Could a faulty wire cause a hike in electrical bills?

Our electrical bill go up 100% in the winter and we don't have any appliances that really use it more in the winter. No furnace, (heat with wood) -gas water heater. -Just some heated outside buckets for animals. Recently we found a feed wire outside from the house to the out buildings that was hissing, popping and sparking in the ice around it. Could we be wasting electricity here? Could this be the cause of our wintertime blues? The issue does happen when it's snowy and wet. Uhg.