How do you save money on electricity???

[HomeschoolMom]

We just got a ridiculously high electric bill despite having done all kinds of things to reduce it. We've complained to see if there was a mistake in the meter reading - so far that hasn't done us any good.

Anyway, we are looking into several options for helping to reduce our bill and was wondering what everyone else does.

Here is what we have already done....

Unplugged the water cooler
Turn off the computers, tv, lights, everything when not in use.
Winterized and turned off the hot tub for the winter.
Stopped using the dryer and are hanging our clothes to dry.
Wash clothes in cold water.
Unplugged extra fridge.
Turned down the temp. of water heaters.

We are on gas for our heat and we keep it a reasonable temperature to conserve.

Here is what we are looking into....

1) PowerSave 1200 - heard mixed reviews on this - anyone have one??

2) On-Demand gas hot water heaters to replace our older electric ones (note: we have an apartment for the in-laws so we have 2 of every appliance) Did you notice a significant savings??

3) Possibly solar and/or wind turbines - although it looks like they may take quite a while to pay for themselves.

So, what have you done to cut your electric costs??

[Laura2]

We have all CFL lightbulbs in our house. The only light we have on is the light for the room we are in. We unplug everything when not in use.

[elphie]

ditto for the CFL bulbs and unplugging... tvs and such use "phantom" energy when turned off so just turning them off is enough... we actually have a power strip we switch off that has everything except the tivo box plugged into it (the tivo stays on all the time otherwise we forget and things don't get recorded).

Your fridge and freezer should be full without blocking fans. It takes more energy to cool empty space so if you don't have a full fridge you can store empty plastic containers in the fridge to keep it full.

Call your electric company and ask 2 important questions. 1) Do you have peak and off peak rates. If your company charges more during certain times of day you can save by making sure showers, dishes, and laundry are done during off peak hours. and 2) ask for an energy audit. Most electric companies offer this service for free and a professional from the company will walk through the house with you looking for energy drains.

Another unorthodox thing we do is pay our kids if the electric bill is under budget. We tell them that we have budgeted XX amount of dollars for the month (this changes seasonally) and every dollar under will be split between the family members who worked to keep it under. This helps our kids remember to turn off lights etc. especially after they see mom and dad pocketing the money that they don't get a share of because they didn't turn off lights or stood in front of an open fridge for too long.

[homesteadmamma]

We have CFL lightbulbs too.

-use your crockpot to cook with
-When you bake, bake more than one thing in your oven.
-with your freezer (if you have one) and it's not full, fill plastic water bottles with water and freeze.

Also energy efficient appliances make a huge difference.

[QM]

What I've done to cut back on our hydro is always turn lights off in rooms you're walking out of/not in.

I wash in cold and try to dry the clothes back to back to keep the heat in the drier as much as possible.

I turn off the computer screen (and leave the computer running) when I walk away from the computer...because I know I'll be checking it in an hour or two and don't want to wait for it to reboot.

I've turned the thermostat down to 67 degrees during the day (and yes, it can get quite cold) and 65 degrees at night.

When I'm done using the oven, I open the oven to let the heat out (that I've already used and have to pay for) to warm up the kitchen.

[nvmommyx6]

Pretty much eveything in our home is on power strips, the microwave, fridges, coffee pot, dvr box and sattelite for the internet are not. during the day when only I am home, or at night before everyone goes to bed they all get turned off.
We hang our clothes to dry, and I'd say we do pretty good, our monthly bill averages about $136. for 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1900+ square feet, 2 large outside pole lamps, and 7 people!!!
Good luck, I also agree on calling and finding out about peak times as well!

[kmonokwe]

I need to get better about unplugging things - I bet that would make a huge difference. We've got several computers (and tend to leave them on 24/7 - we hate waiting for them to turn on...lazy, anyone?), and we could be much better about turning them off and unplugging them at night. Many of our outlets are unfortunately placed - in places we couldn't help placing furniture, especially. Behind the couch, behind the bed, behind the desks. Need to get power strips to make unplugging easier!!

These are all great ideas - good luck getting your electricity bill down!

[Contrary Housewife]

How many rooms in your house? Are there any you don't use? Do you have a heated family room that only gets used at night? The old method was to close off any unused rooms in winter and only heat main areas. With modern open homes that's hard to do, but if you have an unused bedroom or office, close the vents and don't heat them. We only use our basement family room when guests come over to share a movie or a game. The rest of the time it gets no AC or heat.

Do you have insulation on your hot water tank or is it radiating heat into the closet or laundry area?

Does your house fan blow all the time, or only when the heat or AC is on?

Are the in-laws on the same electric bill? Are they conserving or cranking it?

