Skip to main content

24 replies

High Electric Bill - Ways to Save Electricity

L LoveShackHall of Famer
Our home is three bedrooms, two baths, with no kids at home and we eat out except on the weekends. Our electric bill was $96 this month excluding water, sewage, and garbage pickup. How did we do it?

We unplug everything that is not being used, cable boxes, TVs, radios, clocks, stereos, etc. Then our flat screen TV, WII, DVD player are plugged into a surge protector that is cut off at night and anytime we leave the house, stopping these items from using any electricity while we are away. At night we use an electric fan for noise and slight breeze, which keeps us cool, thus cutting back on the central unit. Does the forum members know of any other ways to save on electricity, without spending a fortune on solar?
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

thomaswayne0907thomaswayne0907Post Master
you could run your water heater through a local disconnect switch, so that when you left for work or planned to be away for an extended time it wouldnt kick on to heat the water. i have no idea how often a water heater turns on during the day but mine is a 4000watt unit so when it is on it definitely uses the power. some could argue that the amount of time it would run to heat the water back to 120-140deg. would offset the power saved during the day, but i cant say if that is true or not. and if you wanted to you could just upgrade to a tankless water heater, it only works when you're using water. this is supposed to cut down your power usage quite a bit.
JaneYISJaneYISEverybody Knows My Name
Our home is three bedrooms, two baths, (app. 2,500 sq. feet, one level) with no kids at home and we eat IN most nights. Our bill was $171 excluding all the other things. That is $75 higher than yours, LoveShack. I'd rather eat at home and use that eating out money for electricity to be able to use our electronics as desired, not have to go through the hassle of resetting everything that is being turned off repeatedly, and keep our air set on 76 degrees 24/7. It's a personal choice, and if I would do those other things I'm sure my bill would be lower. I think we all do what we choose to in these matters, and that's fine! I just wanted to point out that we have found eating out to be the most expensive money drain we personally can do. I guess it wouldn't be if we would go split a Whopper combo one night and share a Chinese plate at The Rice Box another! But $75 a month savings, that doesn't go far at restaurants.
elinterventor01elinterventor01Post Master
I'm single with a two bedroom, two bath condo. I prepare my evening meals six days a week. My electric bill rarely goes above $75 at the most. I've replaced most of my electric lights with CFLs, or halogen. Later, I'll replace the halogen with LED as it may be dimmed. During the hot days when I'm at work, I leave the blinds closed and over head fan on the lowest setting. Grandmother used to do the same before AC. I, too, am a big fan of AC. Pun, intended! I could adjust the water heater, but haven't.
Road PuppyRoad PuppyOld Faithful
My wife and I do like elinterventor does.

We don't have a central unit in our mobile home but run two window A/C units (One 10000BTU and one 25000 BTU) all day long almost every day it's hot out and my place is crammed with electronics I never unplug and my electric bill was only about $76 last month.

All lights are the Phillips fluorescent (squiggly bulbs) and only the room we're in gets lit in the evenings/ early mornings.

We don't take "Hollywood" showers. That makes a HUGE difference in the bill. Tankless water heaters are good, but because they've gotta work fast-they really suck down the juice when they're working.-I've used them in RVs, but a short, no-nonsense hot shower every day (2x on hot days) really saves energy.

Blinds drawn during the day (Shade=cooler), White Kool-Seal on the roof and unused rooms closed off to ease the load on the A/C units makes for icy-cold rooms in a short time on the cheap.
wright35633wright35633Post Master
quote:
Originally posted by Road Puppy:
My wife and I do like elinterventor does.

We don't have a central unit in our mobile home but run two window A/C units (One 10000BTU and one 25000 BTU) all day long almost every day it's hot out and my place is crammed with electronics I never unplug and my electric bill was only about $76 last month.

All lights are the Phillips fluorescent (squiggly bulbs) and only the room we're in gets lit in the evenings/ early mornings.

We don't take "Hollywood" showers. That makes a HUGE difference in the bill. Tankless water heaters are good, but because they've gotta work fast-they really suck down the juice when they're working.-I've used them in RVs, but a short, no-nonsense hot shower every day (2x on hot days) really saves energy.

Blinds drawn during the day (Shade=cooler), White Kool-Seal on the roof and unused rooms closed off to ease the load on the A/C units makes for icy-cold rooms in a short time on the cheap.


I can 't believe I didn't suggest shutting off rooms. Good job there dude.
L lawguy07Hall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by LoveShack:
Our home is three bedrooms, two baths, with no kids at home and we eat out except on the weekends. Our electric bill was $96 this month excluding water, sewage, and garbage pickup. How did we do it?

