Going from not paying electricity to paying for it, and I am rusty on the details. How to save money on my brand new hydro bill?

...the super tells me the part of the bill I'll pay is $20-40 a month. Um, the part of the bill? Does that mean that the building gets one combined bill, and the super will ask you for a portion of it? If so, and unless you're actually getting your own bill from the electric company, nothing you do is going to matter much. If they can't isolate "your" usage, then you'll just be reducing everyone's bill, and the savings will be spread across all tenants. Amounting to, like, $10 divided by the number of payers. (Not that it's good to save energy in general, Earth-wise, but it might not save you any money.)

I think your refrigerator will be your biggest use of energy. Make it more energy efficient by keeping it full (the idea is that cold air escapes when you open it, and the fridge has to use energy to re-cool the air, whereas if the coldness is stored in liquid or solid form, it doesn't escape every time the door is opened). I do this by keeping big jugs of water stored in the back of the fridge and freezer.

Paulsc, this is a fundamental point -- a power meter measures watts not VA. It measures real power, not apparent power. You can change the reactive load of your house and it affects your meter reading and power bill not at all. This seems to be where you got off track. Read this from your own link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor#Importance_of_power_factor_in_distribution_systems Power factor correction is not a new phenomena (as you claim), it has been around since the beginning of power distribution and power companies have always cared about it because it affects their profits. Factories with, say, a few thousand horsepower of inductive motors are either charged a tariff or required to install banks of power factor correction capacitors. Sometimes synchronous motors, which look like capacitors, were used to offset the effect of the inductive motors. Power substations very commonly have power factor correction capacitors. This isn't something that just appeared in the last 20 years. It's always been there. The efficiency of a motor does not depend on its power factor (to a first order approximation) because the user is not billed for reactive power. The power company bears the burden of greater generation and transmission requirements due to a poor power factor, not the user. Motor efficiency is calculated using watts, not VA, so reactive power doesn't even enter the equation. There are lots of things that determine the efficiency of a motor (amount of copper, type of steel, thinness of stator laminations, geometry of the core, etc) but power factor is not one of them. All the OP cares about is how many watts are used by their ceiling fan. Power factor correction does not benefit the user because a poor power factor doesn't cost them anything, (unless they are an industrial user subject to tariff). The power factor is completely irrelevant.

Thank you for the replies, everyone! Much appreciated.

If [your refrigerator] runs the 570 hours a month the table I posted previously estimates...you will be spending something like $42.75 a month to run your refrigerator. (paulsc) paulsc might want to consult his chart again, as it suggests that a fridge runs 180 hours/month. The 570 hours cited by paulsc would suggest that the fridge compressor is running nearly 80% of the time (assuming a 30 day month), which is clearly incorrect to anyone who has ever had a fridge unless (a) the door is open most of the time, (b) you're trying to cool things down to cryogenic temperatures, or (c) the fridge is very severely broken. Using paulsc's math, which provides a reasonable rough estimate, the power consumed by your fridge is: (180 hrs/month)*(559W [=3/4HP in Watts]) * (1/0.75 [this represents the efficiency of the fridge. and is probably a low estimate; paulsc's article suggests that 0.85 is a more reasonable efficiency]) * $0.10/kWhr = $13/month. Again, this is a large fraction of your bill, but if you're not paying for hot water, keeping it close to $20 doesn't seem unreasonable. Turn off things you don't need, and follow the advice here that isn't overly burdensome. As an aside to those who care about paulsc and jackflash's little kerfufffle regarding power factor- let's put this to rest once and for all. Let's say joanna's bill is $40/month [note to Joanna: I think it might be possible to keep it closer to the $20; this is just for the sake of the argument.] That corresponds to 400 kWhr at the rate we've been assuming. Let's also make the assumption (which is a worst-case scenario from a power factor point-of-view) that ALL of those 400 kWhr are from motors with power factor of 0.75. The losses in the home from reduced power factor are the result of increased power dissipation in the electrical wiring. Using the assumptions from paulsc's article, we can say the resulting cost is is (power used / power used in the fridge in the article) * (cost of power loss for the fridge), or (400/157.9)*$0.06, or 15 cents. This is, again, the TOTAL for fans, fridge, etc. Simply put, paulsc's argument about power factor being a major contributor does not hold water. I doubt JoannaC is worried about less than 15cents on her $20-40 hydro bill. Now, paulsc perhaps meant to argue that inexpensive motors with poor power factors also tend to be inefficient. That argument would be perfectly valid and reasonable. Her fan might be sucking a lot of power. Or, perhaps paulsc might argue that power factor is a legitimate concern for industrial sites that are charged extra for their reduced power factor (such as his sheet metal fabrication facility). That's also a fair point. None of this, however, applies to JoannaC's situation, and is therefore not a helpful answer. Perhaps now might be a good time to just call it done?

