El Paso electric bill pay. Reduce your electric bill.
Hello dear visitors! We've spent some time to gather all these valuable information for you. Here we are posting a list of 23 advices from all over the internet about the ways to reduce your El Paso electric bill pay. If you implement at least half of what we mention here your electric bills will significantly reduce.
1. Seal up the house.
We have money leaking through cracks around the doors and windows. It’s simple enough to buy caulk and weather-stripping to seal cracks — in fact, we already have caulk left over from other projects. According to Consumer Reports, sealing leaks can reduce energy costs by 15 to 30%
2. Use heat-generating appliances at night.
I know this should be a no-brainer, but I like to bake, and because I work at home, I can bake whenever the mood strikes. But obviously a hot oven in the heat of the day forces the AC to work harder to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. The same goes for clothes dryers and dishwashers. Use these at night when outside temps are cooler.
3. Air-dry clothing.
I like this idea in theory. J.D.’s wife Kris credits line-drying her laundry with reducing their average daily electricity cost from $2.50 to $1.85. I’ve yet to try it because I’m concerned about allergens in the air getting into our clothing, and here it’s always allergy season. But if you have the room to spare, you could dry clothing inside on hangers. We’ve enough space in our laundry room to hang quite a bit of clothing, so I’ll start air-drying more.
4. Soften those rays
Closing the curtains and lowering the blinds on the sunny side of your house will help keep you cooler on hot days. If you don’t want to obstruct the view, consider applying window film to the glass. Both the do-it-yourself cut-and-stick type and the professionally applied films will reduce radiant heat while allowing you to see through them. Similarly, the Rocky Mountain Institute suggests using outdoor awnings and, if you live in an area that is warm all year round, even painting your house a light color to reflect heat away.
5. Landscape for a cooler home
Keep the greenery trimmed around your air conditioners for more efficient air flow. Similarly, if you have a central air conditioner, sweep away any leaves or other debris that accumulated near it over the winter.
6. Wash laundry with cold water.
According to Michael Bluejay, A.K.A. Mr. Electricity, washing clothing in cold water instead of hot can save $152 per year. (You might remember Bluejay from J.D.’s post about his energy use calculator.)
7. Go retro with a crock pot.
Speaking of ovens, there’s nothing that heats up our house faster than a preheating oven and a few pans on the stove top. Slow cookers, on the other hand, use less energy and won’t turn your kitchen into, well, an oven. I think the crock pot often gets a bad rap thanks to the old way of slow cooking: bland recipes created from canned and prepackaged ingredients. But the slow cooker is enjoying a quiet revival, and with it we’re seeing better recipes, such as this pulled-pork sandwich and these triple chocolate brownies.
8. Turn on fans.
Fans make a room feel cooler, and the one in our living room quit working weeks ago. We need to fix it. Bluejay says it could save us $438 per year.
9. Unplug electronics.
I know, I know. It should go without saying. I seem to forget about phone chargers and camera battery chargers, though. Because of this, they stay plugged in, sucking change from our bank account. By using power strips, I could shut off electricity to these devices all at once. Consumer Reports also found that you can save $25 to $75 each year just by putting your computer on standby.
10. Consider your light bulbs.
Bluejay says you can turn off lights you aren’t using to save $274 a year; turn off a single 100-watt light bulb from running constantly to save $131 per year; and replace ten 60-watt light bulbs with compact fluorescents to save $123 per year (upfront cost estimate: $32).
11. Don’t cool an empty house.
If you have a programmable thermostat, program it! We don’t have one, which means I have to make it a habit to raise the thermostat when I do leave the house. Close off rooms you aren’t occupying, as well.
12. Replace air filters monthly.
We’re pretty good at replacing our filter, but we could be more diligent. Dirty filters restrict airflow, causing the AC system to run longer and use more energy. I’ve added a recurring task to my calendar to make sure the air filter gets replaced each month.
13. Choose your windows carefully
The U.S. Department of Energy recommends that window air conditioners be placed toward the center of the room on the shady side of the house.
