[chickadee]

We just moved into a new home with a Goodman. We are receiving astronomical electric bills. Our previous home was all electric and we didn't have this problem. We called back the contractor and they didn't find anything wrong. I have since found that the thermostat was set to "Comfort" for the auxiliary heat and I have changed it to economy. The system also seems very loud when it is running. Does anybody have any other suggestions, these electric bills are killing me off.

[kp2171]

I'm not an expert in this area

Most of my home is gas heated, but a good sized sunroom is solely electric. All I can tell you is that this room draws a lot of energy ($$) in the winter, and for this reason we tend to cycle it off at night.

Can you use a programmable thermostat to keep heat down at night and when the house is vacant? It makes a sizable dent in our bill.

We have some good experts here, so hang around. If anything, my post bumps your thread up in the new posts list.

[hvac1000]

Is the heat pump is running as it should and the air filter is clean there is not much you can do to the system to make it run cheaper.

Lower thermostat setting
Do not use emergency/aux heat
Check all duct work for tightness and no leaks
Make sure the heat pump is running as it should. (call the company that put it in)
Look for air leaks in and around the house. Just because it is a new house means nothing today. Some new houses have many problems with HVAC since the contractor can cheat there and it will never be seen by the average person.
Do not use a set back thermostat. It will cause the expensive emergency/aux heat to come on during the recovery process.
Get on even billing to help round out your electric bill and spread the higher cost over the year.
Your new house might be bigger than your old house. For every square foot of space you have to pay to heat so take that into consideration.

[kp2171]

Get on even billing to help round out your electric bill and spread the higher cost over the year.

I'm too stupid to comment about the rest... but I agree on budgeting...

I know my average bill is roughly 350/mo... so I budget for this... in months when its lower, I accrue money for the hard months... usually jan, feb, July, aug.. Here in the midwest.

So you can also do this... if you haven't lived there long, ask the energy co to give you the average bill... meaning over a 12 mo period, what is the average bill for this house. This lets you know what you need to set aside.

Even if you haven't lived there, someone else has, if its not a new build, and that can tell you what to expect. I know I HATE jan and feb... always the worst months... but I get through it using the average numbers and saving up for these hard times.