63% of Homes Spend More on Tech Bills than Utilities

[Guest]

We're spending more on tech services than we are on water, gas or electricity.

63% of Homes Spend More on Tech Bills than Utilities : Read more

 

[morne]

Very scary, but definitely true!

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]morne[/nom]Very scary, but definitely true![/citation]
i call bs on this. i live in Wisconsin, about 11 cents per kwatt, and during the summer a monthly electricity bill comes close to 3-400$ once topping off at 500.

i find it extremely hard to buy that tech services trump utilities.... if it was gass and water only, than yea, but if you lump electricity.

and if you take tech related products out of that, my pc costs at most 70$ a month, im not sure what its power use really is, but i got that number by figuring max on my old psu so 550 watt, realistically its probably sub 300 watt and lower. even taking tech items out, its still a higher bill than all other tech related services.

 

[morne]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i call bs on this. i live in Wisconsin, about 11 cents per kwatt, and during the summer a monthly electricity bill comes close to 3-400$ once topping off at 500.i find it extremely hard to buy that tech services trump utilities.... if it was gass and water only, than yea, but if you lump electricity.and if you take tech related products out of that, my pc costs at most 70$ a month, im not sure what its power use really is, but i got that number by figuring max on my old psu so 550 watt, realistically its probably sub 300 watt and lower. even taking tech items out, its still a higher bill than all other tech related services.[/citation]

Ok for you that might be the case, but then, there are more than just the pc, this is all technology services/subscription/running costs, internet, TV, Cellphone, tablets, xbox, ps3 all those come into account, if you do not use all that and only use your pc the you are one of the remaining 37% that does not use it all.

 

[Goldengoose]

I pay £385 a month for my house, that includes the electricity, gas and water - out of the 385 i think around 40-50 goes towards utilities so i'd say i was in 63%.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]morne[/nom]Ok for you that might be the case, but then, there are more than just the pc, this is all technology services/subscription/running costs, internet, TV, Cellphone, tablets, xbox, ps3 all those come into account, if you do not use all that and only use your pc the you are one of the remaining 37% that does not use it all.[/citation]

even if i tack on live subscription (not mine) and an mmo subscription, thats 180$ more
cellphones are pay as you go, and we buy minutes every now and than, once every 2 months at most for 20$

that still isnt more than electricity alone. water bill is up there too, but not nearly as much as electricity. lump in out internet at about 80 a month, and tech may just be over coming electricity, but factor the other two in, no... not even close.

but right, i didnt factor in the insane cellphone bills some people are willing to put up with so they can have a "cool" phone, or familys where they all want an iphone (never understood the need for a phone myself) but at that point i dont think you should lump homes into the equation, but use the term morons, there are cheaper alternatives that get the job done for almost everything you over pay for.

 

[alidan]

i made a mistake, live is 60$ a year and the mmo is about 10 a month, because i buy for a year chunk. thats only an extra 15$ a month.

 

[redgarl]

I am one of the few, I spend 60$ per month for my cell phone and internet and 75$ for electricity.

 

[dribblesbarbax]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]even if i tack on live subscription (not mine) and an mmo subscription, thats 180$ morecellphones are pay as you go, and we buy minutes every now and than, once every 2 months at most for 20$that still isnt more than electricity alone. water bill is up there too, but not nearly as much as electricity. lump in out internet at about 80 a month, and tech may just be over coming electricity, but factor the other two in, no... not even close. but right, i didnt factor in the insane cellphone bills some people are willing to put up with so they can have a "cool" phone, or familys where they all want an iphone (never understood the need for a phone myself) but at that point i dont think you should lump homes into the equation, but use the term morons, there are cheaper alternatives that get the job done for almost everything you over pay for.[/citation]

Sounds like you should go live with the Amish.

 

[cyprod]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i call bs on this. i live in Wisconsin, about 11 cents per kwatt, and during the summer a monthly electricity bill comes close to 3-400$ once topping off at 500.i find it extremely hard to buy that tech services trump utilities.... if it was gass and water only, than yea, but if you lump electricity.and if you take tech related products out of that, my pc costs at most 70$ a month, im not sure what its power use really is, but i got that number by figuring max on my old psu so 550 watt, realistically its probably sub 300 watt and lower. even taking tech items out, its still a higher bill than all other tech related services.[/citation]
I'm morbidly curious as to what you do that runs up a 400+ dollar electric bill in the summer. My knee jerk was to say air conditioning, but I'd expect that sort of cost in Texas or similar, not in wisconson. Really, in CO, I usually run 45-50 for electric during the summer per month, but I admit, I don't have A/C, don't really need it. And I think I pay 12 cents a kw/h.

