COLD WEATHER DRIVES ENERGY USE HIGHER

 

Weather chart shows high usage during arctic blastIt’s easy to forget how dramatically a cold snap can affect your bill when most of the winter weather has been mild. North Texas experienced a sudden Arctic front in January.This graph shows how cold temperatures significantly increased energy usage. The red and blue lines are the day’s high and low temperatures. As a frigid blast of Arctic air and freezing rain/sleet settled in on Jan. 24, this member’s DAILY usage (as seen in the green usage bars) skyrocketed.

Ordinarily, this member’s home uses very little energy until cold weather arrives and stays until Jan. 28. Just as an example, on Jan. 23, the temperature reached about 52 degrees for a high and 33 for a low. This member used about 50 kWh. Compare this to Jan. 25, the high was about 19 degrees and the low dropped to about 10. This member used more than five times the amount of energy to stay warm (267 kWh). If the thermostat is set to 75, that’s a huge 56-degree difference during the day and 65-degree difference at night that the heating unit must overcome. Compare that to the 25-degree difference an air conditioner must overcome to keep indoor temperatures at 75 degrees on a 100-degree day.
 
As the winter storm descended on Texas from Jan. 24-27, the member used 850 kWh in just four days! This is more than the member used in the 22 days prior to the winter storm (760 kWh from Jan. 2-Jan. 23).
 
Some people make the mistake of believing if they don’t touch their thermostats, it shouldn’t affect usage. However, when outside temperatures drop so dramatically, electric heating units must use more energy to maintain the desired temperature indoors. ALSO, while heat pumps do use less energy than traditional electric resistance heating systems, heat pumps become less efficient and often switch to “emergency heat” when temperatures drop to the lower 30s. That can increase energy usage by up to three times!

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