How to Cut Costs in Your Electric Bill
Easy Ways to Save Money on Electricity
Follow These Tips to Lower Your Electric Bill
Energy costs have fluctuated here and there, but over a period of years, it’s clear that we pay more for electricity today than we did several years ago.
Sadly, incomes don’t appear to be increasing at a similar rate, which means for $100 more you pay per year to keep the lights on and run the air conditioner, you need to cut a similar amount from other expenses just to break even.
Worse yet, power companies sometimes struggle during major weather conditions just to keep up with the demand. Blistering heat waves, or protracted periods of cold weather can drain power grids and create rolling black-outs, or even longer interruptions.
You can take steps to reduce your own consumption (and your electric bill!) and help conserve energy. In fact, if every household adopted a few strategies to cut usage, we would likely not have shortages and would see fewer rate increases.
Monitor and Adjust Your Thermostat to Save Money
Small adjustments on your thermostat can save many dollars. Energy experts point out that raising your indoor temperature by even one degree can save about two percent in costs.
Two percent may not sound like much, but if your monthly air conditioning bill is $200 (as are many in hot climates), you’ve just shaved $4 off your bill. Raise the thermostat even higher and you’ll lower costs even more.
There’s little reason to keep a room at 72 degrees, and even fewer reasons to keep it at 68 degrees. Turn on the fans, and set your thermostat at 75 to 78. When you leave home for more than a few minutes, raise it even higher, to around 80 degrees. The house will still seem cool when you step back in the door (especially if it’s 90 degrees outside and humid), but you’ll have saved many dollars you would otherwise have wasted by cooling an empty dwelling.
If you’re used to running your unit at 72 degrees, switching to 78 degrees would save around $12 a month on a bill that’s normally $200. That’s several gallons of gas, or a few fast-food lunches. Or money in your savings account.
More than that, it’s also less energy being consumed from your area’s grid, and less drain on our natural resources.
Energy conservation is a global concern. Watch this cute video from Europe!
Programmable Thermostats Help Lower Utility Bills
Many people wonder what a programmable thermostat actually is, and how it can work. Installing one, and (more importantly) using it, can help reduce your bill and also relieve you of the hassle of remembering to adjust the temperature when you leave each day.
Programmable thermostats can be set to turn the unit on or off, or raise or lower the temperature according to your schedule and when you want to run the unit. It can adjust the usage to match your comings and goings, and even turn things on to make the house comfortable before you get up each morning.
Some units allow you to program one way for weekdays and another for weekends. And, of course, you can override it manually if you need to.
In recent years, some environmentally conscious energy providers have begun offering free thermostats and installation to their consumers. This is cost-effective for them in the long run, because if more households have these devices, the overall savings and reduction in fuel usage will offset the cost of providing the thermostats.
Some areas also offer a small rebate if you get the thermostat installed and also agree to have your unit cycled off for brief times during periods of very high usage.
This doesn’t mean you’ll sweat for hours every afternoon during the high-demand hours of 4-7 p.m., it means that if there’s a serious surge in usage during extreme hot weather, your unit will turn off for many 15 minutes at a time to help the system keep up with demand.
Chances are, you won’t even notice the brief interruption. But at the same time, you’re too busy to think of turning it off yourself on those occasions, so the system-wide program does it for you. And you can feel very environmentally supportive for participating in the program.
Check with your electric provider to see what sort of rebates and conservation programs are offered.
Maintain Your Air Conditioner and Heating Unit For Optimum Energy Savings
Most of us turn on the air conditioner every summer and turn on the heater every winter without paying attention to the condition of the units and whether they need to be cleaned or maintained.
You're wasting energy and money if you aren't doing basic maintenance on your heating and cooling units. You can clean your furnace fans and do simple AC maintenance and repairs yourself. All these steps are easy to learn and will save money.
Changing filters helps as well by reducing resistance for the air flow and lowering pollution in the house as well (good filters really do pay off - financially as well as in health terms).
How to Conserve Energy with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Yes, You Save Electricity if You Turn Off The Lights!
Some of us grew up with a regular mantra from Mom and Dad, “Turn off the lights!” when we left bulbs burning needlessly. It’s hard to imagine that one little light bulb can add dollars to your bill, but it’s true. Better yet, install compact fluorescent bulbs in all lamps and fixtures you regularly use.
Incredibly, converting to high-efficiency fluorescent lighting can save about about 25 percent of your lighting costs and energy use for each bulb. The bulbs cost more on the front end, but they last for many years (about eight times the lifespan of regular bulbs) and save far more than the initial expense over the long haul.
Fluorescent bulbs also generate far less heat than regular bulbs. Maybe you’ve noticed how a room suddenly cools when you turn off several incandescent bulbs (such as those huge panels of big bulbs that were popular bathroom fixtures a few years ago). You’re paying more to air condition rooms that are needlessly heated from the lighting.
