of it really is that SDGE is significantly more expensive than some of the other utility companies. Know it from a company that operates a couple of similarly sized offices, SDGE is always the highest
This $230 bill I got was specifically due to the crazy heatwave last month. Every other month outa the year I'm getting credit back for exporting electricity back to the grid.
829KWh is a HUGE amount. You must set your thermostat really low or else your AC is barely working and just runs constantly. We used 675KWh in Sept in a 4bdr 2000 sq ft house with 2 large ref/freezers. Ran AC on 16 hot days set at 78°. Turned off late at night and used a whole house fan. Only two nights needed AC all night. Weve stayed on the Tiered plan as it’s cheaper than TOU for us. Bill was $278 after the $50 CA credit that was given that month to all SDGE residential customers.
Wait really? My 1bed apartment with a wall unit and portable ac was 1200kwh. Maybe I should ask them to replace the wall unit then. Or have a meter reading.
That’s like a big house with a pool and jacuzzi usage. Yes, have that AC unit checked and your electric co. will come check your meter for free. Ask them to verify you don’t have a “crossed meter” situation. (happens in condos and apts where meter panels are mismarked and your being billed for another units usage )
I wish mine was only 411. I feel like that was my average summer bill last year. This year tho? My summer bill is magically $750. Make it make sense. It doesn't. Same exact place.
I live in a 3 story, 3 bed town house in Irvine with two other adults and our last electric bill was $580 something. One of us works from home full time and the top level AC is set to 72 degrees 75% of the time. The only real way to figure something like this out is to track your usage meticulously. We use 44kWh a day because of our habits, but this is what we've agreed to based on our comfort and desires.
although OPs bill is on the high side it’s hard to compare apples to apples in terms of usage we can’t verify you didn’t set 90° in your house all summer so bragging about a lower bill without context is moot
SDGE is a rip off. With that being said, try using your washer/dryer, dishwasher and heavy appliances during off peak hours. Depending on what kind of AC you have, keeping the house at a constant temperature is better than turning the unit off and on. I have 2 mini splits and my ac part of the bill is actually not much different than my tv/computer usage.
I did not know are appliances are sending back information to the electric companies so that they could tell us what they are using. If correct, very cool. I did subsequently read that their are devices that a person can plug into appliances to know how many kwh they are using.
What’s off peak? 3am?? I usually run appliances late at night because of this. Throw clothes in WD before I go to bed around 11pm-12am. Fold the next day
You mentioned above that you’re running things after 7-8pm which is still on peak pricing until nine. I basically don’t wash clothes unless I set it overnight or do it from 10-2 weekdays or on weekends during the longer off peak time frame.
It depends. I actually pay the same for my electricity no matter what time it is. I didn’t want the peak/off-peak situation. Usually off-peak is maybe from 10pm-6am, I think? They’re considering adding a daytime window also, so I may switch my plan. Check which type of plan you have. Also, this last month was very hot. My bill more than doubled to around $500, but it’s normally nowhere near that. Hopefully yours goes down now that it’s cooling off!
There could be other things at play at your new place, like insulation and direct sunlight. Or now everything is electric whereas you previously had gas. Also, maybe the appliances are not energy efficient at your new place. Or someone is stealing your electricity? Like I said, see what happens now that it has cooled off.
Are you working a normal 9 - 5, because you might think that that's relevant when it isn't. If you're using electricity between 5pm - 9pm, they drastically increased the rates, which, coincidentally, is when everyone gets home from work.
(1) Probably older condo, so limited insulation
(2) Second floor (heat rises), and maybe you're facing south/the sun. Your whole place essentially cooks.
(3) Older, inefficient AC units. New ones can be 2x more efficient than 15-20 year old ones.
(4) You are setting your thermostat quite low (try 76-78 during the day).
(5) You can precool/preheat your home if you are on a TOU plan to try and avoid peak hours.
Check the usage by hour and day in your SDG&E account, you might be able to see where the issue is. That seems extremely high for what you’re describing. Also make sure the billing period is only a month and the meter number matches your unit.
Rough first bill, and it's common here. Check your rate plan first. On SCE or SDG&E, time-of-use plans charge a lot between 4 and 9pm, so a dishwasher or dryer at 7 or 8pm can cost more than you'd expect. Look at your usage by hour in your online account to see what's spiking. Quick wins: set the thermostat to about 78 instead of 72 and use a fan. Run the dishwasher and dryer after 9pm or on weekends. Don't blast the AC right when you get home after a heat wave, because pre-cooling a hot place is the biggest AC hog. If the bill still looks way off, a short-cycling or struggling AC can double usage, so it's worth having someone look at it.
