Lower Your Electricity Bill With Small Improvements In Your Home

Lower Your Electricity Bill With Small Improvements In Your Home

By Raymond Garrow Jr.

You have to rethink your home energy plan to lower your power bill. Not only for economic reasons but also to help with the issues of global warming, growing populations and oil shortages. These minor improvements to your behavior and equipment will enable you to spend less on your electricity bill and more on yourself. Not to mention you will have less dependence and use of diminishing oil resources.

• New Lighting - alter both your habits and equipment to lower your power bill through your lighting. It is one of the greatest electricity draws on your usage. Start simply enough by creating a habit of switching your lights off when not in use. That alone can make a big difference. You'll want to also get alternative bulbs and switch out all your old lights to the power friendly compact fluorescent light bulb. These work longer and save your homes and businesses money. You can go a step further in your companies building by retro fitting the out dated fluorescent ballasts from "T12" or "T8" bulbs to the newer "T5" technology. Make sure to look for a retro fit contractor instead of installing new ballasts in order to save money and reduce waste. To make a case for "T5", their usage has shown as much as 50% savings compared to the previous methodology.


• Use surge strips and timed plugs - there are lots of brand name surge strips that both shield your electronics and help strengthen your power saving techniques. Surge strips are fantastic due to the fact you'll be able to use quite a few devices at 1 time and they offer surge protection. So you're saving yourself energy by shutting off the use of all of your devices with a single flip of a switch. See if your device is connected it draws from the outlet even if it's not on. Surge strip switches eradicate the latent electricity drain. Timed plugs will also turn off power at the outlet when the user wants it off.


• New Appliances - The Energy Star compliant products on the market today are made to help improve the drain on your bill and to affect change globally as the standard is adopted.


• Install a Programmable Thermostat - This task is very straight forward and easy to accomplish. It takes a screw driver and little else. Follow the directions on the package of the one that you buy. These thermostats will turn on your heating system with greater accuracy and give you more precise control.


• Always weatherize your house - every season brings the same set of maintenance issues so it is best to continually check your house for leaks and heat escapes. Your energy usage depends greatly on a good seal between you and the elements. In numerous cases you'll be able to merely walk through your house and feel where there might be gaps in the wall or around doors and windows. Once you've located any breaches take some caulking or spray insulation and fill them in.

You will experience a decrease in the size of your electricity bill with these minor adjustments.

http://www.MeterSavings.com is a website for customers to find out how to save on electricity bills. Our site teaches you how to shop for electric and save on electricity per kWh. Our site is designed to teach you how to lower your power bill and learn about solar to help you make great decisions about your energy plan.

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