JoannaC: Much depends, as previous posters have described, on whether you have independent metering of power to your unit, or if you share common metering, and just pay a "fair share" of a single concatenated bill for your address. Unless you address this very different means of billing for utilities, it is difficult to correctly advise you; nevertheless, here I am, trying to "guesstimate" your power usage, from your initial post, and followups, and calculate what your financial exposure might be, if you are being separately billed for power: "... No air conditioner or dishwasher, but I'll have two combination ceiling fan/light fixtures. I have already put in the smart bulbs. ..." If you've read this far, you've at least a couple of disparate views concerning the effects on your hydro bill, of running your fans. The power used by the lights in these fixtures, per hour, are straightforward; for the lights, it's simply the wattage they specify on the bulbs, times the time you use them = kwh used. You can get your rate per kwh from any utility bill. If you have a single 13 watt CFL bulb in each of your 2 fixtures, and use it 4 hours a day, the cost calculation is: .13K * 4H / $0.10/Kwh = $0.052 per hour, for the lights, alone. But the rate, and the power usage, for the ceiling fans is harder to estimate, particularly if the fans are older, and physically larger, models. Worst case I can imagine, if you run both of the fans on hot afternoons, for 4 hours, and your power base rate is something like $0.10/kwh, you could spend something like $0.40 to $0.50, per day, running your fans. If you ran those fans every day, for 4 hours, you could see, in a 30 day month, something like $12 to $15, on top of the rest of your electric bill, for operating your ceiling fans. Add the lights, from the previous calculation, at about a nickel per hour, if you also run them 4 hours a day, and your total cost of operation, for 4 hours a day of fans/lights, is something like $0.70 per day, or $21 per 30 day month, for 4 hours a day of lights and fans, in two rooms. Your refrigerator is subject to similar calculations, but you haven't given us much information about it. If it runs the 570 hours a month the table I posted previously estimates, and your power cost is the $0.10 range that makes for easy math, and your 'fridge motor pulls 3/4 HP when it runs (high, but not impossible for older refrigerators), at a power factor of only 0.75, you will be spending something like $42.75 a month to run your refrigerator. I can only hope, for your sake, that your refrigerator is a much smaller, or much more efficient model than you have thus far posted, insofar as power consumption is concerned. "... I have a TV but will not be getting cable. ..." A lot depends on the size of the TV, the technology (CRT vs LCD or plasma), and the number of hours a day you run it. A 35" CRT Sony might be expected to consume something like 130 watts for every hour it operates. If you ran such a beast 4 hours a day on system costing you $0.10 per KwH, you'd be eating about a nickel a day in operating costs. But if you left it on, for 8 hours a day, you'd owe the power company a bit more than a dime. Do that, for 30 days in a row, and you'd need something a bit north of $3.00 to cover your TV power, despite what the cable or satellite company would charge you for programming. A 15 inch LCD screen could make pictures on 1/10 that power consumption. "... I have a Macbook. ..." As discussed above, the power you Macbook requires, relative to your power is negligible. Toss a dime in the household kitty each month, if you feel you are taking advantage of anyone, by charging your Macbook. "... I have a microwave and toaster oven. ..." These appliances use a lot of power when they operate, but they only operate, typically, a few minutes a day. Unless you run these appliance a long time, on average, each day, the cost of toasting an English muffin, for most toaster ovens, is something like a nickel. So, let's say you are judicious in using your appliances, and only spend something like $2 a month, heating bagels and English muffins for breakfast. That would be great, but if you add 30 minutes a day of microwave time, at 700W, for heating frozen dinners, you add something like $10.05 for microwave power to your monthly total. You can argue with yourself as to whether any of my estimates are reasonable, compared to how you actually live. Bottom line is: For what you've described, $40 a month in power cost is minimal. Expect more, if you are individually metered.