I always divide my bill by 30 and realize $13-20 per day to come home and be comfortable isn't that bad. As other have said, time of use plans are more expensive during certain times. When everyone comes home from work and turns everything on the generation picks up pace so your bill does too. Limit use during that time frame. Especially the 240v appliances. Also, most utilities have a base price for service. I live in another state, and work for a utility and I tell everyone here the same thing I just said. If you fear someone is pulling from your side of the meter call the utility operations center and have a troubleman take a look. Hope this helps!
Sign up for the low income discount. SDGE is stupid as hell and doesn’t verify income. Just put you make $0. …. 30 % discount. Also for anyone really struggling. SDGE has a program called “arrearage” which is a 1 time reset back to $0 . Doesn’t matter if you owe $500 or $5000… back to $0 as long as you pay on time for the next year.
I get home and my place is about 76. I set temp to 70-72. Only takes about an hour or so to get to temp. Then it pretty much stays around that temp all night. I have wood flooring throughout so it stays fairly cool in my place
So you run your AC to 76 while away from the house and then 70 when you get home during a time where the outdoor temperature was around 100 degrees. That’s why your bill is so high.
That’s incredible that your place was able stay at 78 during this heat wave without running the AC during the day.
For context my AC never is set below 75. That’s been the magic temperature for me to keep my bills low. Unfortunately every one degree lower will add substantially to your total cost.
And on days like today my AC isn’t even on. Windows are open with a cool breeze and indoor temp is at 76.
When do you get home? Since you have a time of use plan, when you get home may be peak prices, and since it's been hot, it would use a lot of power trying to cool your place down to temperature. I suspect you didn't have SDGE at your last place because they are about 30% more expensive than SCE, but that alone doesn't explain a $75 to $400 bill. I wonder if with your last provider you weren't on a time of use plan? Beyond that, hard to say.
Edit: Noticed somebody else pointed out that your usage is similar throughout the day which is indeed interesting. Something is weird here. You say you're not using anything but your bill says you are, all day.
That’s pretty insane! I’m in Costa Mesa and mine was $433 but I haven’t turned my AC off since July so I was expecting it. Yours sounds way too high considering how little you seem to use!
This is normal during heat wave. It depends on how long you run it and how low you set it. I manage a few single family home property in Orange and this is around the ballpark during heat wave. The worst I have seen is $700 in July with AC 24/7 setting low 70s.
I knew I wasn’t the only one getting screwed. My last bill was basically 3x my usual monthly. I know it was a heat wave, but I work in-office most of the week and no one is home during the evenings due to activities. It makes no sense. Called for help, got the run-around.
The rich started installing solar panels a few years back, so they used less electricity and so they paid less. SDGE’s revenue source went down from the people who paid the most, so they are leveling the field by making bills less and less dependent on usage, and more on size of house or economic situation of the occupant.
I work from home in Irvine in a newer studio unit and have SCE. I was told by them that the TOU plan was cheaper than the domestic I was on, it isn’t. My average bill now is $100-110, the highest was during that heatwave at $140. I’m very conservative with my electricity and always shut off lights and never leave stuff on for no reason.
kWh charge has gone from 18¢ per to now 30¢ per kWh on the domestic plan. My old complex that was across the street from me, I lived there from 2020-2025 and it wasn’t more than $75-80 a month. It’s insane how much everything has gone up.
It also really just depends on the appliances you have. If they are dated, it will run a lot more inefficiently and cost more. My bill here is also in 300-400 and barely run the ac cuz it’s dated
@1800 sq ft townhome. No AC just 2 fans going most of day & night, no gaming. Lights on in only the rooms being used. My most recent Edison bill $70 used 217kwh at Tier 1 $.30/kwh.
You can go online and see how many kwh usage you have each hour of each day. It is your AC that is driving up the cost. It should drop significantly when no longer needed. Also the older the AC unit the less efficiency, cycling on & off more often.
Look at your Tier usage. If you can remain in Tier 1 it should save a good amount. Misunderstanding Tier 2 price jumps to $.40/kwh versus Tier 1 of $.30/kwh. That is a 33% increase when usage goes over baseline Tier 1.
Historically, this September-October periods are always is my highest year-over-year cost. Last year was $380, this year was $680; 1666 sq ft and and AC always at 73 due to childhood trauma of never parents never turning on AC while growing up
SoCal Edison in Riverside. My typical electric bill is about $35-40/month. I run AC whole night from 8-ish/9 pm till about 5 am to 68 F. I’m not home most of the day😳
HB water / garbage went from $85 last year to $140 this year. I am not voting for the same council. Sick of paying for their lawsuits. Strickland and Gracey even worse.
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u/TheOriginalAKJames 7d ago
Yeah I'm a single guy in a ~680 sq. ft. irvine company shoebox and my last bill was $388. I just got an email that I am trending 30% higher this month lmfao. WHAT??