Cleaning your refrigerator coils can save energy
Maintain Appliances and Replace Seals
While you’re installing new bulbs in the house and changing out your thermostat, check your appliances to see whether they’re still in good shape. Swapping out the seal on an old refrigerator can save on your bill; you won’t be sending cooled air between the cracks.
Do you really need that extra (and possibly outdated) refrigerator in the garage? If you absolutely have to have it, make sure the seal is in excellent shape, because it already has to run more than usual just to keep up with being in a hot garage.
Any other appliance that can leak energy should be checked as well. Dryers and dishwashers both have seals. You’ll save more money by hanging clothes outside and turning off the drying cycle on the dishwasher. But be sure to check the seals and keep them in good shape.
Be sure to clean your refrigerator coils to keep it from running harder (and longer) due to build-up of dirt and dust. This can also save you costly repair or replacement expenses if the motor burns out from overheating.
Power Strips Save Money
Use Power Strips
Do you use power strips on your computers? And are you buying Energy Star computers and printers when your old units bite the dust?
Both of these steps can save many dollars. Computers don’t need to run constantly (how many hours do you spend sleeping each day, or at work?). They drain energy and also generate heat (which makes your AC unit work harder).
Simplify your life and install power strips. With one switch, you can turn off several devices and save the money you’ve been wasting.
When your printers need to be replaced, look for Energy Star ratings (almost all are designed this way now). You’ll save a lot over the lifetime of the printer because it will not run needlessly to warm up or cool down.
Check and Replace Weather Stripping to Prevent Loss of Energy
Are your doors and windows sealed well from the outside elements? Weather stripping takes a beating from rain, heat, hard freezes and other weather-related conditions. You may well be leaking much of your cooled (or heated) air into the outdoors due to having worn weather stripping.
While you’re checking those areas, assess whether you need to upgrade insulation or wrap your ductwork (another step that can save tons of money).
Efficiency experts estimate that many homeowners can save hundreds of dollars by wrapping ducts (a step that has dramatic pay-back value) and changing out worn weather stripping. Attic insulation is a bit more expensive, but you'll recoup the investment in just a few seasons.
Cell phone chargers drain energy
Unplug Chargers and Appliances
Every cell phone or iPod charger that’s left plugged in can drain small amounts of energy even when not charging a phone. Commonly called “energy vampires,” chargers are known for siphoning off energy even though they’re not attached to a device. Unplug the entire charger when your phone (or iPad, iPod, whatever) has a full battery and avoid this insidious drain on the nation’s energy grids.
Some chargers are more green than others (but even those can suck energy when not in use), but if your charger feels warm when it’s just plugged in and idling, it’s definitely draining electricity. And you’re paying for it.
Kitchen appliances can also drain small amounts of energy (and some can even be fire hazards if left plugged in – toaster fires are more common than you think).
If you’re going to be on vacation, unplug any small appliance with an LED display (even your clock radio). After all, you won’t be home to look at the clock anyway, will you?
Small Steps Equal Big Savings
These are small steps, but taking collectively, they can reduce your electric consumption (and your bill) dramatically.
As a nation, we can save millions of dollars and kilowatt hours by adopting these simple steps. In the long run, this will save additional dollars through avoiding the cost of new power plants or increased expenses in fuel purchases.
As individuals, you'll not only feel good about conserving energy, you'll save money you can use for other things.
Which would you prefer – spending hundreds of dollars a year on wasted energy and needless electricity usage, or having some extra dollars for that family vacation?
Comments
Great tips for saving our hard earned money. Voted up!
Being a freeze baby, the temp in our home is always set higher :) It saves in the summer, but costs in the winter. This year I'm going to try to tolerate a colder setting on the thermostat... (shutter)
In the summer I don't turn the a/c on until it hits 80* in the house. Windows are left open for breeze & shades are pulled on the windows that the sun is coming through to help keep too much heat from building up.
In the winter I have a hard time letting it get below 76* in the house. Right now we've got it set at 71* and I'm already in long johns & sweaters :)
Excellent hub with really good tips! Thanks for sharing these. I do need to remember to unplug those little energy vampires more often :)
Hi Marcy! =) Isn't it amazing how fast the small changes can add up? I have started making tiny adjustments to our thermostat and with our lights and electronics that stay in stand-by mode.
Awesome suggestions. Thank you!
Great tips Marcy! We hardly think of things like a charger, the TV kept on standby mode and the rest draining energy in small bites. These sure do add up.
I've always tried to make do with CFL as much as possible, also trying to see that lights in rooms we are not in to be shut off. And small things like these that you mention in here.
Voted up, useful and interesting. Sharing on G+1 and tweeted.
