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With the gloomy economy, and comparatively high cost of electric service, several homeowners that didn’t concern themselves with their energy costs are now very serious in saving electricity bill costs. However, it’s not always clear where to get started first.
Outlining your options
One technique that works great is to categorize your choices in terms of prospective savings and the relative effort to achieve those savings. For instance, adding insulation to your attic has large potential savings, but also has a comparatively large probable cost and effort. See the chart below for some example ideas on how to categorize opportunities:
| Idea | Return on Investment | Effort/Cost |
| Seal drafty doors and windows | medium-high | low |
| Change electric providers | medium-high | low |
| Add insulation to the attic | high | high |
| Clean A/C condenser unit | medium | low |
| Switch to CFL light bulbs | medium | low |
| Lower thermostat setting in winter | medium | low |
| Replace older refrigerator | medium | high |
| Replace thermostat with programmable unit | medium | low |
You can begin to see a pattern here where you now have a framework to evaluate your possibilities, and you can now prioritize the steps you’ll take first, and decide when to deal with the higher effort moves. One approach that works really well is the take on the low-effort items, and then use the resulting monthly savings to help fund the larger effort or larger cost items.
Some examples of common “low effort” projects
Closing off drafty doors and windows. Depending on the quantity of drafty doors and windows, this can be a comparatively small effort. One technique that savvy homeowners use is to walk the house with a lit stick of incense, and hold it close to the door or window joints that you believe may well be leaking. On well sealed joints, the smoke will travel upwards, but close to a draft, the smoke will travel sideways. Then you can repair or change the weatherstripping where you found leaks. Save electricity bill costs are difficult to quantify, but it’s acknowledged that upgrading older windows can lower costs from 10-25% each month. So, it’s possible that just fixing drafts would make a noticeable difference.
Changing electric companies. Do you happen to live in one of the following States that supports electric competition: New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Oregon, Texas, Arizona, Washington D.C., Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or Michigan? You may well have an very easy way to save hundreds each year. In those States, a variety of electric companies contend to offer you the lowest rate, and changing providers is as effortless as going to a web page or making a phone call. And, the save electricity bill costs can be considerable. In a recent sample of rates for a particular service area in Texas, the highest priced provider was Often 20+ percent higher than the lowest.
You can see that just those two modifications alone could potentially net you $100 or more in savings each month…which over time, could Create funding for a higher cost undertaking, like replacing an older refrigerator or adding insulation to your attic. So, putting your focus on the low-hanging fruit first has a distinct benefit!
Related articles
- Why You Should Stop Worrying And Learn To Love The Smart Grid (fastcompany.com)
- How to Monitor Your Electricity Usage Remotely (chris.pirillo.com)
- Residential Energy Efficiency: A Topic That Does Not Seem TO Be Discussed (forbes.com)
- Tricks To Save Money On Electric Bills (sustainableprojectmanagement.com)
- Sealing drafts (sustainableprojectmanagement.com)
- Tips For A Smaller Electricity Bill (sustainableprojectmanagement.com)
- What are the benefits of Solar energy homes? (sustainableprojectmanagement.com)
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