Tips On Reducing Your Electricity Bill

[Julie-Ann]

With the cost of power these days we need to look at ways to reduce our power bills. After receiving a $2500 bill this week (which is obviously a mistake) I am now the power saving tyrant. You can hear me screeching several times a day - turn that light off. I thought this article had some great tips.

Reduce the electric bill starting now with these tips:

LIGHTING
1. Turn off the lights. If no one is in the room, turn off the lamps.
2. Light a candle in the bathroom. Even a small candle can provide enough light for just using the toilet.
3. Replace bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. This can reduce the monthly electric bill by $20.00.
4. Use natural lighting as much as possible. Open the curtains during the day.

ELECTRONICS
Power strips are a great investment. Hook up all the cords behind the entertainment center and computer desk to power strips. Most televisions, video games, and modems have stand by lights on all night which are using electricity. Turn the power strips off when not in use or at least before going to bed to keep the electronics from pulling energy.

APPLIANCES
1. Unplug the toaster, the coffee maker, or any other appliances when not in use.
2. Wash clothes in cold water then run them through a second spin cycle. Hang to dry.
3. Use the microwave or a gas grill. Heating up an electric oven uses a lot of energy.
4. Turn off the heated dry setting on the dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand takes some time, but can save money.

READ YOUR METER
Some electric companies will average your usage. Keeping up with the meter readings will allow for contesting the bill if it’s incorrect.

PEAK TIMES
Some electric companies have peak times for electric use. Find out what the local electric company considers peak times and wash clothes and run the dishwasher during the off peak hours.

EDUCATE CHILDREN
1. Children are sometimes at fault by leaving on lights, televisions, and radios. Encourage them to turn it off when it’s not needed.
2. Make sure children aren’t sneaking to turn the thermostat up or down.

FIND DRAFTS
1. If the doors are drafty, install seals around the facing. Place towels at the bottom of the doors to keep in the heat.
2. Rolled up towels work great in windowsills to keep drafts at a minimum.
These valuable tips will lower the electric bill intensely. Start today and keep up the electric saving habits and watch the bill reduce drastically.

Do you have any tips you can add?

[thisisme]

Say no to heated towel rails

[Mrs B]

Get rid of your clothes dryer altogether

We went from a $900 bill to $350 solely by not using the dryer. Also, only have 1 fridge in the house...I know many people love the 2nd in the garage/butlers pantry but that also eats up power.

If you have a biggish house, install hydronic heating with solar power. Dosent chew up energy like ducted heating.

Mrs B

[yvette72]

wow that is one big bill julie-ann we have installed solar panels to our house but cannot tell you the savings yet as we missied most of the summer last year.

[yvette72]

we have a second fridge on all the time our last bill for six months was $800 and many people said that was high but with 5 people in the house i really didnot think it was too bad at all

[mjm]

we just got an electricity bill over 500 dollars which is a lot for a small house, but this year I haven't been using the gas convection heater as I feel it sucks too much oxygen out of the room and I need a new one, so the little electric heater got a bit of a pounding....

if I had the money I would install lots of the panels on the roof, soon maybe

[Cherylle]

I went to a local government funded free info night re: energy savings and I thought one of the first things they would promote would be the solar panels, but no. There were a lot of things they suggested before that - insulation was a biggie and curtains, vegetation to shade walls/windows in the summer, light bulbs.

Also the library lends out (for free) devices that connect to your appliances, which then display exactly how much energy they are using, firstly on standby, and then when in use.

In this house, the upstairs bedrooms which are north facing get so warm in the winter, that heating at night isn't necessary. (Hot in the summer though!)

In an ideal world it would be great to be upstairs and north facing in the winter, and downstairs (under the slab) and south facing in the summer.

[mjm]

yes but the vegetation that shades the windows in the summer, wouldn't it also prevent the house from heating up in the winter time?

[Cherylle]

I think the idea is to use deciduous plants, which lose their leaves in winter, and thus let the sun through.

[mjm]

ah ok that makes sense, and a lot of leaves to clean up

I'd love to live in a environmentally economical house, but the outlay at first to become that way doesn't come at a cheap cost.

As usual, it will work out that the people with money will be able to get all the cost saving devices and the people without money will continue to pay through the nose.

IMO, if the government was serious about the carbon emissions then they would supply every home with the panels to reduce them, but no, instead they go for the money grab of adding a ridiculous tax that we are all going to hurt badly with, every business will have to pass on the costs to the consumer.... and I am still not convinced about the global warming thing, some scientists say that this is normal and happens every so many hundred years or so.

But I am still happy to conserve water and reduce electricity usage but there are things I don't understand, why recycle toilet water instead of build more dams? why not add underground pipes to the side of the river that flooded in queensland so that they can be opened when it rains too much and the excess water could flow off to a dam or drier area? I don't understand that we have water shortages and yet we flood and haven't come up with a way of using that water yet.

lol, ok I've gone off on a tangent, don't mind me