December was colder than usual, by about 25% — 701 Heating Degree Days (HDD) versus 505 HDD last year. This doesn't quite account for the 50% increase in natural gas usage year-over-year, however — that would be my daughter home for college for most of December. I seem to recall that the TV was on most of the time as well, which might well account for the 15% increase in electricity use. Of course, running the Christmas lights didn't help, either. All in all, our utility bills for December came to $295. Ouch!
December 2009 Data
| Electricity, in kWh | Cost / Unit | Gas, in Therms | Cost / Unit | Water, in CCF | Cost / Unit | BTUs / Ft2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This Month | 1,003 | $.092 | 165 | $1.14 | 7 | $2.12 | 5,695 |
| Last Month | 564 | $.101 | 69 | $1.15 | 6 | $2.15 | 2,523 |
| Last Year | 864 | $.092 | 106 | $1.26 | 8 | $1.84 | 3,873 |