holy bills!

"GalacticGal;c-16563499" wrote:
Has anyone tried just using a fireplace, yet?

My sims actually light the fireplace autonomously lol when its really cold outside.

I always loved the challenge of high bills, but wowza - §26.000 is quite a lot. Is it a huge mansion or a smaller home?

does having the fire place on count for heat?? I don't have the expansion pack yet (waiting for a sale... so a LONG time) before i get it. if it doesn't too bad they ddin't have a fireplace that would count but you would have to purchase wood, then cut it, put it in the wood shed and bring some inside to put in the fire place. lots of animations - that would be a new item for sure (don't think they had that in the previous versions).

I wonder if the size of the room where the thermostat is placed is having an effect. My sim's bill did not rise to an unexpected level but it is a smaller one-story home and the general living space is less than 1/2 the sq. ft. of the whole house.

"GwastenMica;c-16578823" wrote:
I wonder if the size of the room where the thermostat is placed is having an effect. My sim's bill did not rise to an unexpected level but it is a smaller one-story home and the general living space is less than 1/2 the sq. ft. of the whole house.

I bet you're onto something. It would make sense that a smaller house would be easier to heat or keep cool.

According to the coding, the thermostat is supposed to increase bills by 25% or decrease them by 25% depending on which setting you use. Maybe the large bills are a bug or maybe something else is going on, such as having a garden with a lot of harvestables on the plants or in inventories, since that adds to the value of the house and therefore bills.

"Simmerville;c-16578725" wrote:
I always loved the challenge of high bills, but wowza - §26.000 is quite a lot. Is it a huge mansion or a smaller home?

its the size of a farm house

I´ve made a test today after my family had a bill over 90.000, before it was 9.600. One week without thermostat in winter and the bill was back to normal. As said above the thermostat increases bills by 25% on warm, but what I miss is the time factor. There must be a difference if the thermostat is all day on or only 1 hour per day, how is this calculated?

"SimsFreak2387;c-16560630" wrote:
You only need to turn the thermostat on when it's COLD or HOT or worse, not WARM or COOL.

Which means that it isn't a thermostat.
A thermostat you set at the temperature you want, and if it is cooler or warmer than that it compensates. Which also means that you never should have to set it for "hot or cold" to "compensate" for outdoor temperatures.

"Beardedgeek;c-16601627" wrote:

"SimsFreak2387;c-16560630" wrote:
You only need to turn the thermostat on when it's COLD or HOT or worse, not WARM or COOL.

Which means that it isn't a thermostat.
A thermostat you set at the temperature you want, and if it is cooler or warmer than that it compensates. Which also means that you never should have to set it for "hot or cold" to "compensate" for outdoor temperatures.

But in Sims logic, it doesn't work like that at all.