Saving is Easier Than You Think
When it comes to finding out how to reduce electricity bill at home, sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face. As we all know though, knowing the answer and actually solving the problem are two very different things! It does take a bit of discipline to keep energy costs down, but there’s a whole bunch of simple things you can do to start shaving dollars off your bill.
Billy Explores hates seeing Aussies throwing their cash away on unnecessary energy charges. He’s here to show you how to step into the sumo wrestling circle and squash those wasteful household practices that are costing you money every single day.
Shorter Showers Will Help You Save
This seems obvious right? Everyone probably knows they should take shorter showers to save electricity. But to put it into real perspective, heating water can use around 20% of an average household’s electricity. That’s a lot of money, and a big chance to save. One of today’s most annoying sounds is the alarm on your smartphone, so pick a number of minutes you want to keep your showers down to, and set the timer on your phone. Once that alarm starts going you’ll do anything to stop it – even get out of the shower.
Every Degree Counts When Reducing Your Electricity Bill
Everyone wants to be warm and comfortable in their home, but this is a must when considering how to reduce electricity bill at home. Heating and cooling is where we spend about a third of our energy usage, so you need to be smart about it. Every degree you raise the thermostat or temperature on your air conditioner is increasing your costs by about 10%. That equates to a huge amount of money over the year. Try keeping your temperature at around 20-22 degrees, and if you’re still cold, put on some layers. Your bank balance will thank you later.
Seal Doors and Windows to Reduce Wasting Electricity
It sounds simple, but many people don’t pay attention to the seals around their doors and windows. We’re not talking rocket science here – if your nice warm air is escaping through cracks around the doors and windows, then cold air is probably coming in to replace it. Cold air that your heating system needs to work harder to warm up. Make sure all the doors and windows are sealed up tight, and help take some pressure off your poor old air conditioner.
If you fancy yourself and a bit of a DIY’er check out this tutorial How To Seal A Window Video
Heating Only The Rooms You Need will Help Save
If you’ve got ducted heating and you know you’re not even going to set foot in half of your rooms at night, don’t waste precious energy heating them. Keep it to the rooms you’re actually spending time in to keep energy costs down. If you’re using other methods like an air conditioner, try and keep your activities to one or two rooms and close off everything else. By only heating a couple of smaller rooms, your air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard and therefore isn’t using as much power.
It’s also a good idea to use timers where you can – set your heating to come on an hour before you get up. No point heating the house all night when you’re asleep.
Standby Modes Use Electricity
It’s easy to say that standby modes on appliances like TVs and laptops aren’t using much power, and to an extent you’d be right. These household items don’t use anywhere near as much as your heaters do, but it all adds up and you can save money by switching these things off at the wall when not in use.
If everybody is out of the house for 8-10 hours during the day, why leave the TV on standby? The same goes for the microwave, laptops and PCs and other entertainment systems. We know it’s hard to walk to the power-point once a day instead of just using the remote, but we believe in you!
How to Reduce Electricity Bill in The Laundry
When thinking about ways to reduce electricity bill at home, the smallest room in the home is one of the hungriest on power. Washing machines and dryers are third behind heating/cooling and heating water in terms of household energy use. Plus, if you’re washing your clothes in hot or warm water you’re copping an extra whack at the meter. Try washing in cold water, and make sure you’re only washing when you have a full load keep energy costs down.
Dryers are another necessary evil around the home, but they’re not always as necessary as we think. The clothesline out the back or an air-dryer inside take a little bit more effort, but the electricity savings are big.
Track Your Energy Usage
Using a Smart Meter can give you some valuable insight into where you’re using the most power around the home. While these aren’t available all over Australia yet, they are becoming more accessible and can help you keep track of your use. Read more about Smart Meters here.
Some providers also have apps that allow you to track general usage. It won’t tell you which appliances are doing the damage, but you can pick up some daily, weekly or seasonal trends to give you an idea of where you can save.
One Small Change Each Room
This is an exercise you can do with the whole family. Grab a piece of paper and a pen, and take the family on a walk through every room of the house. Come up with at least one way how to reduce electricity bill at home in every room, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is.
Consider turning the microwave in the kitchen instead of leaving it on standby. In the bathroom it might be shortening your shower by a couple of minutes. You could turn off the entertainment system in the living room when nobody is using it. You’ll be surprised how many small changes you can commit to making every day to save electricity around the home.
Switch Providers For A Better Energy Deal
It’s simple and you won’t even need to ditch the electric blanket in favour of a hot water bottle. If you think you’re paying too much for your electricity, let Billy Explores help you out. Compare TODAY and we can help you find the best deal for your electricity needs from our panel of providers.
Billy Explores has a stack of articles on energy savings tips and how to reduce your electricity bill at home, so start saving!
