Reducing the electric bill?

[phathui5]

Even with using a wood stove to heat our house most of the time, our BGE bill this month is $300.

Can you all share tips with me for lowering that? I know they were going to raise rates in MD and it was going to be more, but this seems ridiculous.

[freespirited]

Move to Costa Rica? But seriously, that is HARSH! High utilities is one of the reasons we are thinking about moving back to Costa Rica. We had neither AC nor heating where were there. Cell phones are cheap, etc. Right now we pay almost $500 a month just for two cell phones, gas, power and water. WAY too much for what the wages are these days. As far as what you can actually do in your own home, I know the stove uses a ton of electricity so finding ways to cut back on stove usage helps. I use a rice cooker and crockpot a lot. I cook 3 meals a day at home everyday so our bill is high (or so I thought until I saw yours). I hate those flourescent bulbs so I can't recommend those. Seriously, I could not/ would not live back east where some people pay through the roof for power and heating. Is there a power or heating bill assistance program in your state or county? I just went to one in my county and got $300 heating assistance for the winter which helped a lot. Good luck.

[fek&fuzz]

The 2 things that made a huge difference for me were changing all my lightbulbs to the low voltage florescents, and cutting back on dryer use: using racks for most things.

[um_hanna]

I have been unplugging devices that use electric but not being used at the moment. Lights turned off, etc. Im sure your doing all this. Maybe big blankets over windows and crevices to break the wind etc.

[phathui5]

We changed to compact florescent bulbs over a year ago, so that isn't what's driving it up.

[Think of Winter]

Unplug things you don't use. Lots of things use power even when they're turned off. This is especially true for rechargers, I just found out.

Insulate hot water heater and turn it down as low as possible.

Don't use lights unless you really need them.

Get a $25 programmable thermostat and have heat automatically go down at night. (We use a space heater for the small room we use after kids go to bed, and an electric blanket.)

Make sure fireplace is well sealed.

Cover windows and infrequently-used doors with plastic.

Use insulated drapes on big windows and sliders/French doors.

Make sure your furnace filters are changed often so the blower doesn't have to work harder than necessary.

These things are pretty easy to do, but small potatoes compared to good insulation in your attic, well-sealed ducts, and insulation in the basement or crawl space. (We had an energy audit done, and it was interesting, but not worth the $300 it cost.)

[mamayarn]

Originally Posted by Think of Winter

Unplug things you don't use. Lots of things use power even when they're turned off. This is especially true for rechargers, I just found out.

Does anyone know if this applies to things plugged into a power strip that is turned off?

[lolar2]

Your electric company might do a free audit if you ask.

[um_hanna]

Originally Posted by mamayarn

Does anyone know if this applies to things plugged into a power strip that is turned off?

yes, if it is plugged into the wall. The current is still being sent if things are off etc. And if I am thinking correctly, the power strip has alot of outlets connected by one to the wall? if so then yes, all of those that are plugged in are pulling the current.

[mamayarn]

Originally Posted by um_hanna

yes, if it is plugged into the wall. The current is still being sent if things are off etc. And if I am thinking correctly, the power strip has alot of outlets connected by one to the wall? if so then yes, all of those that are plugged in are pulling the current.

Ahh, thank you! Makes sense but I needed some backup to convince DH.

[Think of Winter]

Originally Posted by mamayarn

Does anyone know if this applies to things plugged into a power strip that is turned off?

I think not. I read somewhere to put tv stuff and computer stuff on strips, then turn off the strip. That stops power at the strip instead of sending it to the appliances.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by mamayarn

Does anyone know if this applies to things plugged into a power strip that is turned off?

No, it doesn't. If you turn off the power at the strip, everything plugged into the strip is no longer sucking power. I have a squid, rather than a strip (they were $4 each on woot a week or so ago so I got 3). Strips or squids are a great way to reduce this sort of power drain (usually called phantom load or vampire power... love the terms!).

Here's some info on wikipedia...

dar

[OceansEve]

Unplug things and also unscrew some bulbs. If you have a ceiling fixture with 4 bulbs take out two of them or go to a lower wattage. Don't use indoor lighting at all during the day open your blinds.

[Think of Winter]

I just found out that older dimmers use the full power of the bulbs even when dimmed. The power is lost as heat at the dimmer. Use newer dimmers!

[LovingMyBabies]

Unplug things when you aren't using them is a big one, things suck so much energy even when they aren't turned on.

[sunnysandiegan]

Our gas & electric company does free energy audits with a full sheet of recommendations. They actually came to us without me even calling this year, but I usually call for an appointment once every couple years.

In this case, our meters in our zip code were change to smart readers as a test for the entire county. They were out educating the community on the smart meters specifically and were using the same energy audit forms they use for anyone and then going over the specifics for the smart readers from other literature.

For us, the energy audit was done back in late Fall, but we still had nice weather and were still using our outside line to dry the bulky laundry and we had not turned on our furnace yet. Our furnace doesn't even come on very often since we live in a mild climate and our bill shot up $20, which is more than 20%! Obviously with our bill still under $100 a month, I am not complaining. I am merely noting that those are the only two differences (gas furnace and drying in the gas dryer a little more). And I compare the current bill to the last month's bill (by gas usage and by electric usage) and last year's bill for the same time frame. (This info is right on our bills, but I have compared real bills, too, for more details.) The increase in our most recent bill was solely in natural gas usage, which supports my recollection of the furnace and dryer usage increase only.

I think 20+% is substantial, so that is where I would recommend focusing your efforts... heating and drying laundry.

[mysticmomma]

BGE offers energy saving kits too.

[phathui5]

Unplug things you don't use. Lots of things use power even when they're turned off. This is especially true for rechargers, I just found out.

Thanks. I'm starting to do this. I hope we see it on the next bill.