Rita Reviews

living my best possible southern life

Cutting Electricity Costs

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cutting-the-electric-bill

I don’t know about y’all but my electricity costs go up so much in the summer. I do know that my electric company raises their rates during the summer months. I am assuming they all do. I know that mine dos because it is an EMC and they send out a little newsletter thingy that tells what the current rates are and when they go up.

The thing is going from around $150 a month too closer to $300 a month is a big jump. We are total electric and yes we use the air conditioner. Plus, we set it around 72-75 degrees which I know is not he recommended 78 degrees to keep costs down. I take issue with that 78 degrees because it is HOT!!  So what is a girl to do?

Turn It Off!

If we are not in a room, then there better not be a light on in it. I stay on the kids and the old people to turn off lights as they leave the room. I have drilled this so much into them that if someone leaves one on, one of the kids will go running in there to turn it off. This applies to the television as well. Nothing irritates me more than to walk into the living room and see the television on while no one is in the room. They are forever leaving it on and then going outside. Ma and my uncle are the worst. They go to sleep with it on and ends up on all night.

Unplug!

I also make sure that any electricity vampires are unplugged when not in use. For example, our microwave is on a cart and plugged into a surge protector. When it is not being used the power on the protector is off. There is no point in using the clock on the microwave when there are others in the room.

Grill It!

During the summer months we grill a lot. We also eat a lot of food that doesn’t have to be cooked, such as sandwiches, salads, etc.  This keeps us from having to use the stove and oven which heat the house up so much that we have to turn the air down to cool it off.

 

Those are just a few little ways that we cut the costs of electricity during the summer months. How do you?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I turn off all lights, use energy saver bulbs. One big thing I did this year is get rid of the old refrigerator that hogs up electricity and got a nice energy saver model. I have seen a reduce in my electricity. We also wear sweaters, slippers, sit under a blanket in the Winter to save on energy costs.

  2. We also try to keep electricity off if we are not in the room. I also tell everyone to pull their chargers when they aren’t actually charging.

  3. I make my kids go outside and play that way the tv and other electronics can be turned off. It didn’t help to much my electric bill was up $65 from the normal price

  4. I like all your tips on saving money on electricity. I try to do most of the same things myself in our household. Somehow the TV or a ceiling fan is always on, when nobody is even using it. I like to keep most things unplugged whenever I can.

    • I leave the ceiling fans on always as well unless we aren’t home for more than a few hours. They don’t seem to use that much electricity.

  5. We run the dishwasher and washer/dryer at night, this is in off peak hours and it does cut our costs. Also have TV, game consoles and lamps plugged into a surge protector, easy to turn off every night. 🙂

  6. I am reading this just about 15 mins after our electric bill hit my inbox. Egad! I do almost everything to keep the bill down, but the air conditioning is costing so much.

  7. I turn off or unplug just about everything except the fridge. Might not be much but every little bit helps.

  8. We use wood to heat the house in the fall. We have aa small wood burner, and it takes the chill off. In the summer we use fans and not the air conditioner.

  9. We use a lot of the tips in the comments. We also have our AC on a programmable thermostat so that it’s at 80 during the day, 78-79 while we’re home.

  10. I really need to invest in a couple surge protectors. My kids keep their chargers plugged in all the time and if they had them on a surge protector they could easily turn it off and on.