The onset of winter inevitably raises a lot of season-specific issues for middle class Americans. One of these issues related to making it through the winter months is the degree of energy we will end up using over the course of these winter months. Americans are often wondering about how high their electricity bills will turn out during these months. Have you ever wondered about ways to try to reduce your winter electric bills? If – as we suspect – you have not really given this topic much thought – we recommend reading our tips to try to reduce your electricity bill over the winter.
Use Your Winter Heater Efficiently
One major expense during the winter months tends to be on the electric heaters in your home. However, there are ways of using this more efficient. One way of doing this is to keep the heater at a much colder temperature than before. If your body has trouble adjusting to the lower temperatures, wear warmer clothes on your body. Figure out a way of making your heater run more efficiently and you will be able to save money on your electric bill.
Switch Your Home Lights
Pay attention to the kind of electric lamps you have at home. If you have traditional incandescent lamps – they are not very efficient or environmentally friendly. The first option for a number of people that wanted to switch from traditional incandescent lamps to something more efficient – were the CFLs – the Compact Fluorescent Lamps. These were indeed more efficient than the traditional incandescent lamps.
Bring in the New LED Lights
However, the world has now moved on and today newer options have become available that are even better than CFLs. These are the LED light bulbs. These used to be very expensive eight or ten years ago. However, today they are within the reach of the budgets of ordinary middle class American families. So, switch to the newer LED bulbs – they will also save you a significant sum on your electricity bill.
New Smart Gadgets to Manage your Electricity Consumption (and Bills) Much More Efficiently
As we are transitioning to a new Internet of Things – it may be worth investing in certain smart gadgets that are available that allow you to manage your power consumption much more efficiently than it has ever been possible before. These smart devices are connected to all the things you tend to use in your life – such as your phone, computer, car, heater, A/C, fridge, TV, Home Theatre, microwave, etc. These gadgets will ensure that, for example, none of your electrical gadgets remain switched on when they are not being used. They could be programmed in this way to ensure that your power is used with the most efficiency.
Replace Inefficient Older Appliances Entirely
A number of you probably have certain electric appliances that are very old – but they appear to work fine. If you have geysers and refrigerators, for instance, that are old – they often consume way too much power and are therefore very inefficient. So please replace these with newer – and more efficient – ones. This is bound to save you some good money on your electric bill.
Go Alternative Energy over the Longer Term
The one sure way of reducing your electric bill over the long term is to gradually shift entirely to alternative sources of power – such as solar. Even if it may seem a bit quirky at first – over the longer term – these sources of energy are certainly more efficient than your current electric energy source. Doing a gradual and phased transition to solar power is a sure way of cutting your power bills by a very significant degree over the longer term. This particular move will have the advantage of making your household greener than it has ever been before.
These are some very good ways to work towards reducing your electric bill for the winter months. Once you start using these methods, you will start to see commensurate savings on your electric bills.