Tips To Reduce Your Electric Bills By Digging Deeper For Real Savings

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What was your last electric bill?  Have you tried to cut down on your usage?  You turn off the lights when you leave the room. You only wash and dry your clothes when you have a full load. You don’t heat up the oven for one potato. Maybe you think you are doing everything right. So, why are your electric bills still high?

You try to conserve your energy. You even get the family involved in not being wasteful. But yet, your bill is still increasing.  The problem is not that you are doing anything wrong, but that you are not doing enough. Here is a list of a few lesser-known tips to reduce your electric bills:

Reduce Your Electric Bills: Talk to the Power Company

First, call the power company. Have you tried it? The most obvious answer may seem strange. So, give them a call or stop by their office. Ask them what they suggest to help you reduce your electric bills. There are programs available to help you out in some states. They may offer a free energy inspection or recommend a specially funded program.

Many areas offer reduced rates when you use your power during the off-peak hours. For instance, if you use your clothes dryer after a specified time, you could save a fair amount of money. Depending on your area, the savings for off-peak usage can really add up.  Your power company will be able to alert you to these savings.

Your power company can also tell you about a way of averaging your electric bills over 12 months, called budgeted billing or average billing.  This does not save you money but will help in your budget plan so you’ll know how much to allow in your budget for your electric bills. It will help eliminate the peaks and valleys – extreme high utility bills and extreme low utility bills. By planning for those bills, it may help also eliminate late fees if you run into problems during the year.

Reduce Your Electric Bills: Use Power Saving Technology

Another secret to help you reduce your utility bill is a programmable thermostat. Think of these as mini computers that tell your furnace and central air conditioner what to do. For example, if no one is home all day, you don’t have to cool or heat the house as much.  You can program the thermostat to adjust itself to conserve energy. Then, program it to return to your ideal temperature right before the family comes home.

Light bulbs could be another money-saving idea. But this is debatable. You want to shut off lights when you’re not using them.  We all know this saves money.  But, the next step is to change out your incandescent bulbs to compact florescent lamps, or CFLs. They are available in different sizes, shapes and wattage. Some local programs may offer rebates or other incentives.

Finally, this last surprising money saving tip is saving vampire power. Many of your appliances are always on, even though you shut them off. Think of you coffee pot, TV, or your computer, just to name a few. By using a power-strip cord, you can plug in your appliances and simply turn off the power-strip when you want to turn them off. You can turn off the ‘standby power’ and save money.

NOTE:  There could be another cause of your increasing electric bills that I want to mention here. The utility companies will continue to increase their ‘fuel adjustment costs’ whenever they want, charging more for power. Instead of 5 cents a kilowatt, they could charge you 15 cents or 20 cents a kilowatt. In other words, they can increase your electric bills however and whenever they want and don’t usually give a reason. I’ve heard that some utility companies want to increase their charges up to 22% in 2016. I know that as a homeowner, that is beyond your control. But you still need to do your part. You may need to make a big decision in the future. I’ll discuss that more in another blog post.

Reduce Your Electric Bills

Doing the usual things to cut back on energy usage in your house will work to lower your bill.  But, I want you to take it a step further and try some of these tips. They will help reduce your electric bills, saving you money in the long run. Post your comment below and let me know if any of these tips were new to you.

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