Let’s face it – nowadays, in the era of rising costs, one of your biggest goals should be to make your home more energy efficient and to save money on gas and electricity bills. If you think this is not possible or difficult to do, you should change your thinking! How to save energy and, consequently, money? How to lower electricity bills? You will find answers in this article!
Why is lowering electric bills important?
Lowering bills is one of the most important things we should think about nowadays, particularly in times of crisis and galloping inflation all over the world. You should try to be more energy-efficient if you want to take care of your pocket and the environment. That’s why we have prepared a list with tips on how to lower your electricity bills.
How to lower electric bill costs? 12 tips
There are a bunch of solutions to lower your monthly energy bill. Performing an electricity audit, replacing the traditional lighting with LED lighting, changing your supplier of electricity… There are more ideas below!
1. Conduct an electricity audit
Before you start thinking about different tips, you should carry out an electricity audit. What you need is to estimate how much energy you use. You can perform an audit in several ways – you are free to use an online auditing tool or an auditing tool. This is an innovative solution – all you need to do is to download the app and let it monitor your energy consumption on an ongoing basis. Thanks to that, you can compare different days. You can see when the value of energy consumption was at the highest level, and you can assess whether you use electricity optimally or not. Do not hesitate to use professional help if necessary. Conducting audits is extremely important because it enables you to identify areas which you can look into further in order to reduce your energy usage.
2. Replace the traditional bulbs with LED bulbs
The next thing that should come to your mind is replacing the traditional lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting, which will help you reduce energy costs. You don’t realise how much money you can spend on lighting the entire house in a traditional way. Even little things such as lights on in rooms that are unused add up on your electricity bill. It’s time for a change!
LED lighting is much better and has so many advantages! Take, for example, LED bulbs. They use less electricity, and they are known for their long lifespan – they shine up to 50,000 hours! As a result, you save money thanks to them. Not only that, energy efficient light bulbs come in different sizes, shapes, lighting colour temperatures, and the intensity of the light. LED bulbs are an investment that always pays off.
3. Change your supplier of electricity
Sometimes it happens that you unconsciously overpay for electricity bills because you keep renewing an agreement with your current electricity supplier. It’s worth knowing that nowadays the offers are varied and there are numerous electricity suppliers competing on the electricity market.
Checking the offers of different suppliers is definitely a reasonable option if you want to lower your electricity bills. It may turn out that your contract isn’t advantageous for you. Compare offers and choose the one with better conditions.
4. Replace your metre
Another solution for you is to “get rid of” your old-style prepayment metre. Ask your supplier to provide you with a metre that won’t let you prepay for your energy. There are metres with prepayment settings that can be turned on and off by your supplier. Thanks to that, you will be able to gain control over the energy consumption. Having no control is a straight way to high electricity bills. Do not let this happen!
5. Replace your old electrical equipment (such as washing machine or fridge) with the new energy saver ones
You should know that appliances are rated from A to G, with A standing for the most efficient products, and G meaning the least efficient ones. Old electrical equipment is much closer to G class than to A class. This kind of appliance consumes several times more electricity than their newer counterparts.
Taking all this into consideration, if you’re an owner of a washing machine of the old type, you should replace it with a new one, no doubt about it. The same applies to old fridges, freezers, dishwashers, and televisions. It’s worth investing in new energy efficient appliances – the cost will pay for itself!
6. Change your habits
The next tip on how to lower electric bills slightly differs from the previous tips, as it requires a change in yourself. What we mean is that you should change your habits a bit. The truth is that you can easily save electricity by turning off the light every single time you leave the room.
What’s more, you shouldn’t leave your TV and different devices in standby mode. Always remember to disconnect the charger when the battery is one hundred percent full. Don’t waste energy! Even “small things” make a difference, you will see!
7. Replace the air filter every few months
We truly believe that replacing your air filter can lower energy bills. However, you can’t forget to do it regularly – every three months will be fairly enough. Why is that important? The thing is that when your air filters are dirty, they make your air conditioning and heat system work harder in order to circulate air. This is an additional cost that you don’t necessarily have to bear.
8. Watch your water usage
Hot water is one of the biggest household electricity expenses. It doesn’t have to be like that any longer! You should watch your water usage, and by watching we mean fixing the dripping taps immediately. This is only one example among many others. You ought to turn off the water while you brush your teeth. Choose short showers instead of baths. This solution is definitely better for your wallet and… for the environment.
You should also think about replacing your old shower head with a new one with a flow rate below 2.5gpm that is much more energy-efficient. Choose it for a simple reason – this kind of shower head helps restrict the flow of water, but at the same time you don’t get a feeling of showering under a dripping faucet.
9. Adjust your water heater
The next tip is also related to water, however, we would like to raise a slightly different aspect. Usually, water heaters are large tanks which keep water at a certain temperature all the time. If you have your water heater, take into consideration turning your water heater temperature down when you are out during the day and then turning it back to heat water overnight. This may help reduce water heating costs.
10. Use small appliances reasonably
By “small appliances” we mean, for example, irons or electric kettles. And by “using reasonably” we mean using them when really necessary. When it comes to the electric kettles, you ought to boil just the right amount of water you need at a given moment.
In turn, the process of heating up the iron is energy-intensive. It’s not worth heating up such a small appliance to iron one piece of clothing. You should rather consider doing it when you have more clothes to iron.
11. Make sure that the heat is flowing effectively
Buying new windows or investing in new insulation are great ideas that can save your money. It’s also worth remembering about avoiding blocking radiators with things such as curtains or furniture. The heat has to flow effectively. Close doors and windows every single time when the heating is on. Do your best to retain heat in your home. This is the easiest way to use less energy on heating.
Moreover, consider turning down the thermostat in your main living area. You will be surprised how easy it is to save money by dropping the temperature by just one degree. It can make a big difference to your heating bills. Don’t be afraid that you’ll be cold – probably you won’t even know the difference and, at the same time, you will save on your heating bill.
12. Install solar panels
The last tip is the most environmentally friendly one. Installing solar panels makes sense because they generate hot water in a cheaper way. Thanks to them, you gain clean, green renewable energy from daylight. Your solar panel system is able to produce enough electricity to cover up to eighty percent of your needs. In other words, you need eighty percent less power from utility. And guess what? Yes, you guessed it correctly – your bills are much lower!
Summary
As you can see, lowering electricity bills is not that difficult! You can actually find a number of money saving tips. Conduct an electricity audit, replace the traditional bulbs with LED bulbs, change your supplier of electricity, replace your old electrical equipment with a new one, use small appliances reasonably and go through the checklist once again if necessary. All the previously mentioned tips are worth trying!
