From the Blog · College Grove, TN
Why Is My Electric Bill So High?
In a Middle Tennessee home, heating and cooling is usually the largest single energy use, so when a bill jumps, the HVAC system is the first suspect. The usual causes are a system running longer because of a dirty filter or coil, low refrigerant, auxiliary heat running when it should not, duct leaks into the attic or crawlspace, or a thermostat set up wrong for a heat pump.
Detective work you can do today
Compare this bill with the same month last year, not last month; weather drives most swings. Check the filter and the outdoor coil. Note whether the system seems to run constantly, and if you have a heat pump, watch whether the thermostat shows AUX or auxiliary heat on mild days: that indicator on a 50-degree afternoon is a bill problem with a fixable cause. Our common HVAC problems page maps symptoms to causes.
The hidden bill drivers we find on calls
Duct leakage is the quiet one: air you paid to cool blowing into a hot attic. In College Grove's older homes and in subdivisions where attic ducts have aged, sealing ducts can matter more than any thermostat trick. Auxiliary heat misconfiguration is second: a heat pump calling for strip heat too early can double a winter bill, and it is a settings and controls fix, not new equipment. See our thermostat and ductwork pages.
When the system itself is the problem
An aging system loses efficiency gradually; if your usage climbs year over year in the same weather, the equipment may be telling you its remaining life is short. A tune-up with recorded readings separates a maintenance fix from an end-of-life trend.