MONEY SAVING TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL
MONEY SAVING TIPS TO REDUCE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL
In today’s economy we are all looking to reduce our debt to income ratio, save money, and practice better debt management, so any help we can get to do this is welcome news. Here are some tips taken directly from a large utility supplier that can reduce your yearly electric (bill) debt by as much as 5% to 30% a year, according to the U.S Department of Energy.
The first step in saving on your energy costs and reducing your debt is to perform an audit on your home’s energy efficiency, you can go online for a DIY energy audit at http://hes.lbl.gov and it will step you through the process.
Basically, what you will need to do is search for air leaks around; doors, windows, doorframes, pipes, attic or cellar doors or hatches, baseboards, and electrical outlets. An easy fix is simply to weather strip or caulk around any areas you find not to be air tight. The next step that follows is to adopt these energy saving measures into your daily debt management living habits:
1. If you do not have one already install a programmable thermostat.
2. During the winter/cold months program your heat thermostat to 68 degrees with the thermostat fan on auto while you are at home and reduce it when you are sleeping or are leaving the house.
3. In the summer and warmer times of the year set you’re a/c thermostat to 78 degrees with the fan on auto and increase it to around 80 while out, if you have a large home over 2700sf you may want to keep the thermostat at a constant temperature of 79 degrees in order not to have to expend a lot of energy to re-cool the entire home again, keeping it at a constant low use setting is more energy efficient which means money saving.
4. Do not pre-wash your dishes before loading the dishwasher it will save both energy and water.
5. Make sure you clean and replace air filters in a/c units and your clothes dryer.
6. Use appropriate water levels when doing laundry and use energy efficient temperature settings.
7. Use the dryer’s auto dry sensor so you don’t use more energy than necessary.
8. Turn off ceiling fans when not in the room.
9. During the summer do not run your pool pump more than 6 hours per day or 4 hours during the winter.
10. Turn off unnecessary lights both indoor and out and always turn lights off when leaving a room.