In PA, what electric company do you use?

I'm shocked at my PECO bill the past 2 months!  This refers to what I do in the winter: usually, the thermostat is no higher than 68F; when I'm at work, or leave the house, I set it at 66F in the winter. Rarely, if I'm sick and very cold, I jack it up to 72F for a few hours, but not often. At night, when we sleep, I keep it at 63-64F. I've been keeping it at those temps at night for a year or so; I used to lower it to 60F when we slept, but I'm always freezing, despite flannel sheet, and I really worry about my cats more than me, so I raised it. Often, while I'm awake in the evening, I turn it down to 66F, and put on the elecric fireplace (I've had these for a few years; they don't impact the bill. In fact, doing this saves me money), and wrap up in a blanket and sit on the sofa for the evening.

I turn off lights when I leave a room, and DH usually does. 

I honestly can't understand, even with the small, new charges, why my bill has increased well over $100 per month the past 2 months.  Nothing is different, except that I used the oven maybe 3 times (I normally don't use it). 

I really can't lower it much more. I'm always cold. I've very anemic, but can't take iron pills. I'm sure this is a large part of the reason why I'm a lizard. 

For reference, the bill in the winter averaged about $225. Last month=$323. Now, it's $358.

I am thinking about switiching electric companies, but wonder if it's worth it. I wonder if PECO penalizes one for dropping them and/or the new place has some loading charges when you sign up.

I'm paying 0.0869 per kilowat hour.

Two possibilities: Either the cost per kilowatt hour went up OR you are using more electricity.

Does your electric bill show the previous 12 months consumption month by month? If yes, look to see how much you used in January 2012 compared to January 2013. If the bill doesn't provide this information you'll have to dig out last year's bill from your files OR call the electric company and have them tell you. (But it is such a pain working through those recorded prompts.)

I found something on-line that mentions this: "Generally speaking, an electric fireplace will cost about as much to run as an electric room heater." It all depends on how many watts the unit consumes. Check its rating.

One house we used to have had baseboard hot water heat. My husband installed a double set back thermostat. It would automatically raise the temperature at 6:30 a.m., lower it at 8:30 a.m. Then raise it again about 6:00 p.m. and lower it about 10:00 p.m. You can adjust the times and temperature rise / lower to suit your preferences. Easy way to"set it and forget it."

Currently we heat in part with wood and keep the house cooler than you do yours. I put on a sweater or vest when I feel chilly. It's a third layer on top of a thin turtleneck jersey and a flannel or corduroy shirt. Layers are better than a single heavy shirt. My sister is fond of wearing a light wool hat when she feels chilly.

And lots of women in my knitting group are making wrist warmers. They used to be called pulse point warmers back in the old days because you quickly lose heat where the blood vessels are close to the surface on your wrists.Some are quite complicated and very beautiful but I'm making very simple ones. Just crochet or knit a rectangle. Sew up the side leaving a gap for your thumb. Voila! Wrist warmers. Very quick and easy. Very warming too. Lots of patterns on-line.

And you can always invite a cat to sit in your lap and provide all those cozy Btu while the purring is also very cozy.

Hope this longer-than-I-intended list of options helps.

We are using Pennsylvania Power and Light and we're on the budget plan. We were doing fairly well, but then we got into this cold snap and that's going to mess everything up and will, no doubt, increase our budget. The house is total electric and the living room is probably the coolest room in the house.We're considering an Eden Pure heater for the living room.

We keep the house between 65 and 68, cooler at night and when we're not home. But we do run the electric blanket the whole time we're at home, basically for the cats. As I type, both sides of the blanket are on High and there are five cats sprawled out on the bed.

I'll have to dig up a bill to see what the charges are. I know that our budget is $158 a month. I can say that we always have the last 12 months usage listed on our bills. We are ALWAYS UNDER the usage for the month for the previous year, but we ALWAYS end up having our budget increased. We don't turn the pool pump on in the summer until we turn the house heat off. And we don't turn the house heat on in the fall until we absolutely have to do so.

I live in sweat shirts and sweatpants during the winter months. We were just talking today about how we're so tired of the cold.