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Every year the utility companies charge more and more for electricity and it gets more and more expensive for us to pay the bills. Read on to find useful tips on how you can save electricity and reduce your utility bill with this handy selection of energy saving tips.

Tips to Save Electricity & Lower Your Electric Bill

The best way to know if you are wasting electricity is to do something called an Energy Audit. An Energy Audit (Home Performance Test) will tell you if your home can be improved or modified to maximize energy efficiency.

The biggest electricity users in the home tend to be heating and/or air conditioning, water heating, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, lighting, and the refrigerator. When looking to save electricity, spend the most time focusing on these big energy hogs to get the biggest effect for your efforts.

Here are a selection of tips to help you to reduce your electricity consumption:

1. Replace ALL bulbs in your home with CFL bulbs (the spiral flourescent bulbs) This can save you hundreds of dollars a year as well as reducing your energy used from the power company! Replace halogen spotlights with much more efficient and longer lasting LED Lights.

2. Turn off your television, video, hifi, playstation, and other entertainment devices when they are not being used.

3. Do not leave your television etc in standby mode. Devices can use up to 90% as much power in standby mode as when they are on, so it is a serious waste of energy when a device is left constantly on standby. If you keep forgetting, consider purchasing a device which automatically cuts power to appliances when they go into standby mode.

4 .Use less air conditioning when possible or turn the AC to a warmer temperature. This can be achieved by turning your a/c off when your not home (its alot easier to cool a home in 30 minutes than to let the air run for 8 hours while your at work).

5. Turn down your heating system thermostat. For every degree you lower your heat between 60° and 70° F you can reduce your heating bill by up to 5%. Wear an extra layer of clothing in the house so that you stay warm. Turn down individual radiators – for example, 16°-18° is warm enough for bedrooms whereas 20°-22°C is more comfortable in bathrooms. Rooms that are rarely used can have their heating turned all the way down or off.

6. Turn off outside lighting after 1 am, instead of allowing the lights to run for eight or more hours a night.

7. Hang your clothes out to dry rather than using an electric tumble dryer. Ideally use a spin dryer before using the tumble dryer.

8. Keep the refrigerator door closed, and adjust the thermostat to keep it cold, but not overly cold, try a med-low setting

9. Cook many items at the same time when your electric oven is hot.

10. Adjust your hot water heater down to 110 degrees to save money heating water, also try using as little hot water as possible, washing laundry in cold water, can save you over 200 a year. Also consider using less hot water in the shower by taking a cooler shower or shortening the time your in. You can also insulate your hot water heater, and water lines, to make them more energy efficient!

11. Use a microwave to reheat food or to cook small portions. Although a microwave uses a lot of power, it does so over a very short time and so saves energy overall.

12. Purchase Energy Star appliances (washing machines, tumble driers, fridges etc). Although they usually cost a little more initially, the cost savings in electricity will cover that many times over. As an added benefit, efficient items are usually better made and last longer than inefficient models.

13. Powered down computers when not in use! This is huge, computers suck a lot of juice, and therefore create a lot of heat, causing your central air to run more often, costing you money all the way around.

14. Keep your fridge full, but not so full that air cannot circulate properly.

15. Do not use small electrical devices for lighting (nightlight) or pest control (device that plugs in and emits a “sound” driving pests out) using these types of devices can raise your electric bill 10-20 dollars a month.

16. Keep windows covered to prevent light from entering the home during the day, solar radiation (sunlight) can be your air conditioners worst enemy. Just by using solar blinds or curtains, or even window tint, you can cut cost’s by as much as fifteen percent!

17. Fold clothes straight out of the tumble drier while they are still warm to save on ironing.

18. Hang dry your denim! Not only does this prolong the life of your jeans, but taking just 10 minutes off of a dry cycle can save you a few bucks, PER LOAD!!!

19. Try using natural lighting when possible through the day, I reccomend opening the blinds or cutrains whenever you need light, and closing them when you dont.

20. Vacuum clean the condenser coils at the back or underneath your fridge freezer. Accumulated dust reduces their efficiency by up to 25% adding that cost to your electricity bill.

21. Do not put uncovered liquids into the fridge. Their evaporation will make the fridge have to work harder.

22. Heat only as much water as you require for drinks and cooking.

23. Use a convection oven. A small fan inside circulates hot air throughout the oven cutting cooking times by up to 30%.

24. Don’t preheat the oven for roasting.

25. Don’t keep opening the oven door. Every time you do so, your oven loses 20°C of heat.

26. Put lamps in the corner of a room so that the light is reflected off two walls.

27. Turn down the temperature on your washing machine. Heating the water uses the majority of the electricity, so by doing a warm wash instead of a hot wash, big savings are possible.

28. Defrost frozen food in the fridge since this helps to cool the fridge.

29. Running a full load in an efficient dishwasher will use less hot water than washing up by hand in the sink! Save money, save time, and save electricity.

30. Boil water in a kettle rather than on a hob to save 50-70% of the energy and to get your water boiled faster.

31. In the summer use ceiling fans on a fast setting instead of air conditioning to keep cool. In the winter, running the fans slowly will push warm air collected at ceiling height down to where you want it. (If the slowest setting on your fan is too strong, reverse the direction of the fan in the winter so that the accumulated warm air is blown up against the ceiling and bounces more gently down around the walls and into the living space.

Do You Have Suggestions?

If you have any suggestions on how electricity can be saved in the home, please comment below: