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I saved $259 on electricity last year

August 18th, 2005 at 05:27 am

walked with mom for 35 min, didn't get started until late and it's getting dark earlier. Great moon out tonight, almost full.

I got my last months rebates from Walgreens today $16.48

Spent $1.06 on ice cream

Total spent so far this month = $163.87

Got my electric bill. Last year I had my billing changed to a Budget billing where I pay the same amount every month since that's easier to budget for. So my monthly bill based on my previous years usage was $48.00. The electric company rebalanced last month and I have overpaid by $259.18 so my new bill till next July is only $9.00 a month. I figure it's really $31 averaged out, which means I saved $17.00 per month or 35% WooHoo!

Here's some of the things I did to lower my electric bill.

Changed most of my lightbulbs to CFLs Compact Flourescent Lights.
I had window film put on the two large upstairs windows that face south. This blocks the glare and keeps the rooms cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter meaning I don't have to have the Furnace or A/C on as much.
Since I live alone I made it a policy to heat/cool me instead of the whole house. In winter I wear sweats and use an electric throw while sitting and reading at night. I keep the heat around 62 degrees most days and I'm very comfortable working upstairs where the heat rises and it's about 10 degrees warmer.
In the summer I wear shorts and t-shirts to work in. I use ceiling and portable fans for cooling. My A/C only ran for about 2 weeks so far this summer and it was set to 78 degrees. I keep the shades drawn during the day and open all the windows in the evening when it cools down.
Lowered the water heater to 120 degrees
Started unplugging the power strip where my computer, monitor, printer, and stereo are plugged in every night
Also unplugged the power strip where the TV, VCR and DirectTV box are plugged in when I'm not watching TV.
I read somewhere that these appliances cost 1 cent per hour in electrical use even when they aren't on. Even at 1/2 cent that really adds up over a year.

I'm going to try to keep using less Khw per month this next year too. I've got a spreadsheet where I'm tracking electric and gas usage. My gas is on budget billing also and even though I'm using about 1/3rd less than last year my gas bill was increased from $29 to $40 a month in January because the cost of natural gas has gone up so much. Oh well, it could have been worse if I wasn't conserving.

Finished reading the library book What She Can't See by Hunter Morgan. Mystery. Ok, nothing special I figured out who dun it in the first hundred pages so wasn't that great.

1 Responses to “I saved $259 on electricity last year”

  1. Anonymous Says:
    1124375837

    That's great! Congratulations! I think I need to implement some of your suggestions...We pay $131/month for electric (I'm hoping that it will go down when budget billing rebalances in Nov, but I'm not sure how much...the AC has been cranking). I also need to do something about my heating bill - $174.05/month, I'm already over so I'm sure it will go up when they balance in Nov, and the company just got approval for a 10% rate hike. Yikes. I'm jealous...

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