Reducing utility bills

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Restricting refrig opening to 6x / day helps control utilities and weight!

Those are fightin' words

[LittleDolphin]

Yes, we do have Progress Energy.

I really appreciate your tips. Especially about the water heater--we'll definitely check into that--and maybe take our showers at night after 9PM so we can have it off most of the day and most of the night.

And we will open the drapes and blinds more this winter. Our house is pretty well insulated and we just had a new storm door put on that's a much better fit than the old one which was wooden and had warped badly...

We need to change our furnance filters...that's on the 'honey-do' list even as we speak...

It's the weekend and I'm doing the laundry as it's off-peak...even indulged and turned on the oven very briefly. And the dishes have all been washed using the quick cycle and air-dried...

[LittleDolphin]

Oh, and for those who asked, we have a heat pump for heating and cooling. No natural gas in our area...propane is the only other option. Our home is all electric.

Our past utility bills have averaged $165 each month--that's an average, they range from $40/month when no heat or A/C are needed, to $245 for the hot and the coldest months..that's about 5-6 months out of the year...July, August, Sept. and Jan. & Feb. House is 1700 sq. ft., two story.

We both work at home so have to keep the house heated/cooled withing reasonable temps to be able to work. We do have ceiling fans in most rooms that help a lot in the summer...though the house was built in 1969, the former owner ramped up the insulation considerably--it's pretty tight and draft-free for an older home. Double paned windows through-out...

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by LittleDolphin

Oh, and for those who asked, we have a heat pump for heating and cooling. No natural gas in our area...propane is the only other option. Our home is all electric.

Our past utility bills have averaged $165 each month--that's an average, they range from $40/month when no heat or A/C are needed, to $245 for the hot and the coldest months..that's about 5-6 months out of the year...July, August, Sept. and Jan. & Feb. House is 1700 sq. ft., two story.

We both work at home so have to keep the house heated/cooled withing reasonable temps to be able to work. We do have ceiling fans in most rooms that help a lot in the summer...though the house was built in 1969, the former owner ramped up the insulation considerably--it's pretty tight and draft-free for an older home. Double paned windows through-out...

That was me. If you have a heat pump, probably, propane would only cost more, not to mention the installation cost.

You *might* consider putting a good insert to burn wood in an existing fireplace, if you have one - if not it's probably not worth considering either. You could say that wood's too much trouble with both of you working and I wouldn't argue with that either.

The trouble is, you are doing so well now that it's hard to offer much improvement.

[wheelsup]

I typed up a long response but then my stupid slow laptop closed the window.

Anyway, try setting the temps to lower/higher amounts.

Summertime:
79 down / 80 up day (morning to evening)
75 D / 76 U at night (overnight)

Wintertime:
69 U / 69 D all the time (don't touch it or the heat strips will come on, MUCHO DINERO!!)

With that we average around 1100 kwh per month ($120 maybe). Highest in the summer is $130-ish and winter is $160-ish.

2000 sq ft all electric house in your same area.

Don't put any "extreme" filters on your HVAC vents unless you have severe allergies. Too much "filtering" suffocates the units of air. I bought the reusable/washable static electricity ones at Lowes for around $20 each and you wash them every month or two depending on your usage. Not too much filtering but enough to keep you system clean and most of the junk out of the air.

Furnace Filters, AC Filters, Replacement Filter: WEB Plus Permanent Electrostatic 1" Thick Filter

[LittleDolphin]

Wow, you're my personal hero--those are great utility bills...we'll have to damp down the heat in winter and raise the A/C in the summer..but not to the point where I'm using mittens to type on the 'puter...

[Bestemor]

We used to live in an area where the electritric company had this type of savings program--it did save us money. Now we live where there's a co-op serving us--no discounts available and crappy service!

[3-Oaks]

Originally Posted by LittleDolphin

Wow, you're my personal hero--those are great utility bills...we'll have to damp down the heat in winter and raise the A/C in the summer..but not to the point where I'm using mittens to type on the 'puter...

LOL. We turn the furnace down to 55-60 at night. I make sure all blinds, etc are open on the south side during the day & usually I don't have the heat above 62 during the day when I'm home alone. I don't mind wearing a pullover sweater with a turtleneck underneath. My fingers do get cold, tho, sometimes. I had a pr of those little stretch one size fits all gloves that had holes in a couple fingers. Instead of throwing them out, I cut them off so just the last inch or so of my fingers sticks out. Now my hands are nice & warm doing computer 'work'.

We turn the heat up to 68-70 in late afternoon when the sun goes down (and hubby comes home...he can't stand wearing layers of clothes in the house) and then it gets turned down again about 10 or 11 PM, so we are only actually heating the house for maybe 6 hours. We do have the heat a little higher during the real cold spells in winter...if it's 20-30 below zero for more than a day or so. Otherwise we start to have problems with pipes freezing.

I also take the CFL bulb out of the desk lamp & put an incandescent one back in during the winter. It's amazing how much heat a lightbulb gives off.