14. Get your annual checkup
Your house’s biggest electricity guzzler is the air conditioner (and heating in the winter), accounting for as much as half of your energy bill. Make sure your systems are running at their highest efficiency by having annual professional cleanings and checkups. To help you remember, schedule a service call either when you set your clocks forward in the spring or back in the fall.
15. Change is good
Change the filters of your air conditioner and furnace monthly. Keeping the air flowing and clean is good for your lungs and will help maintain peak efficiency. Don’t know how? Ask the pro who does your annual cleaning to show you.
16. Bigger is not necessarily better
Be sure your air conditioner is the right size for the room. Obviously, if it’s too small, it won’t do the job. But, according to the DOE, a unit that’s too big will result in reduced efficiency, higher electric bills, uncomfortable temperature fluctuations and excessive wear and tear, which means you’ll probably have to buy a replacement unit much sooner.
17. Touch that dial
Don’t keep your thermostat at a steady temperature. When you’re away at work or asleep, turn it up so your air conditioner doesn’t click on as often. Better yet, get a programmable house thermostat or a timer on your window units. That way you can come home to a cool house without running your air conditioner all day. Do the same in winter with your heat. Raising or lowering the temperature can save as much as $100 a year. Heat pumps are one exception to this rule. “A heat pump is more electrically efficient if it is kept at a constant setting,” according to George Lewis of the energy company PPL Corporation.
18. Make sure off is really off
Even when you think an appliance or device is turned off, the power may still be on if it is plugged in. This is especially true with equipment that has a transformer (that small black cube on the end of the cord). If your outlets aren’t easily accessible, plug small appliances, such as your radio, electric razor, battery charger, etc., into a power strip. Then all you have to do is flick a switch when you aren’t using them. Of course, if you are dealing with devices that you program, such as VCRs or radios with clocks, unplugging them may require more work than the savings is worth.
19. Replace your lightbulbs
Fluorescent bulbs may be more expensive initially, but they are definitely worth the investment. A single standard incandescent lightbulb can cost the same to operate as six to 10 fluorescent bulbs—and the fluorescents last about 10 times longer. There are lots of new shapes and types, including attractive compact units that give off a pleasing, soft illumination like traditional bulbs. But “be sure your electric eyes and timers are rated for fluorescent,” says Alan Muenzel, owner of DAM Home Inspections, Salt Lake City.
20. It’s all about good timing
For security and safety reasons, timers are a great way to make sure the lights switch on and off like clockwork when you’re not around. For better security, get timers that allow you to randomly vary when lights go on, which makes it harder for burglars to tell when you’re away from home.
21. Stay connected 24/7
If your Internet connection is a local phone call (and on a separate phone line), there’s no reason to terminate your hookup when you’re finished sending e-mail or surfing the web. Unlimited local access means that it doesn’t cost any more to stay online all the time, and it will help avoid difficulties in trying to connect to your Internet service provider during peak times, speed up your e-mail service and even make your computer modem work more efficiently. In addition, spend a few extra dollars for anti-virus and firewall software to keep the bad guys out. It’s well worth it.
22. Which oven do I use?
When you have a choice between using the microwave or an electric stove, always use the microwave, which can consume as much as 90 percent less energy. For example, it takes 18 times the electricity to bake a potato in a regular oven than in a microwave, according to the Edison Electric Institute. If you don’t like to microwave, consider using a toaster oven for baking or roasting small items. Incidentally, a convection oven speeds cooking by about 35 percent (reducing the amount of electricity used) by using a small fan.
23. Do you really need that second refrigerator or freezer?
When you buy a new refrigerator, consider letting the delivery folks cart away the old one rather than keeping it for those “in case” times. It will cost you about $100 to $150 a year to run—or more if it’s an older model. If you can’t live without a second unit, put it in the basement rather than in the garage. That’s because a basement is generally cooler; the fridge won’t have to work so hard.
