Surge in Electric Bill

I would guess that at most the Cary is drawing 2 amps. 2 hours per day translates to 0.5KwH/day times 30 days is ~ 15KwH/month. I don't know what your paying; but $0.25/KwH is a reasonable estimate so we're looking at about $4/month as an upper bound for 2 hours per day of use.

Take a look at your power bill and see what your total khw (kilowatt hour) useage was for the month with the Cary SLI-80 used. Compare the bill with the month before, or a couple of months before. Also check the number of days in the billing cycle. Chances are your utility company's "Energy charge", per khw, was higher for the month the bill was higher.

Also depending where you live colder weather, even with gas heat, the furnace motor runs longer and more often. That will increase the kwh useage.

Thanks to all of your responses.
Will show my wife, as she is the bookkeeper in this family.
Maybe she'll let me keep playing my music...

depending where you live utilities have increased their pricing dramatically this winter. Natural gas in the midwest is about double the price it was last year.