conversation: User (brocahantas): "Hey PF\n\nI moved into a one bedroom apartment in downtown chicago about a month ago. Electric heating (two window units, set at 69F), gas stove. I know I should expect the bill to be high in winter and summer, but this is extreme. I've contacted my landlord to check out the meter myself later, not sure what will come from that.\n\n[Here's my bill](http://i.imgur.com/LtMxIbD.png)\n\nI called ComED and they were fairly useless. The lady said that did seem very high, and the average monthly bill for my unit was about $75 (still higher than that $470/yr estimate I received when signing the lease, but that's besides the point). She put in a request for a re-read of the meter, but said I had to pay this bill and if there was an error it would be corrected on my next month's bill.\n\nI'm not sure what else to do, or if I can do anything else. Something HAS to be wrong here and I'm praying it gets corrected, but it sucks I have to pay that bill in the meantime. Any ideas?\n\n••••••••••••\n\nEDIT: Thanks for the responses everyone. There's a ton of helpful information and I've already started putting some of the tips into motion.\n\n###**Kind of late, but I'm almost positive [this](http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/PBH092G12CB.html) is the window unit I have (no model number that I can see so I'm going solely by looks). Not sure if that helps anything.**\n\n••••••••••••\n\nEDIT 2: Here's the breakdown from the bill: http://i.imgur.com/p9zF5GT.png\n"
  Self: "First of all start keeping track of your own meter readings... you will likely have this problem next month.\n\nAsk your power company the history of usage see if there is another month this has happened.  See if it was excessively cold that month.\n\nIf your heater is electric and has auxiliary heating setting. Turn it off. This setting is really really costly.  Also try to take notice of how often your fridge and heater cycles (turn on and off).  This could be a cause and sign of a broken thermostat.  Also check your water heater to see if it is leaking.\n\nDo a breaker check.  Turn off all your applainces (except maybe the fridge) then turn off all the breakers in your fuse box in your unit and make sure the meter stops turning or going up. If not something is definitely wrong with the meter or someone is stealing electricity on your dime.\n\nTurn them on one by one and check to see how fast they make your meter turn.  Breakers with all the appliances and lights off should not spin.  If they do something this hooked up somewhere u don't know about.  This will let you know if there is something plugged in on a circuit that's sucking up an excessive amount of power.  Your heater will probably make it spin the fastest.\n\nAsk your power company about any odd findings.\n\nI had this problem recently with a older house a rented this winter... it turned out the house was really old and didn't have insulation.  The heater constantly ran.  Needless to say I found a way out of the lease because the heater could not keep the house warm and I had a small child.\n\nGood luck man... I know how problem like this can really break a budget."
  