Tips to save money on your electrical bills

[Joe Pope]

If your like me and like to use all you electronics then your likely to have a exceedingly high electricity bill. You can have a smart meter installed to track how much your using and on what e.g. My PC is on all day everyday and with my smart meter I know how much energy it uses. I've saved £95 since my last bill and its only going to get cheaper and cheaper.

[creditcardfree]

Many libraries here in the US have meters (watt hour meter) that can be borrowed so that one can figure out how much electricity particular devices use.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I'm tickled to say that I got a report from our electricity provider saying that my household is on the 10th percentile of usage for homes of the same size, and style. It is half that of similar homes that are considered "energy efficient". We achieve that through mindful conservation, and I suppose through disinterest in lots of appliances and electronics you mention.

We do have good, tight windows with multilayer curtains used properly to seal out sun and heat transfer. That is important since we do use a central air conditioner. Our doors are also tight fitting, well sealed. We keep the house around 78deg F in summer, except at night when we turn it to 80deg F. At that time we retire to the bedroom where, separately, we use a window air conditioner. That is only used while sleeping. Of course we turn off lights when not needed. It also helped a lot when we had roof vents installed.

On the rare summer evening when the outdoor temps drop, I prefer to open the windows for fresh air and natural cooling, but that is at odds with my husband's asthma, so I don't do that much.

I think the biggest thing most people could do to save household energy is to insulate and to seal the leaks around windows, doors, pipes and wiring that penetrate the outer walls. We don't even have any insulation, and am curious how much more we might save with it. Winters are sure to be more comfortable with that and we'd save on natural gas in winter, too.

~~Ah, my air conditioner triggered on just now.

[Outdoorsygal]

In our area, water costs about $50 as the base price then what you actually use, well maybe 5-$10.

So we hose our roof off on many hot days. Seems to cool it off a little and I'd like to think slowed us down a little from turning on the AC

[chestynuts]

I found that just shutting down your PC when you are not using it - as well as those printers, coffee makers - makes a lot of difference. What about those bathroom lights that are left on the whole night? Whew! Really makes a lot of difference when you study it closely

When it comes to water, those faucets that are kept on when you are brushing your teeth - oh my - that's a lot of water wasted. That is why I keep some colorful cups in the bathroom and my kids choose which one to use when they brush their teeth. I buy those kinds that you can put in the dishwasher. That way, they do not get water stains and all that

[Milly]

That is amazing! I’m definitely going to rethink letting my computer sleep most the day.

Our main electric consumer is climate control. We’ve started opening our sliding back doors and windows at night to postpone the dreaded day when we have to turn on our AC and double our bill.

I REALLY want to go solar, and I’m convinced I can do it without batteries for less than $6,000. The only problem is politics. I spent over an hour on phone menus trying to talk with someone from my power company. They have so many vague rules like the system needs to be “scaled to your usage”. Does that mean I have to take an average wattage so that my meter will average near zero at the end of the year? Or does that mean I can get a system that can handle my peak load on the worst day by itself? Do they have any extra rules about who is allowed to install the system? Etc. So frustrated.

Milly

[SavingMum]

We've been really good with our bills - our water bill is literally half of what it was this time last year for the previous tenants! We're also really careful with electricity and rarely used the AC in the summer (the fan was usually enough). We bought a little electric heater and use that now, I carry it with me from room to room considering we live in a tiny apartment, it's not too bad

[nelaO]

in Poland

we use the energy Price comparator to save

[harvie]

I just shut down every appliance (unplug them as well when not in use) that needed electricity inside the house (except the fridge) and sleep on the hammock at our garden patio with good shed whenever I need a nap during a warm climate. For taking a bath, I use a pail of water to shower myself. For lights, I use compact fluorescent bulbs or LED lights instead of regular light bulb.

[james.hendrickson]

the idea with the meter I haven't hear until now. BTW there are some more solutions when to save money on the energy bills and not only.

I pretty much always turn off my lights when I leave the house. I also keep a lot of my appliances unplugged - like my coffee maker, or my clock radios. Its only a few pennies a day, but it adds up over time.

[james.hendrickson]

I pretty much always turn off my lights when I leave the house. I also keep a lot of my appliances unplugged - like my coffee maker, or my clock radios. Its only a few pennies a day, but it adds up over time.

In fact, this is paying off for me. I got my electric bill down to around 23 dollars. Normally its 50 or 60 at this time of year.