10 Tips to Help Cut Home Utility Bills

10 Tips to Help Cut Home Utility Bills

By William Ballard

 Saving money is never as easy as flipping a switch—or is it? You can control increase in home utility bills if you and your family follow some simple tips.

One of the ways to lower your utility bills is to conduct a self-energy assessment to determine your home’s energy usage. The U.S. Department of Energy’s website lists a great formula to calculate energy consumption for specific appliances and the annual costs to operate them, which come in handy when actually taking into consideration.

For a more, perhaps, professional detailed assessment, an energy auditor can take a thermal image of your home to show areas where warm air is escaping and recommend cost-effective solutions to improve your energy use. However, you can do just as much as they can do and save more money.

Amica (my home insurance company), Ambit Energy (my energy service provider and company that I work for as a sales and marketing represent), and the U.S. Department of Energy have some more easy tips to help lower your home utility bills:

1.      Wash your clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot. – U.S Department of Energy

2.      Do full loads of laundry and dishes to avoid wasting energy and water. – U.S Department of Energy

3.      Clean the dryer lint filter after every laundry load to improve air circulation and speed up drying. – Amica

4.      Take showers instead of baths and install a low-flow showerhead. U.S Department of Energy

5.      Fix leaky faucets around the house. Consider water-saving faucet attachments. – U.S Department of Energy

6.      Install energy-efficient light bulbs, which can be found in most hardware and home improvement stores. – Ambit Energy

7.      Bring more natural light into your home through windows and skylights, reducing the need for artificial lighting during the day. – U.S Department of Energy

8.      Turn off appliances or lights not in use. – Ambit Energy

9.      Unplug block-type charges – like those for a cell phone or laptop – form the wall when not in use. Even if you are not charging your device, the charger is still consuming energy if it is plugged in. – Ambit Energy

10.  Turn desktop computers off when not in use for extended periods of time. PCs also produce heat; by keeping your powered off more often, you can save on cooling costs. – U.S Department of Energy  

Plus, using more electricity during “off-peak” hours can save you money because it can cost more to operate appliances during high usage times (food for thought)

For more information on how to cut utility costs, visit the U.S. Department of Energy’s website, www.energysavers.gov.