[HisDaisy]

We do many of the things mentioned above.
We have CFL bulbs in all out lights. We only use the lights in the room we are in.
We are carefully about heating. We have baseboard heat so I keep it off in all rooms unless we are absolutely freezing. So far we have only used it a handful of times. We just wear more close and use blankets. However we do live in Oregon which is a warmer climate compared to the many areas.

[phoeny_moonstar]

Keep dressed in layers. Make sure no cold/hot drafts coming through doors/windows if there is to make sure to seal them. Turn off lights/appliances when not in use or leaving room.

[tammy8701]

wash in cold water and unplug washing machine when done with
hang all cloths up to dry
all tvs,lights,microwave, computer,are on power strips
hot water tank turned down and put insulation blanket on it
coffee pot,toaster and anything not in use unpluged when done with
hot tub winterized(shut down for the winter)
put extra insulation in attic
turned garage heater off (big hydro sucker)
thermostat down to 67 degrees
all cfl light bulbs
l bake more than one thing in my oven and try and use my bbq alot

[elphie]

a few things I forgot to mention- use natural light whenever possible- we open the curtains and rarely turn lights on during the day. We also watch tv in the dark- it gives the living room that movie theater feel and saves energy. We also have insulation blown into our attic every couple of years.

[tammy8701]

this might help to its a hydro calculator you can see how much hydro is used its for ontario,canada only.l also read my meter and call it in every month you can also put your meter reading in on the computer on there web site under billing.
http://www.hydroonenetworks.com/en/e.../calc_main.htm

what really ticks me off is the extra charges that we have to pay delivery,regulatiry charges and debt retirement charges l understand the gst but what gives with the other charges thats what adds up the bill and almost doubles the hydro bill to last september l had a bill that was $46.17 and with the other charges it was $64.58 with a total of $110.75 go figure thats why we went and did solar and a wind turbine(2) l really think the hydro company has a badge that they can do what ever they want.
l have keep all our hydro bills from the time we have hook up in 2005 (we build our house ourselfs) here is the different so far we put up the solar and turbines in oct 2007
total hydro for the years from 2005 to 2008
2005 $164.72(no apt yet hooked up)
2006 $2951.98(no apt yet hooked up)
2007 $$5450.23(apt hooked up to hydro)
2008$4282.09 (apt hooked up to hydro)(now the different of 2007 and 2008 is $1168.14 that we have saved) so far with having the solar we just got the wind turbines so we will see the different at the end of the year.

[lmbaker520]

I do many of the things that have already been mentioned here.

- I use CFL bulbs throughout the house
- Keep my heat turned down to around 64 throughout the winter (I can't bear too much lower)
- Wash my clothes in cold water
- Hang dry almost all of my clothes. I dry 1 load about every 2 weeks. When the dryer isn't in use I unplug it.
- Unplug or turn off the power strip for everything that is not in use
- Use the crock pot twice a week usually
- Turn off all lights that aren't in use

[sabrelvssammy]

only wash laundry when you have a 'full' load ....
use dryer if you must-dry only part way and then hang up to finish...

use task lighting (instead of ceiling fan with 4-5 bulbs burning) use table lamp.....

use nightlights for dark rooms...(have one in kitchen and bath) that come on as soon as sun goes down....(bath is so bright we usually don't have to even turn the light on to use....

burn more candles-i have tons of little candles & holders in rooms we frequent....(careful around kids and pets)....can buy them super cheap at thrift & garage sales....learn how to melt down 'yucky' ones and little stubs and make your own...only need to buy x-tra wicks then...

have tri-level home...doors & registers shut in rooms we don't use....the basement is open but i have a curtain rod and heavy drapes covering the entrance (form & function here...they look pretty nice) registers closed downstairs....in the summer we will move our bedroom down there and not have to run the A/C all thru the house coz it is very cool (even in summer).....

micro on powerstrip...easy to turn on and off.... stove turned off at breaker..(don't use it EVERY day with all other appliances avbl)-use toaster oven as much as possible over oven.....

check temp in fridge & freezer...can probably bump them down a little...mine is on 1 (out of 10) and everything stays cold & frozen....

just get everything on power strips and make it a habit each day (or night) to 'make the rounds' and turn off unnecesary items....i turn my water heater on each morning for 1/2 hr and back down again (water will stay hot for hrs after) gas heater...can't turn it off....

and for heavens sake....turn down the thermostat.....we keep ours at 55 at all times except for 1 hr in the morning (up to 68) and if it is extremely cold at night we run for an hr or two and then off....we climb under electric blanket on bed and have heating blankets that we sit with when we watch tv....

your furnace and refrigerator are supposed to be the biggest energy 'hogs' in the house....are we 'dying & miserable' from all these sacrifices ? of course not...you get used to the cooler temps and you adjust for them....you do a little dance when you hear about your friends and neighbors utility bills and you get yours....