-
-
This is really good, common sense advice. I do all of the above. I have one suggestion. Put vaseline on your refrigerator door strips and they will seal shut much better. Don't put too much vaseline because it will work too well lol. It is much better to conserve energy now than to do without it in the future. Thanks for a relevant and interesting hub. Voted up and shared!
Great tips Marcy, love the videos as well. Our power just came on after the storm that hit last week....during the hottest week of the year (I hope) I told my wife.....I'm hoping it saves me some cash! She was not amused. Voted up and useful!
Definitely some great tips to save a heck lot of money. I really liked the cleaning of refrigerator idea and I'll make up some time from the daily schedule and do it soon. Other tips are of course for a definite try.
Amazing writing!
Very well written and concise article, Marcy! Little things we can do to conserve electricity add up in the long run. Now more than ever with energy costs peaking during the summer. Rated up, of course!
Randy SSSSS
Hi Marcy,
Loved the hub. Excellent in being practical and very useful. I am sharing this hub for all my friends to read and get to know some great money-saving tips. Cheers, Rema
This is an outstanding hub, Marcy! What great ideas. Some of them I do, but there are many I'd never thought of. Thanks! I probably owe you a few dollars now.
-
-
I'm all about saving money. Thanks for the tips!
Very good advice Marcy in the uk we would add to your list, extra insulation in the loft space, as this as been proven to where most of the heat is lost. And to add double glazing particularly on the north and east sides where the rain and winds come from.
Reading this hub and the comments as made me raise my eyebrows at the temperatures you Americans want to live under. In most uk homes the heating will go off at the end of May if not before and will not be switched back on till mid Sept at the earliest. We may if the weather turns really cold put the heating on say, after 9pm just to make it more comfortable but a lot of folks here just can't afford $150 per month for electric which is the norm so stick to keeping temperatures on the low side. voted and shared.
I appreciate your tips and guidance for energy saving.New technologies are coming out with more powerful sensors and of early warning ,seems to be expensive for house installation, if price lowers down then can be installed.
Save power --create more power--slogan in India, Power hungry nation
Thank you
Pramod Gokhale
Excellent advice. Even small savings add up, and the average home has dozens of small savings that can be made. My pet peeve at university was people opening a window when it got too hot, rather than TURNING DOWN THE HEAT! (this was in November, and the weather was not to blame)
I am guilty of one or two of these. I shall print off your hub and use it as a checklist around my home. "Look after the pennies and the pounds will follow"
Voted up and useful. Thanks for sharing
Excellent ideas. I unplug anything I am not using except major appliances. I keep my house cooler in the winter and dress warmer, and I have cut a great deal off of my power bill by putting up a clothes line and air drying my clothes. I live in the country so it's wonderful to smell freshness in my clothes. During cold or wet weather, I hang some of my thinner clothes and items on hangers near the heater and let them dry that way. Not many are willing to do such things, thinking it is tacky, but I have cut a significant amount on my bill.
Our thermostat sits at 80-82 ; and we run ceiling fans to keep things cool. We can't afford $400.00 electric bills in the heat. Great advice Marcy and the article is sincerely appreciated. :)Thumbs up!
Marcy, As usual, you've packed a lot of useful information into a small space. I love the tips on unplugging kitchen appliances. In fact, there is an ongoing struggle with the hubster over the toaster as well as the big screen TV. I've noticed that when it's left on, the room is about ten degrees hotter than the other rooms in the house. I'm always turning it off, the hubby turns it on and leaves the room so I turn it off again. LOL
We've been using the programmable thermostats for years. When we would leave for work and be gone 12 hours, it would turn the heat or a/c on in time for our return. Lots of savings on that alone!
Excellent suggestions and advice Miss Marcy -- my house was "weatherized" a couple of years ago and I can't begin to tell you the difference it made in electric bills -- phenomenal. I try to follow the suggestions you made as I go and have also found that new attic insulation and black window screens make a definite difference. With the black screens one has to forego a bit of sunlight but I've found it well worth it. Super beneficial Hub for all of us -- thanks! Best/Sis
Voted up, useful and awesome. In this age where we are experiencing recession, we sure all need to know and use these tips. Those that have jobs are lucky to have them, and now I have to make ends meet on a part time job. It can be done, but we all need the practice on tightening the belts. Thanks for a great article.
Good, practical money saving tips, Marcy! I wasn't aware that plugged-in chargers may be draining electricity. Out they come!
Did someone say "Saving Tips??" Here I am, Miss Penny Pincher herself. Ready, willing and able to take in all the tips and advice available...at all times. Saving, budgeting and money tricks is my game....Your tips are expert.
It does make a difference to the bottom line and it does ADD up....as long as you're diligent and consistent. Thanks, Marcy. UP++
44