JoannaC, I don't mean to confuse you. And, I suppose, I'm glad JackFlash has at least tried to address your concerns. But, his comments, as we''ve seen throughout this thread, can be, to be charitable, "overly broad." As follows: "... For example someone with a desktop computer and CRT monitor who left it running 24 hours a day would use a lot more energy than someone with a laptop used only a few hours a day. The difference might be around 3 cents difference for each hour of running. ..." As he has throughout this thread, JackFlash hasn't shown his homework. He hasn't shown his assumptions for power cost (until, perhaps, much later in his comment), power usage for a desktop computer and CRT monitor, and for a laptop. If he assumes that your power cost is a low $0.10/kwh, and that a desktop computer + 21" CRT monitor pull, together, .6 kw/hour, and that a laptop might pull, say, .3 kw/hour, then his 3 cents an hour estimate is great. However, few laptops pull as much as .3kw/hour, and most fully configured desktops + monitors + 5 channel audio rigs + Wacom tablets + scanners + laser printers, these days, pull, easily, a lot more than .6kw. So the difference between some hypothetical previous tenant with a desktop rig, and you, with a laptop, might be 3 cents an hour, plus/minus 200%+. (I suppose, in fairness, when later in his comment, he comes to an estimate of "... Just running your laptop would use about half a penny an hour." we should toss aside our notepads, and give him the benefit of the doubt, for his closer estimate, there). Of course, none of that is really important to you, unless you happen to know what kind of computer the previous tenant was using, if any, and what his/her power bills were. It's just another meaningless "straw man" comparison JackFlash has tossed into this thread, to suggest something he believes might be true. What is important to you, is that you say you are using a Macbook. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1359172 indicates a Macbook, sleeping, pulls something like 37 watts, when it's charging, and 24 watts when the battery is full. However, another poster in that same thread, with better instrumentation, states that the most he could measure a Macbook using was 25 watts of power. If that poster is right, and your cost of power is $0.10/kwh, you could leave your MacBook running all day and night for a lot less than JackFlash thinks you can. But let's continue quoting the amusing Mr. JackFlash: "... One important factor is whether you are paying for heating your hot water (aside from the water bill). If so, then someone who takes baths will use more hot water than someone who takes showers. ..." Pardon me, but I would say, that depends a lot on how much hot water a person taking a bath might draw, and how long a person taking a shower might be in the shower. A person drawing 6 " of warm water in a medium size bathtub, might very well pull less hot water, and incur a far smaller power bill, than a person taking a 15 minute steaming hot shower. Again, JackFlash can't be bothered to show his homework. "... Running a ceiling fan might cost roughly a penny an hour. ..." And then again, depending on the diameter of your fan's blades, the number of blades, the efficiency of the motor driving your fan, and other factors, as we've seen above, it might cost more. JackFlash, again, fails to show his homework. Since guessing appears to be JackFlash's preferred method of making recommendations, I'm guessing, on every bit as firm a ground as JackFlash, that it might cost you more like 5 to 7 cents an hour, and more if you also turn on the lights in a combination fan/light fixture. "... You can save on the hot water by only taking showers." posted by JackFlash at 9:48 PM on July 29 [+] [!] Great advice, but, perhaps, not totally accurate, if you take 15 minute hot showers, in lieu of lukewarm, 1/2 tub baths.

Clarification: by 'part of the bill I pay' I mean the electrical part, because the water and heat are included. I am curious about things such as whether it uses appreciably less power to play a movie on the laptop versos on the TV. Or basically what might account for the large gap between a $20 bill and a $40 one, which was the 'range' he told me I might expect.

"... A penny a month simply isn't pertinent to the discussion of a $20 bill so I tried to clear the air by pointing out it's irrelevance. ..." Ah, but JackFlash, I've already demonstrated, that power factor losses aren't, as you put it, "a penny a month." Again, you are factually wrong. And you don't want to admit it. You'd like to be right, but, factually, you aren't. And, for a person trying to keep her hydro bill to $20 a month, rather than $40, you've yet to suggest a single cost reducing measure. If you'd like to continue to rant about your conceptions of electrical engineering theory, why not take it to MeMail, as I've suggested? I was wiring 300 hp 3 phase motors, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignitron in a sheet metal fabrication facility, in the mid 1970's, probably before you were born. I think I know a thing or two about power factor correction in industrial facilities, that might surprise you...