Tips to Reduce Electricity Costs

Electricity cost is a one of the main expenses of every family.Customers should always be on the lookout for cheap electricity plans, but there are more options to save money than to simply buy your electricity for less.

A combination of lower electricity prices and smarter electricity usage leads to the lowest electricity bills for you all. Followings are the tips to help you to save money and manage electricity .

Here are some simple and the best ways you can save money and conserve electricity today.

Turn off electronics that aren’t in use

You’ve heard this one a few times, but that doesn’t make it less true or helpful. Your television, computer and any other thing can be enormous energy vampires when not in use. That little light that stays lit means that these items are still consuming power. By using a shared power strip, it’s easy to turn your television, DVR and other  equipment off with one button.

Other equipment may need to remain on for software updates, like your smart TV or Roku, but you can still enable power saving mode when they’re not being used. Go into the settings and change the default to the shortest time before sleep mode takes over to reap the biggest cost savings with these items.

Change your A/C air filters more often

You see a lot of advice about saving money on electricity that centers on the heating and air conditioning system in your home because it’s one of the biggest electricity draws. The harder that system works, the more power it needs, so you should do everything you can to keep it running smoothly.

Buy Energy Star appliances

When you look at an Energy Star tag on an appliance, it’s not just a gimmick to make you think you’ll save money on electricity, you actually will. Energy Star rated appliances use 10 to 50 percent less electricity than non-Energy Star appliances,as per the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Since appliances account for about 20% of an average household’s electricity usage, choosing equipment that saves power can really add up to a massive effort to conserve electricity without your having to do anything else. Energy Star washing machines and dishwashers are also designed to help save water, giving you even bigger benefits over the long term. Energy.gov has a useful appliance and electronics calculator to estimate how much energy specific devices use.

Call your local utility for an energy audit

You will think that you’re already doing so much to conserve electricity that there’s nothing left to do, but you’re wrong. There’s always something that can be developed since no home is 100% efficient.

An energy audit is a better way to have a professional look at your home over and find even more ways that you can save money on electricity.

Make your home smarter

Smart homes are gaining in popularity and rightfully so. Many of the smart devices designed for homeowners are really good at helping to conserve electricity. For example, smart thermostats like the Nest Learning Thermostat™ or the Ecobee can automatically adjust themselves when you’re not home and have tools to help you track your overall electricity usage.

Smart light bulbs can be set to dim when you’re not home or turn off entirely until you’re nearing the end of your evening commute. Utilizing tools like personalized profiles help even more, and you can even remotely turn lights on and off when they’re not in use.

 Switch to LEDs to conserve electricity

LED light bulbs are dropping in price dramatically and this is good for your pocketbook in more ways than one. The average 60 watt equivalent LED only uses nine watts of electricity, where your average CFL of the same equivalency uses 13 watts. That might not seem like a lot, but that’s a full 30% reduction in electricity usage per LED bulb. When you consider the number of light bulbs in your house, that’s a cost savings that cannot be ignored. LEDs also outlast CFLs on average, making them an even better value.

 Plant strategically

No matter if your peak energy use is in summer or winter, there is a lot of value to planting trees and shrubs in smart locations.

Shading your outdoor air conditioning condenser is also a smart way to save money. The cooler it is, the less it has to work to cool your home’s air supply. But, make sure that you keep any vegetation at least 3 feet from the outside air conditioning unit. Leaves, grass clipping and weeds don’t belong in your outside unit, and will impede the flow of air.

Install ceiling fans to get more out of your electric furnace, blower, or air conditioner

Although you cannot use ceiling fans in place of air conditioning in every home or geographical region, you can still take advantage of their ability to boost the reach of your main heating or cooling unit.

Ceiling fans are great at circulating both heat and cold, depending on what’s needed at the time. There’s a switch on the motor that will allow your fan to spin either clockwise or counterclockwise. When you need to circulate cold air, run the fan on high in a counterclockwise direction; when you need heat, run it clockwise on low to pull warm air away from the ceiling.

Save money with the right electricity plans

Even if your home conserves as much electricity as possible, there are other ways to save money on electricity in deregulated states. The electricity plan you choose, along with when you choose it, can make a big impact. Cheap electricity works just as well as the expensive kind and it pays to put some effort into picking the right plan. 

Take advantage of smart meters

Many electricity providers are moving to smart meters, a tool that not only makes it easier for them to take readings but helps you save money also. The regular reports that smart meters create, based on your overall electricity use, can help you figure out what appliances or habits are spiking usage during costly times of the day or increasing your electricity usage overall.

Get an A/C tune-Up

Your HVAC system is at the heart of your electricity bill. Typically 50% of your electricity bill is driven by heating and cooling costs. And, if your HVAC system isn’t running properly, you can have a big summer expense.

A quick test of your aid conditioning system to compare the air temperature in each room, at the air vent. If it varies from room to room your HVAC is struggling to keep up.

Shut the blinds

The sun warms up your home by letting light through the window. Instead of dropping the temperature on your thermostat, start shutting the blinds every day when you leave for work. You’ll keep the warm air out. In the winter, leave your blinds open to help warm your home.