Still here, consuming power

Updates are pretty sparse this month because we've been spending all our free, non-baby time trying to baby-proof. And let me tell you I'm starting to see why some people hire professionals. It is hard and time-consuming! It took us all evening to sort-of install a gate (the sort-of is a long story for another post). I have pictures and stories ready, but I really want to get it done first.

In the meantime, a quick look at our energy consumption and how it (may have) changed post-baby. Our utility company has just started providing us with some stats and read-outs about our monthly energy usage. There's also a glimpse of our yearly use: it has definitely gone up this year, but that's no surprise. Without providing much by way of specifics, it says that we used about 4500 kWh between January and September of 2013, and almost 7000 kWh for the same time period this year. Of course that also included my maternity leave (staying home with the lights and heat on, how indulgent). And generally more time spent at home, more temperature control, more laundry, etc.

Nonetheless we got a "good" rating compared to similar homes for the month. We were not the most energy efficient but we were better than other similar, nearby dwellings. We used 744 kWh, 27% more than what they consider the 20% most "efficient" similar homes. Other similar homes used 1049 kWh.

What I found interesting was the graph charting our times of day (nope, no time to show it to you in pictures). Keeping in mind that the month being tracked was largely before our heat really cranked up, it seems our energy usage starts to go up around 4 or 5pm but really peaks from 9-11pm. Interesting, since I feel like most of our lights are on while baby is awake (but again, this is before Daylight Savings ended, so the need to have the lights on was not as great as it is now). Apparently, frantic laundry, dishes,cleaning, and some TV time (but I thought LED TVs were efficient!) seem to be gobbling up most of our power.

When do you use most of your energy? Do you get similar information from your power company? I'm not sure if this is going to become a regular report, but I like the information.