Asmo2010 - 10 Ways to Lower Your Energy Bill (Blog Post)

Easy Solutions to Reduce Electricity Bill 📷 Every month we receive bills like water, internet, phone, energy, and possibly more. These bills eat away at that sweet, sweet cash we work so hard for every single day. These are unavoidable things because we need them to survive since we need to cook, eat, stay warm, cool, or survive overall? So, what can we do about this money leaving our wallets each month and harming our budgets? One thing we can do is reduce how much our bills cost, particularly our energy bill. Let’s take a look at ten simple ways to lower your energy bill to keep a little more money in your accounts each month.  Reducing energy: Air

Check the seals around windows and doors. This is a super common way to waste energy in your home; windows and doors are not airtight, so that warm or cool air that your heat or air conditioning worked so hard to make comfortable sneaks through the seams around windows and doors. Three percent of heated or cooled air is lost through door seams around doors, 16 percent through seams around windows, and 38 percent through any cracks in windows or doors. For example, if you were to check your front door right now, you might be able to hear or feel some air coming underneath the door or at the corners. If you have many windows in your home (that open), then those are culprits, too! Again, the bottom of the window and the corners are significant gateways for airflow.

The U.S. Department of Energy recommends fixing these problem areas with caulk or foam for spots that do not need to move; if you need to fix an area around a door or window, consider using weatherstripping. As long as cracks are less than 1.4 inches, you can use caulk or foam for non-movable parts of windows or doors (such as around any window in the door, around the door handle, or within the borders of the door itself).

Tinker with your thermostat. Consider adjusting your thermostat to reduce the amount of work your heating and air have to do in your home, such as turning down the heat at night or when you leave for the day. Reducing your house temperature10-15 degrees for eight hours per day is one of the ways to lower your energy bill by 10 percent annually. Studies have shown that people tend to sleep more comfortably when the room is cooler or even chilly. Another avenue to accomplish this to install a smart thermostat! There are benefits of utilizing a smart thermostat:

Adjust the temperature of your home or whether the system is on at all from your smartphone. Let’s say you leave for work or vacation, and you left the heat on! That would be a lot of wasted energy to heat your home when you are not even there. You could turn off the heat or air while 1000 miles away and conserve that energy and thus, save some bucks. You can also use this purely for your convenience and have the heat or air conditioning turned on before you walk in the door after work or whenever you want it.

Track your energy usage from your thermostat’s phone application. Many smart thermostats allow you to track your energy usage over time and have a profile. Having this feature handy can show you how to alter your energy consumption habits to reduce your costs over time and take further control of your expenses each month.

Smart thermostats can learn your habits. Not like in a Big Brother kind of way but rather your thermostat will have movement sensors in it; these sensors enable the device to know your movements over time and can automatically know when to turn the heat or air on/off and even know when you typically adjust the temp and by how much.

Adjust your freezer and fridge temperatures. Believe it or not, this is an energy-consuming machine. Yes, we know it requires energy to keep food cold or frozen, but what we are talking about is how cold or frozen you keep them. The optimal temperature for a fridge is around 38 degrees and zero to five degrees for your freezer. When you crank the fridge temperature to the max setting, you consume lots of electricity to make that happen. You can keep your food adequately stored at a temperature that does not increase your monthly bill. It is one of the small ways to lower your energy bill.

Reducing energy: Water 📷

Take shorter showers. We get it. A nice long, hot shower can be one of the most relaxing and cozy things you can do. The thing with a long shower, though, is that it uses a lot of water and energy to heat all that water. According to Home Water Works, the average shower uses 2.1 gallons of water per minute, and the average shower is around seven to eight minutes.

Wash your clothes in cold water. You guessed it, using hot water in the laundry raises your energy consumption each month! Also, when you use cold water to wash your clothes, you reduce the likelihood of color-fade and shrinkage; yes, your clothes can shrink from hot water in the laundry even if you do not put things in the dryer. You can find a detergent that excels in cold water, so no excuses! This is not something people consider when researching “ways to lower your energy bill”.

Reducing energy: Lighting, a.k.a. Reduce Electricity Bill📷

Switching to more energy conscious light bulbs. There are light bulbs now that require less energy to be lit, and these bulbs will allow you to light your home without using more power than necessary. Additionally, you can use bulbs with less wattage in some light fixtures as well. If you do not want to do these tactics in all of your light fixtures, then consider doing them in at least your most used fixtures. Homeowners and renters can also opt for smart bulbs due to switching them on and off from a smartphone. The benefit of turning lights on and off from your phone is similar to a smart thermostat in that if you forget to turn lights off when you leave your house, no problemo! Also, side benefit, they make it look like you are home when you are on vacation or wherever since you can turn them on and off from an app or set up a routine.

Install dimmer switches. Using dimmer switches allows you to keep lights on when you need them but reduce the amount of energy required to power them. With a dimmer switch, you can adjust the light’s intensity, which means you can change how much energy you consume. Over time, you will see excellent savings and a lower energy bill each month if you switch your switches.

Plug into smart power strips or outlets. Smart outlets and powerstrips further the convenience of controlling when and where lights get turned on, such as lamps that do not allow you to install a smart bulb, or even other appliances, electronics, etc. An electronic or appliance still consumes some energy even when it is not in use but still plugged in; this is called Phantom Energy. Why? Because that is how something turns on right away and because things like your computer, gaming system and other conveniences still work, even when “turned off.” These things consume zero energy when they are unplugged or when the smart outlet is off.

Perform an energy audit. An energy audit will tell you how energy-conscious your home is. From this point, you can start putting these other tips mentioned above into practice. Many energy companies offer this service for free to little cost, so what do you have to lose? The audit will reveal your problem areas, and your energy company can also let you know of other tips and tricks to conserve energy.

Ask for discounted rates and shop around! Many states allow you to choose your energy provider, so if you live in a state that does allow this, then take advantage of it and shop around. If you are in an area where you are assigned an energy provider, or even if you chose your provider, ask about discounted rates, sometimes you can get between five and 25 percent off during certain hours or times of the year. Some energy companies are starting to offer free nights and weekends, omitting your select number of highest usage days, etc., and those can generate some serious savings!

Conserving energy in your home not only makes monthly expenses friendlier to your wallet but also the earth. The less energy that we waste means there is more energy for tomorrow that can hopefully be used productively vs. powering our “turned off” TV. If you have any questions about this post, feel free to reach out to your energy provider or us! When you learn how to make your energy bill lower, it helps with your monthly budgeting, too. Smart finances are sound finances.