My electric bill just came, and it’s about $40 higher than I would have usually expected. I’m a pretty power-efficient guy, my total usage per month is down around 700kWh, which I think is pretty damned good. And that’s in the DC area, a place with “weather” — back in California, I struggled to meet the utility-imposed cap of 1,100kWh in my little bunglow where there was rarely a drop below freezing and almost never a day that hit 100°.
So, my usage in the last month? 962kWh. And I realized what caused it: a new air fryer that I’ve used non-stop since I got it in March. Like, twice a day.
Daddy gotta have his chicken fingers and sausage rolls. That’s not a commentary on my hands. 🤦🏻♂️
Update:
After a friend suggested using a meter to check power usage, I remembered that under my desk I keep an uninterrupted power supply for my computer and accessories. It displays power usage on its screen. Now, usually my computer doesn’t use much more power than old incandescent light bulbs — that’s the magic of technology progression in energy savings. But one of the projects I am working on is the upscaling and restoration of a bunch of TV shows like “Star Trek Deep Space Nine” and “Doctor Who.” This means that my Mac is running flat out doing machine-learning all day and night. I just started one processing and checked the consumption: 200W instead of 60W.
I may have found the culprit. Damn. I could have been bitcoin mining.
