Share your tips to reduce monthly spending!
I really feel we have spent the past 30 years trying to stay ahead of the game by buying energy efficient appliances and going LED with the lights and by following the tips mentioned. After we find a way to lower our costs the Utility Companies just raise their prices.
My primary heat is wood. Electric heat pump is the backup.
Time of use with demand plan, and timers/load controllers on heavy use appliances. Electric water heaters on timers makes a HUGE difference.
We use less electricity by keeping the thermostat at 67/60 day/night in the winter and 79/77 in summer. When we’re out of town, we turn the water heater off and adjust the thermostat to just maintain the house.
We tried time of use rates once. The daytime window of cheaper rates was so small that I couldn’t get laundry and cooking done if I had anything else like grocery shopping to do. And it didn’t make sense to cook dinner at 2 pm, let it cool, put it in the refrig, and nuke it at 5 pm. We opted out, and I don’t want to do it again.
We get reports from our electric company comparing our use with that of 90 similar homes. We’re at 48% of the average use. I love it when the electric company calls, on a summer day when the temp in the house is 80, to get me to sign up for their - what is is called? - CoolGuard? program that would shut our AC off at times of high demand.
So true. In 20 years in our current house, we have insulated the attic, caulked & weather stripped windows and doors, bought new windows, replaced AC with heat pump, got a programmable thermostat, got a new roof with better ridge vent, plus other things I’ve mentioned above and some I’ve forgotten. The first year, we paid 7-9 cents per kWh, and the last 12 months we’ve paid 16-19 cents (that includes all the charges and fees, current “price to compare” is $0.091). Hard to feel like we’re saving money on utilities.