Last month we used a lot more electricity than we did this month, because last month was so cold that we had to run the heater almost 24/7. However, this month's bill was still $5 higher than last month's, even though you can see plain as day that the kilowatt usage was lower this go round. Turns out they hiked the per-kilowatt-hour rates up this month. How do you like that?! As soon as average usage goes down, the rates go up!!