The spike in bills came from excessive usage of the air conditioner.
I recently got divorced, retained the house, and couldn’t bear the loneliness that came with the silence. Since all our kids are grown up, married, and live out of state, I thought I could put the extra rooms to good use. So I applied to the state to become a foster parent to 3 kids who could use the additional three rooms I had. It took a while to get my approval, but it finally fell through, and I got my babes to stay a while. They were all teenagers, and from habit, they kept to themselves and spent most of their time isolated. But they didn’t arrive all at once; I had them at intervals and for different periods. Since I started fostering, my utility bills shot up significantly. For a moment, I thought my HVAC unit had a problem and needed ac repair, but nothing came up when my HVAC technician checked it. So I chose to observe it for a while, but I didn’t see a change in the air quality, nor did I realize any problem with the ac filter. Out of worry, I contacted a different HVAC company to send in an HVAC professional for a second opinion. From the visit, it turned out HVAC maintenance was timely done, and the report from home services was accurate. The spike in bills came from excessive usage of the air conditioner. Yes, I didn’t pick up on that, especially after getting used to staying alone. The air conditioning system was fine, the air duct didn’t have an issue, and no leaks were reported in the ductwork. I didn’t need help with indoor comfort after all, just to monitor how the kids used the AC in their rooms.