5 Ways to Keep Your Electricity Bills Low
Of all the bills that we receive in our mailboxes each month, there is one bill that we tend to dread more than any other: the electricity bill. While most of us get mad for having to pay our heating and cooling bills each month (thanks winter), or our water and sewer bill (thanks summer and swamp ass), we seem to take out our anger on this particular bill at a much higher rate. Although some people will say they hate their cable or cell phone bills too, these tend to be paid more towards convenience rather than necessity (after all, you can watch Netflix and go online with your phone without paying for these services). Electricity, however, is a utility that we cannot live without and one where we would feel the most suffocated if we did not have access to it.
When it comes down to it, there really isn’t much you can do about your electricity bill (unless you win the lottery), but here are five things you can do to make sure your bill doesn’t cause too much pain:
1) Check for Leaks in Your Home’s Plumbing System
Doing this once or twice a year will help you avoid massive and unnecessary increases on next month’s bill. To check for leaks, simply turn off all water sources inside and outside of your home (don’t forget the toilets) and wait an hour before checking each faucet for trickles of water.
2) Replace Old Appliances
This goes for major appliances as well as small ones such as your toaster or coffeemaker. If you have an old appliance that is electric, chances are it’s consuming a lot more electricity than a newer model would. When we moved into our apartment, we had an older microwave and fridge, both of which were costing us about $10 per month in extra electricity costs – not great considering the monthly average was only $30-$40 at this time!
We ended up replacing both appliances with energy-efficient models and now our bill has lowered by $20 each month. Although most new appliances come with some sort of rebate from your local utility company (ours offered us $150 back). They can still be expensive (the new fridge we was $800!). One helpful idea would be to buy a refurbished appliance. That has already been use but is still in great condition. We saw an impeccably refurbished microwave selling for only $40 on Craigslist!
3) Lower the Thermostat When No One’s Home
You might find it hard to believe, but leaving your central air or heater on when no one is home will make your bill skyrocket. Make sure you either turn off your heating and cooling system completely or set the thermostat at least two degrees lower when going out for more than six hours – you can always turn it back up before returning if you’re afraid of coming home to a cold house.
4) Replace Your Light bulbs with CFLs
When we moved into our apartment, each of our room’s light bulbs was the old kind (the round ones that look like bulbs), but these suckers were guzzling electricity like no tomorrow. We immediately replaced all of them with CFLs and reduced our bill by $20 per month. If your area has recently banned incandescent lighting (you can check by clicking here). Then you might want to consider making this switch too if it hasn’t already been for you!
5) Have Your Appliances Professionally Serviced
This probably won’t reduce your bill directly, but can help prevent potential leaks or further build-up on your appliances which will increase your bill over time. Many appliances will come with a warranty. Which you can use to get your unit’s services and any damage fix for free. Appliance repair companies such as Fixit do inspections of all appliances in your home, and if they find anything wrong, then they will repair it at no extra cost.
Conclusion:
If you are doing everything on this list, it will cost you roughly $80-$100 every six months. This is cheaper than the price increases that can happen each year with your utility bill!
Luckily for us here at Omni, we have been given a special invitation from our good friends over at Fixit. To share their information with all of our readers in exchange for a coupon code. That gives new users 10% off their service when they mention that they saw about them from The Omni Show! You can use this coupon between now and March 7th. Just head on over to fixitnow.com and enter the code OMNISHOW upon checkout to get your discount!