We unplug everything that is not being used, cable boxes, TVs, radios, clocks, stereos, etc. Then our flat screen TV, WII, DVD player are plugged into a surge protector that is cut off at night and anytime we leave the house, stopping these items from using any electricity while we are away. At night we use an electric fan for noise and slight breeze, which keeps us cool, thus cutting back on the central unit. Does the forum members know of any other ways to save on electricity, without spending a fortune on solar?


Go Amish? I mean come on, you unplug your clocks? That sounds a bit extreme. I doubt you'd even notice the electricity the clocks use (and TV, stereo, etc. when in standby mode). You're spending far more on eating out than you're saving with scrimping on electricity. A/C, washer, dryer, water heater are the big draws. That's where you should be concentrating.
L LoveShackHall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by lawguy07:
quote:
Originally posted by LoveShack:
Our home is three bedrooms, two baths, with no kids at home and we eat out except on the weekends. Our electric bill was $96 this month excluding water, sewage, and garbage pickup. How did we do it?

We unplug everything that is not being used, cable boxes, TVs, radios, clocks, stereos, etc. Then our flat screen TV, WII, DVD player are plugged into a surge protector that is cut off at night and anytime we leave the house, stopping these items from using any electricity while we are away. At night we use an electric fan for noise and slight breeze, which keeps us cool, thus cutting back on the central unit. Does the forum members know of any other ways to save on electricity, without spending a fortune on solar?


Go Amish? I mean come on, you unplug your clocks? That sounds a bit extreme. I doubt you'd even notice the electricity the clocks use (and TV, stereo, etc. when in standby mode). You're spending far more on eating out than you're saving with scrimping on electricity. A/C, washer, dryer, water heater are the big draws. That's where you should be concentrating.


The quote was we unplug everything not being used. How many clocks do you need, one in every room, not me we have two and I can use my cell phone anytime and yes they probably only use a dollar per month but hey that's a dollar more for eating out.
L lawguy07Hall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by LoveShack:
quote:
Originally posted by lawguy07:
quote:
Originally posted by LoveShack:
Our home is three bedrooms, two baths, with no kids at home and we eat out except on the weekends. Our electric bill was $96 this month excluding water, sewage, and garbage pickup. How did we do it?

We unplug everything that is not being used, cable boxes, TVs, radios, clocks, stereos, etc. Then our flat screen TV, WII, DVD player are plugged into a surge protector that is cut off at night and anytime we leave the house, stopping these items from using any electricity while we are away. At night we use an electric fan for noise and slight breeze, which keeps us cool, thus cutting back on the central unit. Does the forum members know of any other ways to save on electricity, without spending a fortune on solar?


Go Amish? I mean come on, you unplug your clocks? That sounds a bit extreme. I doubt you'd even notice the electricity the clocks use (and TV, stereo, etc. when in standby mode). You're spending far more on eating out than you're saving with scrimping on electricity. A/C, washer, dryer, water heater are the big draws. That's where you should be concentrating.


The quote was we unplug everything not being used. How many clocks do you need, one in every room, not me we have two and I can use my cell phone anytime and yes they probably only use a dollar per month but hey that's a dollar more for eating out.


I'm sorry, it just struck me as funny. I agree that you don't necessarily need clocks all over the house. But if that's the case, then most people simply wouldn't have them--they wouldn't unplug them then have to go through the hassle of resetting them later. Other than my alarm clock, we don't have a clock at all. We use the clock on the cable box.
P +PuF+Hall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by wright35633:
...I can 't believe I didn't suggest shutting off rooms. Good job there dude.


Any one mention clothes lines? I have two retractables on my back deck, plus a folding rack.
Inside, i have a chin-up bar in a kitchen doorway (that i do use for workouts) that doubles as a place to hang clothes on hangers to dry. If you don't like the stiffness of some clothes dried outside, pop them in the dryer on no heat/air fluff for five minutes and they're soft.
girlzzz curlzzzzgirlzzz curlzzzzFamiliar Face
We have a 2 story 2,700sq.ft home. Have been here 1 year and the highest our utilities have been were the past 2 and they were around $230 incl. garbage. We have down and upstairs units. The upstairs stays on about 80 degrees and down stays around 78 except at night. I can't stand to wake up hot! We have a gas water heater and stove. Energy star front loading washer and dryer and fridge. I also have 3 small children so I am considering myself lucky.
seeweedseeweedOld Faithful
We run everything. My wife does not know that a light switch cuts lights off. A/C at 75, washer dryer, the whole nine yards, but I do have CFL's .
My power bill was $176 this month, about the highest I have ever had.
As far as the flat screen TV, I don't have the figures at hand, but seems it draws 37 watts on and just a fraction of a watt off, so having it on a switch is a waste of time.
B beternUOld Faithful
1---Use flow restricting shower heads! And don't shower for recreation, even though it feels good to have that needlepoint stream up and down your spine. Get in the shower, turn it on, and get wet all over. Then turn it off and soap up all over. Then turn the shower back on to rinse off. I shower this way and when I close the drain in the tub, I find that I have used no more than anout 4 gallons of water, and I emerge just as clean as someone who spent 15 minutes luxuriating under an unremitting stream of warm water.