 

[martel80]

So people blow money on mostly useless stuff they could easily do without. Thus fuelling further development of gimmicks and more useless stuff.

What about investing in healthier food, better power sources, better medicine, better infrastructure (and other stuff we actually need for living) instead?

This demented resource allocation is going to backfire sooner or later.

 

[Guest]

goes to show people dont care about taking care of themselves, just their need to be entertained. examples? obese america, rise of adhd and the expenditures suggested within this article.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]cyprod[/nom]I'm morbidly curious as to what you do that runs up a 400+ dollar electric bill in the summer. My knee jerk was to say air conditioning, but I'd expect that sort of cost in Texas or similar, not in wisconson. Really, in CO, I usually run 45-50 for electric during the summer per month, but I admit, I don't have A/C, don't really need it. And I think I pay 12 cents a kw/h.[/citation]

yea, air conditioner is a contributing factor. i don't know if its inefficiency or what, there is also the 16 year old home fans that can use as much if not more power to push that air, than the air conditioner. and there is also the moronic placement of the turn off swich, its either we have the bathroom vent open, and it turns the ac off 10-15 degrees sooner than the rest of the house, and if its closed it can get 5-10 degress cooler in the rest of the house.

im leaning towards inefficient fans and dated equipment. we also have an electric stove, and that uses a crap ton of power, there is also the washer and dryer for 4 people clothing, and my dad goes through 2 sets a day, same for my little brother on school days.

the tv in the liveing room is 550 watt, my computer can handle 700 watt but likely never goes higher than 450 and idles probably at 200, the thing never gets turned off, my little brothers probably close to the same, but with a 410 watt at most. mine and his monitors are 100-150 watt. the refrigerator is i believe 1000-1500 watt, not 100% on that, but that is on and off.

its the little things that add up, but the most costly thing would probably be the heating/cooling fans.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]cyprod[/nom]I'm morbidly curious as to what you do that runs up a 400+ dollar electric bill in the summer. My knee jerk was to say air conditioning, but I'd expect that sort of cost in Texas or similar, not in wisconson. Really, in CO, I usually run 45-50 for electric during the summer per month, but I admit, I don't have A/C, don't really need it. And I think I pay 12 cents a kw/h.[/citation]

i should also mention, if you dont live by a lake in wisconsin, it gets really hot, and humid, my family can handle hot, just not humid too.

 

[bak0n]

If you live in California it's not hard at all to see an electric bill starting at $200 and running above $400. My electric bill runs around $200 a month. My fios runs me $55.

 

[freggo]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i call bs on this. i live in Wisconsin, about 11 cents per kwatt, and during the summer a monthly electricity bill comes close to 3-400$ once topping off at 500.[/citation]

I live in Florida in a 2,000 sqft house. We spend even in the summer rarely over $200 for electricity. If you spend $500 in WI either you must have a huge house or something is wrong with your insulation. Or you have a neighbor plug in his A/C into your outlet

 

[gm0n3y]

I live in a rental apartment and my electricity bill is around $35/month (annual average). I don't pay for heat, but I'd guess that it is less than that since I don't really use it often. We don't pay for water where I live (included in property taxes).

For technology I pay:

$130 for Internet/TV
$90 cell phone
$90 wife's cell phone

So say ~$65 for utilities is a lot less than $310 for technology. Of course my $1600 for rent in a one bedroom apartment dwarfs those.

 

[phate]

I pay $35 for 7mb DSL, and $30 for a cellphone.
My electricity is ~$120 a month, and water/sewer is $35.

$65 vs $155, Guess I'm in the 37%.

I constantly see people with iPhones/Androids paying $110 a month for it and living a Ramen noodle livestyle. It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[nottheking]

Well, the big thing here is that the line between "tech bills" and "utility bills" is starting to blur. The big contributor here is phone service: back in the day of analog landlines being the norm, that was clearly a utility bill.

