There's not much worse than a surprisingly enormous bill. One Texan in a new rental house grappled with what to do when their electricity cost went from around $150 to $200 a month to a whopping $500.
The original poster detailed their minimal energy usage in a post on r/homeowners. They said they had contacted their utility company — which was not helpful — to try to figure out how such a leap was possible in the 1,500-square-foot space.
"To say I was shocked and upset was an understatement," they wrote. "I literally have no resources or clues on what to do."
One in-the-know commenter wondered if the OP's heat source was the culprit. In a comment, the renter said it was electric but that the winter hadn't been consistently cold.
"There ya go," the other Redditor responded. "Electric heat can be really expensive. It's possible there's a heat pump that isn't working right and it's falling back to less efficient resistive backup heat. If it's electric baseboards or no heat pump, $400 could be a bargain."
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"You're in Texas. Electric is deregulated here," another user said. "First thing you need to check is your electric contract. Did it expire and you went on month to month? What are the rules for how you are charged?"
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As for the OP, there are other avenues to explore. They include whether someone else — perhaps their landlord — was using their electricity and if their HVAC setup was in working order. One commenter, for example, was on track to spend $1,199 over two months before they had a technician uncover such a problem.
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