Light Bill??!!

jtwilson

Member
I just read a post about the 3-250 watt mh i was planning on running 8 hrs a day would cost me around $400 a month on my electricity bill!!!! Please someone tell me this is a joke!!!!! U have got to be kidding..... 400 a month!!?? I could take 150 possibly even 200....but 400!!!!!! no freaking way....is this true???
 

ice4ice

Active Member
Metal Halides do give out high wattages and unfortunately, it will have some effect on your electric bill.
 

fishgeek01

Active Member
I added 2 -150 watt halides and 2-130 watt pc's to my tank and I saw an average increase of only 10 dollars on my electric bill. Whomever told you 400 is not looking over thier bill very well. If your bill jumped by 400 dollars wouldn't you question it? There is no way it could affect your bill that much, I don't even think 24 hours a day would do that to your bill... so to answer your question I highly doubt you will even see a 150 increase on your bill, with all of the equipment you will be running... not just your lights.
 

dogstar

Active Member
On average, running 750 watts for 8 hrs a day will add about $ 18.00 to a monthly bill ( at $ 0.10 charged per kWh )
 

dueces

Member
I had 192w PC and when I got 195w T5's my electric bill went down. T5's are very effecient and put off less heat then MH's.
 

dina12

Member
I run MH's on my tanks - 3-400W on one, 1-250W on one, the other tanks have PC's. My electric bill has jumped about 30.00 a month with those all running 7-8 hours a day. Not sure what will happen when the chillers kick in this summer........
 

michaeltx

Moderator
depends on the makers of the equipment what ballasts you use and what the light company charges they all go into account. Mine jumped in west Texas alot to a point I sold them and went to PC lighting!!
mike
 

lazypinoy

Member
well it depends on ur electricity habits.do u run ur air conditioners? how about a habit of leaving house lights on? at first i thought it was the fish lights when bill here ran for 417$. i tried my best to turn of lights unused, switched to low watt floursent bulbs instead of reg bulbs and used heavy electric equipment during conservation hours i think here its 9pm-7am.(like pool pump, washer dryer). as well as turned off computers when not in use, no not on standby, either hibernate or shutoff. well the point is when i changed my habits the bills began to decrease even with about a total of 1000watts running for my system (all equipment plus lights). from 417 to 383 to 334 to 284. on an average it goes around the low 300s.
 

ifirefight

Active Member
Originally Posted by Dogstar
On average, running 750 watts for 8 hrs a day will add about $ 18.00 to a monthly bill ( at $ 0.10 charged per kWh )
I agree
Just check how much you are charged per KW hour and adjust from there. BTW... Im sure you already know...but....this is an expensive hobby!
 

ifirefight

Active Member
Originally Posted by rebelprettyboy
I dont even have Mh lights and our light bill here in west texas is at 300 so i can only imagine if i had mh lights
My last bill 319.75......2582 kWh used this month.....avg is 83 kWh per day.According to my last statement.
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by 05xrunner
i run 2x250 on my 75..my light bill went up I think like 15bucks..its like $90 a month now
ditto
 

skipperdz

Active Member
that person is also leaving all their lights on...tv's...running a/c constantly and leaving the computer on lol...
 

jtwilson

Member
thanks guys, i appreciate it....when i read that it was going to be 400 dollars i was sweating bullets over here haha....but now ive mellowed out from your responses.
 

murph145

Active Member
just depends on where u live and what electricity supplier uhave.... unfortunately out in so cal i have so cal edison and they charge the heck outta us.... during the summer months last year my bill was over $500 during winter it hovered around $230 a month im expectiing it to start climbing again since today it was 95 and i had the ac running too....
 

jtwilson

Member
by the way murph..i bought your exact same lighting setup only mine is for a 125.... a little worried it might be too much light but we will see. I'll have to take some pics and post cause everything was DIY (i'm kinda proud of myself)
 
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