Water heating is the second most energy consuming factor in most homes, so it makes sense to conserve hot water when using the shower.

2--Wash your clothes in cold water, not hot or warm water. The modern detergents available today do a very good job using cold water. It is wasteful to use hot water to wash clothes, so set that switch on COLD.
L LoveShackHall of Famer
quote:
Originally posted by beternU:
1---Use flow restricting shower heads! And don't shower for recreation, even though it feels good to have that needlepoint stream up and down your spine. Get in the shower, turn it on, and get wet all over. Then turn it off and soap up all over. Then turn the shower back on to rinse off. I shower this way and when I close the drain in the tub, I find that I have used no more than anout 4 gallons of water, and I emerge just as clean as someone who spent 15 minutes luxuriating under an unremitting stream of warm water.

Water heating is the second most energy consuming factor in most homes, so it makes sense to conserve hot water when using the shower.

2--Wash your clothes in cold water, not hot or warm water. The modern detergents available today do a very good job using cold water. It is wasteful to use hot water to wash clothes, so set that switch on COLD.


One thing I have to disagree with you is washing clothes on cold, white towels never come clean on cold. Try washing your dishes with cold water and see how clean they get. If you want clean you have to use hot water or some things will not be clean.
B beternUOld Faithful
quote:
Originally posted by LoveShack:
quote:
Originally posted by beternU:
1---Use flow restricting shower heads! And don't shower for recreation, even though it feels good to have that needlepoint stream up and down your spine. Get in the shower, turn it on, and get wet all over. Then turn it off and soap up all over. Then turn the shower back on to rinse off. I shower this way and when I close the drain in the tub, I find that I have used no more than anout 4 gallons of water, and I emerge just as clean as someone who spent 15 minutes luxuriating under an unremitting stream of warm water.

Water heating is the second most energy consuming factor in most homes, so it makes sense to conserve hot water when using the shower.

2--Wash your clothes in cold water, not hot or warm water. The modern detergents available today do a very good job using cold water. It is wasteful to use hot water to wash clothes, so set that switch on COLD.


One thing I have to disagree with you is washing clothes on cold, white towels never come clean on cold. Try washing your dishes with cold water and see how clean they get. If you want clean you have to use hot water or some things will not be clean.


I did not recommend washing dishes in cold water--only clothes. As to whitening up those towels, my wife uses a little bleach when needed and that does the job cheaper than using hot water. The detergent we use gets all our clothes and towels sufficiently clean such that bleaching is seldom necessary.
Road PuppyRoad PuppyOld Faithful
Right on, +PuF+.

Forgot the clothesline-we use ours instead of the dryer.

Yup, unclegus. I'm familiar with that "fuzzy math" except it may be at the meter reader's end.

Utility guy (WAAAAAYYY older than dirt) pulls in my driveway with the preacher channel blaring on his radio-whips out a pair of opera glasses and squints at my meter over in my back yard.
Writes down an "8" instead of a "3" and I get overcharged 10,000 kWh.

I call 'em up to dispute the bill and ya'd think I whizzed in the pot roast or somethin...

Got it fixed after a lotta hemmin' and hawin' but NOW I photograph (with time and date stamp) the meter reading every time Gomer comes to read the meter.
Last edited by Road Puppy
O No!O No!Old Faithful
Keep your refrigerator full. The less air is circulating, the colder it will stay.

As for unplugging everything, I read an article a while back that said even when things are turned off, there will be a trickle of electricity running through the plugs. It may not be much, but with lots of stuff plugged in it will add up. I'll see if I can find the article.

Add Reply

Post
affilated websites:
Times Daily | Decatur Daily | Courier Journal | The Hartselle Enquirer | Moulton Advertiser | The Redstone Rocket | The Madison Record | The Franklin County Times | Reach256 | TNValleyStuff.com TNValleyHomefinder.com | TNValleyWheels.com

Terms of Service | Private Policy | California Privacy Policy/Private Policy

Untitled Document

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Advanced Search
Advanced Search
Link copied to your clipboard.
×