Now, thanks to the use of cell phones replacing landlines, we're seeing a major shift there. Similarly, with the switch to digital television (cable & satellite providers switched WELL before broadcast did) and the popularity of packaging it with Internet service, that, too, often gets moved out of the "utilities" category. So what is this comparison we're making? Well, on one side we'll have "utilities:"

- Electricity
- Water/Sewer
- Gas/heat
- Trash pickup
- Landline telephone

On the other side, we've got all the "tech" stuff:

- Internet
- Television
- Cell phone & VOIP
- MMO subscriptions
- Web service subscriptions
- App downloads
- DLC downloads
- Digital media purchases

By now, perhaps the "63% spend at least 35% more" might even feel like an understatement.

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i call bs on this. i live in Wisconsin, about 11 cents per kwatt, and during the summer a monthly electricity bill comes close to 3-400$ once topping off at 500.[/citation]
Add me on to the top of the list that's suggesting you've got a maintenance issue with your house. Even an air conditioner shouldn't be sucking down that much power: $500US @11c/kWh means you're averaging a whopping 6,300 watts of draw. Even a crappier (SEE rating of 12) central air conditioner is only going to consumer maybe 1 kW of power per ton of cooling; so that's 3 kW if you have a relatively hefty 3-ton unit.

And since you're in Wisconsin, it can't be THAT hot, (I'm over in Michigan, so I know the climate) so you can't be running it for more than, say, 8-12 hours a day. So such a hefty bill would mean you'd have to have some other issue at work, such as a short in your wiring that's sapping power. I'd highly recommend getting your wiring and appliances looked at.

[citation][nom]phate[/nom]I constantly see people with iPhones/Androids paying $110 a month for it and living a Ramen noodle livestyle. It just doesn't make sense to me.[/citation]
Is that any different from the impoverished inner-city kids wearing $200US Nikes?

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]I live in Florida in a 2,000 sqft house. We spend even in the summer rarely over $200 for electricity. If you spend $500 in WI either you must have a huge house or something is wrong with your insulation. Or you have a neighbor plug in his A/C into your outlet [/citation]

I wouldn't doubt if her old neighbor did it, they want slipped her lawn on fire to kill the grass, I mean a whole lot on fire and it was almost uncontrollable.

I also forgot to mention that we have a pool pump, not exactly sure how much power that takes but it's a fairly decent pump.

As for insulation, I don't think it's bad, but we do have a lot of windows and I'd say those are fail points.

[citation][nom]nottheking[/nom]Well, the big thing here is that the line between "tech bills" and "utility bills" is starting to blur. The big contributor here is phone service: back in the day of analog landlines being the norm, that was clearly a utility bill.Now, thanks to the use of cell phones replacing landlines, we're seeing a major shift there. Similarly, with the switch to digital television (cable & satellite providers switched WELL before broadcast did) and the popularity of packaging it with Internet service, that, too, often gets moved out of the "utilities" category. So what is this comparison we're making? Well, on one side we'll have "utilities:"- Electricity- Water/Sewer- Gas/heat- Trash pickup- Landline telephoneOn the other side, we've got all the "tech" stuff:- Internet- Television- Cell phone & VOIP- MMO subscriptions- Web service subscriptions- App downloads- DLC downloads- Digital media purchasesBy now, perhaps the "63% spend at least 35% more" might even feel like an understatement.Add me on to the top of the list that's suggesting you've got a maintenance issue with your house. Even an air conditioner shouldn't be sucking down that much power: $500US @11c/kWh means you're averaging a whopping 6,300 watts of draw. Even a crappier (SEE rating of 12) central air conditioner is only going to consumer maybe 1 kW of power per ton of cooling; so that's 3 kW if you have a relatively hefty 3-ton unit.And since you're in Wisconsin, it can't be THAT hot, (I'm over in Michigan, so I know the climate) so you can't be running it for more than, say, 8-12 hours a day. So such a hefty bill would mean you'd have to have some other issue at work, such as a short in your wiring that's sapping power. I'd highly recommend getting your wiring and appliances looked at.Is that any different from the impoverished inner-city kids wearing $200US Nikes?[/citation]

it's not the heat that gets us into the humidity, and it does get very humid by us.

now for the air-conditioning i would assume 1500 watt, its probably a good 10-12 years old. but beyond that, its also the fans in the house that push the air, and inefficient duct work, so about 60% of the cooling gets to us, and the fans use probably 1000-1500 watts, fridge, washer, dryer, lights, fans for white noise when we sleep, the refrigerator, stove, all that combines for a lot of power draw. and what I said up to 500 I mean it hit that once or twice during the summer, it's usually 350 of 400 range.