I kept my heat on 60° and had bills over $400 each month of the winter. She’s lucky it’s so low for keeping it on 68°

Plastic insulation on the windows cut my electric bill by 40% when I lived in the city.

Yes that seems ridiculous actually

nice asian market south main...

ed hyder's pleasant st.

Depends a lot on the apartment. I lived in an older place in Watertown with electric heat. I was only there for one year because the cost of heating it in the winter was absolutely gut wrenching (400+ a month).

Can you do anything in terms of sealing windows? Or those mats under doors to help keep heat from escaping?

Holy shit

A humidifier will make her apt feel warmer, electric heat is very dry.

I really like Lucy's Cakes over on Park Ave. It is really tasty.

Wow, thank you all for your responses. I retired about the time people started hunkering down because of covid. We pretty much self quarantined with the exception of medical appointments and bi weekly grocery shopping. Since things eased up we've still stuck pretty close to home and the only increases I've noticed is gas and food. We have a seasonal contract for heating and lock in sometime between summer and fall. We heat with propane and have a really efficient hybrid system. We pay per delivery so it's not monthly but I'd be really surprised if it came to $400 a month and we have a large house. Between what I read here on Reddit about Worcester rents and energy bills sometimes it feels like I'm climbing out of a bunker in some post apocalyptic future. We're seniors and keep the house around 70 during the day and 68 at night. We live in the sticks so it's always a little bit colder here. Anyway maybe our daughter's electric bill is that high but her apartment is really small. We're going to keep checking out the situation until it's resolved one way or the other. Thanks again everyone.

Thanks

Just got a $1000 electric bill with all electric heat in a 700sq ft cottage outside the Woo :)

electric heat is expensive. had it in gardner 20 years ago and it was over 400 a month. that was a townhouse. keep that tstat to 58. 68 is way too warm. especially seeing how it hasnt been that cold yet. wait til jan/feb. it will be about 600 a month.

I’m a property manager and we can’t really help with electric bills any more than we could a cell phone bill. For keeping the apartment at 68 and for the huge rate increase, that bill doesn’t seem so crazy to me- but if she lived on my property, I’d suggest she call National Grid and have them check her meter to make sure all is in order and check her bill to make sure it was an a actual read and not an estimated read. Good luck!

Reading other comments I’m also seeing she doesn’t actually live in Worcester which makes a little more sense. Worcester has some sort of deal and it’s a little cheaper in the city. 400 makes more sense knowing it’s outside of the city.

https://patch.com/massachusetts/worcester/worcester-electric-rates-rising-still-cheaper-national-grid

I would have national grid check the meter and make sure it’s not charging her for an additional shared space or something. 400 seems high to me for a 1br. That being said, 68 at all times sounds excessive. I turn my heat to 60 and leave for the day. Turn it to 60ish at night. I’ll “blast” it to 68ish when I’m in the living room or just around. In my opinion leaving the heat at 68 around the clock sounds incredibly wasteful but luckily it will be an easy bill to reduce. Turn it down when you leave and before bed. Curtains open towards the sun during daylight and closed away from the sun or at night. Weather stripping/door sweep to windows and entrances. A couple throw blankets on the couch. Comfy sweatpants and long sleeves. She could very easily reduce the bill by 30% with minimal if any sacrifice.

Sign up for LIHEAP. I have a studio apartment and my heating bill was 300. Electric baseboard heaters, have insulated windows, the windows are winterized and I try to use the heat only at night.

It really doesnt seem exceptionally high for electric heat

It doesnt seem high for electric heat+ .33 cents/kwh rate

That sounds right for electric heat. If anything, it sounds low with nat grids new rates. My last apt was a 1 bdrm with electric heat and at last year’s nat grid rate my monthly bills were still around $400.

I'm surprised their bill wasn't higher. They should be happy to have such good insulation.

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Crust bakery, 2 locations.

Pierogis!

That probably about right. Remember the govt want everyone conserving energy and to gouge you while you do it. And don’t forget either you charge the car or heat your apt but ya can’t do both!