Everyone hates to pay bills, especially when they can take your entire paycheck out of your bank account the day after it gets deposited.  But what can you do about it?  Here’s some simple tips on conserving electricity in your home to help lower your bills and also make a positive impact on the environment from a trusted Manahawkin electrician Lou’s Electric.

Turn off the lights – Seems simple enough, but have you ever noticed how many of the lights in your home get left on even when no one is in the room?  Make it a habit to turn off the lights every time you exit a room.  To make it easier, you can have motion sensors installed on your lights so that they turn on when you enter, and off when you leave.

Install and use task lights – In areas where any sort of work may be done whether it is cooking preparation or homework, get smaller table lamps and task lights instead of having overhead lights on all the time.  The smaller bulbs use less energy and therefore cost less to use.

Use less hot water – You may not think that by conserving water, you conserve energy, but when it comes to hot water, give your water heater a break.  By taking shorter showers, not leaving hot water running while shaving, fixing leaky faucets, and not using hot water for all your laundry, you’ll see a savings every month in your electric bill.

Program your thermostat – Don’t keep your air pumping while you’re not home.  Most thermostats now a days are programmable so you can set different temperatures during different times of day.  By only heating and cooling your home during the hours you are home and using it less when you are not, you’ll see a significant change in your electricity use.  Make sure all doors and windows and shut and have sufficient seals while running your air conditioning or heat.  The amount of energy lost through drafty windows or careless open doors can really add up.

Do your laundry smarter – Only run your washer with full loads, only use cold water to wash unless absolutely necessary, hang your laundry to dry, or if using a dryer, add a dry towel to your dryer loads.  All these small changes add up to a big impact.

Unplug it – If it’s not in use, unplug it.  Even though an appliance is not in use, if it is plugged in, it is still using energy.  It has been found that up to 10{7249f0a065b7632a697330da1505ff9216a3d94aa32677acf4f04e2f781ee7e1} of a house holds annual electricity use is standby power.  Help reduce that number by unplugging anything that is not in use.  You can plug multiple items in one area into an energy efficient power strip which also helps conserve electricity, and it makes it easy to just unplug 1 plug instead of a bunch of individual ones.

While some or all of these tips from a Manahawkin electrician seem mindless and simple, they can really add up to some significant savings annually for your house hold.

If you are noticing an increase in your electricity bill and are not sure why, contact your trusted Manahawkin electrician like Nevron Electrical for help.  They can assist you in figuring out what may be wrong and help you make energy efficient changes that can help.