Ways to Save On Electric Bill
Keeping the lights on isn’t cheap — never mind the air conditioning, furnace and hot water heater. In fact, the typical family spends an average of $2,200 per year on utilities, according to the Energy Department. Here are some quick tips that you can easily implement to start saving on your electric bill.
Heating and cooling
Check seals on windows, doors and appliances: Leaks around windows and doors may cause your heating/cooling device to work overtime. Make sure that all doors and windows are properly closed and there are no leaks allowing outdoor atmosphere indoors.
Fix leaky ductwork: Improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems by repairing leaky heating, ventilation and air conditioning ducts.
Give your thermostat a nudge: Set your thermostat back 5 to 10 degrees when you’re asleep or away from home. Doing so for eight hours can lower your annual heating and cooling costs by around 10%. A programmable thermostat will do the work for you.
Adjust your fridge and freezer temperature: Set your fridge to 38 degrees and your freezer to 5 degrees. This will keep your food fresh, but your fridge and freezer won’t need to work as hard to maintain the temperature.
Water
Hot water is the second-largest expense in powering most homes, according to the Energy Department. Cutting back on your hot water usage — in the shower, laundry and dishwasher — can make a sizable dent in your overall energy bill.
Take shorter showers: Trimming two minutes off your shower time can cut your water usage by 10 gallons.
Replace your showerhead: An efficient showerhead can reduce your water usage by 2,700 gallons per year. Look for one with the WaterSense label.
Don’t wash clothes in hot water: Cut your per-load energy usage in half by sticking to warm or cold water when you do laundry.
Fix leaky faucets: That drip, drip, drip isn’t just annoying, it wastes gallons of water.
Adjust the temperature on your water heater: The default temperature setting on water heaters is typically 140 degrees. Lowering it to 120 degrees can reduce your water heating costs by up to 10%. Leaving town for a few days? Turn your water heater to the lowest setting to conserve energy usage.
Purchase energy efficient appliances: If you’re in the market for a new washer, dishwasher or water heater, buy an energy efficient model to yield long-term savings. A dishwasher with the Energy Star label is required to use 5.8 gallons of water or less per cycle, compared to the more than 10 gallons used by some older models. Prioritize appliances that run most often, like the fridge, HVAC system, water heater, dehumidifier, television, washer and dryer.
Power and lighting
Keeping the lights and electronics on accounts for roughly 12% of a home’s energy usage.
Swap out your light bulbs: Save $75 per year by swapping out the bulbs in your most used light fixtures with compact fluorescent or LED bulbs that bear the Energy Star label.
Install dimmer switches: Dimmers let you set the brightness in a room to suit your needs, setting the mood and saving electricity..
Use smart power strips or unplug all together: Some electronic gadgets never truly power off; instead, they sit in standby mode using a trickle of power that can add up over devices and time. Plug these electronics into a smart power strip, which cuts off the current when the devices aren’t in use or unplug completely.