Great Ways To Reduce Electricity Costs
At first glance, electricity is not expensive. This is especially the case in some parts of the country. However, if you do the math, you do realize the fact that you spend more than you initially thought. There are always benefits to reducing utility bills. You can easily use special deals like those of Just Energy or you could take advantage of the ways mentioned below.
Use Programmable Thermostats
Heating and cooling stand out as the largest home expense of the moment. Large spikes can appear due to personal preferences and external temperature. How much energy you consume can be reduced with the use of a programmable thermostat. This practically works by making changes automatically in your home, based on time of day.
As an example, the thermostat will make sure that the home is warm when you get back from work and that temperature is kept lower to save electricity when you are not at home.
Add Extra Home Insulation
During winter, electricity costs are higher as the heating system runs more than usual. At the same time, a lot of electricity can be lost because heat transfer happens through walls. The same can be the case when it is summer as cool air leaves the home. Extra insulation can help you cut electric bill costs. You invest more in the beginning, but the investment does pay itself off.
Change Your Clothes
This is one of the easiest things you can do and it is not immediately considered by people. The idea is that when it is really hot inside the home, you set the thermostat at a lower temperature. Instead of doing this, you could wear more comfortable clothes to not have to put the thermostat so low. Something similar can be done during the winter. You can always wear one more layer but keep the thermostat at a lower temperature.
Lower Water Heater Temperature
The water heater costs much more than you might think. You do not think about lowering its temperature as you might think that it will affect your showering experience. While this can be the case, the heater is also responsible for distributing hot water to your sink, dishwashers, and laundry machines.
If you do not have a tankless water heater, just lower the heater’s temperature by a few degrees. Remember that ideal temperature is 120 degrees Fahrenheit but in most homes, the temperature set is much higher.
Strategically Use Appliances
Strategically using your appliances is helpful when you want to lower electric bills. This is because you become more efficient with what you do. Different things can be done. As a simple example, when you dry clothing, do it in consecutive batches. You do not wait between the loads so energy consumption is minimized. The unit stays warmer for a longer time frame and your utility bill is lowered.
Consuming less electricity is often all about what you do on a daily basis. You can so easily make changes like the ones mentioned above and there are so many others you can consider.
Use Appliances That Generate Heat During The Night
This is a tip that is obvious but few people respect it. The idea is very simple. When you use a very hot oven and you do it during the day, the air conditioner ends up working a lot harder than normal to maintain the right temperature inside the home. The exact same thing can be said about dishwashers and clothes dryers. Just use these during the night because outside temperatures are lower. The AC unit works less.
Use Cold Water To Wash Your Laundry
There is no reason to use hot water to wash most of your clothes. In fact, if you choose to use cold water, you can end up saving up to $150 every year. One thing you might not know about your washing machine is that it consumes most of the electricity to heat water. If you just reduce the temperature, you use less electricity. This is one of the simplest things that you can do.
Air-Dry Clothes
Using a clothes dryer is very convenient. However, this is only possible with the use of electricity. You can reduce how much you use by air-drying clothes. This reduces electricity costs for one day by over 50 cents. Also, air-drying clothes is beneficial because of the fact that you no longer use hot water or hot air, which can easily lead to fabrics being damaged.
Unplug Electronics When You Do Not Use Them
This is something we should all do but few people actually respect it. You can easily forget some smartphone chargers or camera battery chargers plugged in. This keeps sucking electricity. It might not be much, but it does add up. According to Consumer Reports, you can end up saving up to $75 every single year by simply putting computers on standby and unplugging electronics when you do not use them.
Don’t Forget About Light Bulbs
Few people take this into account but you always need to turn off your lights when you do not use them. By doing this, you end up saving up to $280 per year. You can replace your 100–watt bulbs with 60–watt bulbs that have compact fluorescent technology to save around 120 per year. All this for an upfront cost of around $30. Do this with all the light bulbs inside your home and you will save much more than you initially think.