Update: Electric Bill

The saga continues.

I've called the electric company to reread the meter; they found that their original reading is correct. I looked at the meter myself and had to agree.

So I called them back and asked what the problem could be. They looked at my month to month usage and concluded that it had to be my a/c and heating unit because I was showing huge spikes during the cold and hot months and steep declines during mild months.

I called the office at my apartment complex and asked to have the a/c filter changed. They did that, and my meter reading went UP for that day (the temperature also has spiked the past two days, so . . . ).

I called the office again and asked them to check the a/c unit. The maintenance man claims that he checked the unit and checked every other major appliance in my apartment and they were all working fine and not using any more energy than they should. I'm not entirely sure that I trust the maintenance man because he also tried to convince me that I would use less energy if I set the thermostat at 73. Huh?

The maintenance man is supposed to go back today to check whether my unit is cycling correctly and whether the thermostat is reading the temperature correctly.

In the meantime, I talked to a neighbor who has the same type of apartment as I have, and her bill was almost identical to mine.

So I may just be living in the least energy efficient apartment ever.