Tips To Help You Reduce Utility Bills
Posted by Angie Meza on July 5th, 2009
Household budgets are stretched pretty thin, these days. As we suffer through recessionary times balancing a month budget can be even more of a challenge than it is during the so-called abundant days. One of the biggest headaches is your utility bill. Many homeowners open this envelope or log in to their online account with a great deal of trepidation each month. Take some time and find out how you can reduce utility bills before they spiral out of control completely.
One of the first places to start, when you are considering how to reduce utility bills, is your air-conditioning unit and/or heat furnace. In hotter climates, the air-conditioning unit accounts for the lion’s share of a typical home utility bill, whilst in more temperate climes the furnace can really work overtime during the cooler months and add considerably to the annual tally. Make sure that the unit has been serviced recently, pipes are being cleared of any debris or mold accumulation and that you replace the filters regularly for optimum efficiency.
Why not get some help from the utility company to reduce utility bills? Check with your provider to see if they can enroll you in an automated power saving program. Some companies allow you to participate in a program where they will interrupt your service for brief periods, during times of heavy demand elsewhere. Companies will normally issue a credit to your account for participation.
It is in the best interests of the utility company to help you to reduce your bill, so call them and ask them if they would send an expert out to analyze your usage. He or she should be able to find some good ways to save.
Be sure that your house is as insulated as it can possibly be and you can significantly reduce utility bills. If you need to, add additional materials in your loft and make sure that valuable warm air is not escaping by rising through your loft. Check all your windows and doors for leaks and make sure that air is not escaping or coming in through gaps.
Replace all your bulbs with Energy Star-compliant items. Doing so will have a significant effect if you really want to reduce utility bills. These bulbs can use as much as 75% less energy. Whilst on the subject of lighting, don’t forget to turn lights off in a room when you are not in there. Turn off and remove plugs for all appliances when not in use.
It is not necessary to run your dishwasher everyday and you can save consumption of water and help reduce utility bills by running your washer every other day or even less frequently. It is okay to reuse glasses during the day without re-washing each one and you can even wash some items by hand for a change.
Unfortunately older houses tend to settle and this can cause gaps to appear in and around doors and windows. You would be amazed how effective it is to fit door snakes around windows or door draft stoppers in place. This can be the most effective way of tackling this problem and can significantly reduce utility bills in older houses.