Reduce your electricity bill by up to 40% with these 5 tips.

With living costs increasing, prices of utility bills are rising and become unbearable at times, specially when you’re on a tight budget. One of best ways to avoid high bills, is cutting down on your energy usage by finding methods to reduce usage on electricity, gas and water, without creating discomfort.

With these 5 tips, say goodbye to high bills, and reduce your utilities bill by up to 40%.

1. Get an energy audit

You need to discover where your highest energy consumption is, in order to decide where you can reduce them. Many utility companies offer free home energy audits to their customers, but if you don’t have such services available, you can easily conduct your own audit. Some tips on do-it-yourself audits; locate and seal air leaks, check all appliances and electronics and lighting, and finally inspect all heating and cooling systems.

2. Switch to LED bulbs

Replace all lighting using LED bulbs is one of the quickest and easiest ways to save money and can instantly be implemented. LED improved in quality to offer the same colour and light given from incandescent bulbs. Just so you know how important this is, note that a 60W LED bulb can use as little as 9W of energy and lasts an average of 25,000 hours, rather than a regular 60W incandescent bulb that lasts 1,000 hours on average. The cost effectiveness of this step will do magic on reducing your monthly electricity bill.

3. Service your heating and cooling system

Approximately half of your home’s annual energy bill is spent on heating and cooling, the most important need for any home. Air conditioners that are placed in direct exposure of sunlight use up to 10% additional electricity, so try to place them in a shaded are to cover them. Every two to three years, perform maintenance for your air conditioner to ensure it runs at its best efficiency. If your central air conditioner is more than 10 years old, consider changing it. As for your heating system, keeping your furnace and its filter clean helps it run more efficiently, and they should be cleaned once a year, usually before turning the heat on in the winter. If the filters are reusable, replace them every three to four months for optimum efficiency.

4. Limit usage of electricity when not in use

Most of us tend to keep things plugged in for hours or even days, even though we don’t actually use them; TVs, laptops, Playstation consoles, air conditioning or heating, and much more. Suprising fact, these appliances use electricity even when you are not using them. The more the items, the higher your bill will get on wasted energy, so simply unplug them when you won’t be using them during the day or even week. Regarding heating and cooling system, turn it off when you’re out of town for a few days.

5. Refrigerators

Refrigerators use more electricity than all the other kitchen appliances combined, it consumes the most energy and the best way to keep its costs down, is cleaning the coils twice a year, which will improve its efficiency at a lower cost by up to 50%. Keep the  fridge temperature between 35 to 38 and the freezer between 0 and 5 degrees F. Old refrigerators consume the most, get rid of it and buy a new one and you will save the purchase cost from your utility bill. Make sure the fridge seal is intact as they wear out over time, and always do a maintenance checkup.

High bills are always stressful, especially with tight budgets, follow these 5 tips to be content when you receive your next bill. Treat yourself for putting the effort in reducing energy costs.

 

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