Energy Bill on New Larger House in South Louisiana?

That's high as frick for winter

U do have electric heating though but still

72 is high for heating, we do 69 usually at most

But you don't have a gas bill now, so how does that compare to your old place when you add the gas and electricity?

Well I guess we'll turn it down to 69 and see. Got the bill yesterday evening so started getting suspicious and looking around. The thermometer my wife has in the main room was reading 75F this morning so I kinda wonder if the thermostat coordination with the actual temperature is off.

The whole thing is a learning experience. Starter home was 1400 sq. ft. gas/electric and 35 years old. Supposedly new house is energy efficient windows, new insulation, new units, yada yada.

Going through the exact same thing right now. Our new house is all electric, and only 2600 sq. ft. We got an extremely high electric bill last month and I almost shite a brick. Went to work immediately trying to figure out how to shave some bucks. Couple of quick things I've learned:

1. Heat pumps are not the best for heating in really cold weather. Relatively inefficient actually.

2. We had brand new Honeywell thermostats. They don't run on a temperature differential like 'old' thermostats do. Both of my units were short cycling like crazy, running the bill up and putting unnecessary wear and tear on the compressor. Went and bought cheap LUX programmable thermostats from Lowes, (on sale for $35 each). Set them to about 65 while we're gone and around 69 about 15 minutes before we usually get home. This alone saved me about 50 bucks on the power bill last month...

Holy moly, that seems way high. I'm in ~2200 sq ft of new construction and last month's (high) bill was $80. Typical bill is around $40, but I have gas heat.

Are you sure it's all the heating that's running up the bill? Lots of AC adapters are "vampires"....drawing power even though no device is plugged in for charging. If you've got phone chargers, laptop chargers, audio components, camera battery chargers, game systems, etc, you may be burning $20-$50/mo without doing anything at all. Go around unplugging all those chargers, or plug them into power strips and switch off the strips.

Also consider switching to LED lightbulbs. Yes, they're an initial kinda pricey investment, but they last for years and years and burn so little power it's crazy. If you don't want to replace all of them, figure out which fixtures are used the most and replace those. I swapped out the 9(!) can light bulbs in my kitchen for LEDs...it made a diff of about $5/mo because I leave those lights on virtually all the time I'm in the house. The LEDs generate little heat, so they don't add to your cooling load in summer (unlike conventional bulbs).

If you have automatic outdoor lighting, make sure all of those bulbs are LEDs. Halogens are bright, but not very efficient.

+1 on a programmable thermostat. Like a prev poster says, program the thing to cool off when you're not home and taper up the heat when you return. Most have a 7-day variable program, so you can adjust for the weekends or day off.

Also agree that 72 is way too high. I like 66/68. Yes, it will seem cool, but that's what flannel jammies and LL Bean slippers are for. A down comforter for your bed will cost you less than the power bill.

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Are you sure it's all the heating that's running up the bill? Lots of AC adapters are "vampires"....drawing power even though no device is plugged in for charging. If you've got phone chargers, laptop chargers, audio components, camera battery chargers, game systems, etc, you may be burning $20-$50/mo without doing anything at all. Go around unplugging all those chargers, or plug them into power strips and switch off the strips.

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They sell devices for around $20 that you can plug into the wall then plug in your tv, phone, power strip and it tells you how much power it is using. It also lets you put in your KW rate to figure out how much each item cost per month/year.

I did this last year and was disappointed with how low the estimates were. I'd basically save $10 a month by unplugging everything every day when not in use.

If you have a pool, make sure your pump isn't running too long. My pool pump is second only to the A/C in energy consumption.

I have always heard cable (or directv) boxes use a lot of energy so I always turn mine off.
I have only been in my house for a few weeks so I have no idea what the energy bill will be. But everything possible is gas and I have spray foam so I'm hoping it is similar to my old bill even with an increase in house size. Plus it is nice to have an app controlled thermostat for a day like today when I forgot to turn down the heat before I left

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turning all the flood lights on

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I swapped mine out with motion sensors, you are not at an advantage if they are constantly on, seeing it on gives you an advantage alert.

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(except for the flood lights of course)

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then LED floods are your friend. Light Bulb Depot: LINK
You can get LEDs to replace most any bulb from standard to halogen.