Beaufort County is ‘almost passing out’ over power bills. How high will yours be?

The price of keeping warm in a cold snap is catching up with some Beaufort County residents who have been unpleasantly surprised by what they say are much higher than usual power bills from late December/early January.

Michael Taylor of Bluffton opened his most recent Palmetto Electric bill to find that it had almost tripled from the previous month, going from $148 to $426.

“I expected a little bit higher of a bill but didn’t expect that kind of bill,” Taylor said Thursday. “We keep our house comfortable but not overly hot.”

He also said he recently had his HVAC system, which heats a 2,600-square-foot house, serviced and checked.

“It is in 100 percent working order,” he said.

Taylor is not alone in his surprise.

Another resident posted to Bluffton Ask and Answer earlier this week asking if anyone else almost passed out when they saw their electric bills this past month. The post received 69 comments, many of which expressed similar sentiments.

Tray Hunter, vice president of Palmetto Electric, said Thursday that many Beaufort County customers used twice or three times the power in late December/early January than they had during the same time period in previous years.

If you use twice as much power, he said, you can assume your bill will likewise double.

Palmetto Electric saw a record-breaking demand during the snowstorm that hit earlier this month.

The previous record was set on Jan. 7, 2014.

Hunter said Palmetto Electric customers can go to the company’s website and view their daily, weekly and monthly usage. The company also has a phone application that can be used to follow usage.

“You can see usage and compare what you did in December and November, and you can judge what you will be looking at for a bill,” Hunter said.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Beaufort County is ‘almost passing out’ over power bills. How high will yours be?."