Six Easy Ways to Save on Electricity Bills

By Graham H Smith

Did you know that there are some simple ways in which you can save on your electricity bills substantially? Well, it is those that we are now going to explore. But before embarking on that journey, it is worth taking note of two things. The first of those is the fact that the sums of money you stand to save in this way may not look large in the short run, but cumulatively, they can turn out to be rather huge amounts of money. And the issue of money aside, you also need to keep it in mind that by saving on your electricity usage, you are playing you small part toward the conservation of the environment. And this is important, taking into consideration the kind of environmental crisis the world finds itself in.
Here then, are the six ways through which you can get to save on your electricity bills:

1. Go for power efficient appliances: you should make power efficiency one of your major considerations when looking to purchase appliances. Don't just go for electric appliances that look most beautiful (but which are merciless power guzzlers). There is nothing wrong with appliance beauty per se, but it should not be the only consideration when making up your mind whether or not to buy an appliance. There are other considerations that need to be made, and one of those is the energy efficiency of the appliances. You may also have to make some courageous choices here - like the choice of ceiling fans over air conditioning systems.

2. Switch off appliances you are not using: it is irrational to keep on electric appliances you are not using (and this includes lighting bulbs). Yet, surprisingly, many of us have this habit of keeping the appliances always buzzing, even when they are not in use, thence costing us dearly - and needlessly - in terms of power usage.

3. Keep your electric appliances well serviced: when electric appliances go for long without being serviced, they become energy inefficient and prone to break downs. Avoid both situations by ensuring that the appliances are properly and regularly serviced as per the instructions on their packaging

4. Make your electric bill payments in good time: otherwise you stand to suffer the penalties that most power companies impose on those who make a habit of delaying in their bill repayment. These are unnecessary penalties, which you need not suffer, if only you can organize yourself just a little bit better. Nowadays, most power companies have systems where power users can make their bill payments online or through their phones, and there is absolutely no reason as to why anyone should suffer such penalties late payment penalties in this day and age.

5. Use energy saving features on your appliances: here we talking about things like the 'sleep' features on computers. The amounts of money you stand to save, in the long run, through consistent use of such features is simply amazing.

6. Go fluorescent: fluorescent bulbs are arguably the most energy efficient of all bulbs. Yet they don't cost substantially more than the other types of bulbs. Through their consistent use, you can find yourself having saved considerable sums of money you could have otherwise given out to the electricity generation company.

The use of innovative prepaid electricity service packages can bring down the consumption of electricity in households keen on conserving power.

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How to Save 30% to 50% on Your Utilities Bills!

By Denise L Jackson

As unemployment soars and the economy weakens, everyone is trying to save money. The last thing any of us wants to do is pay for outrageous utilities bills. If you pay electric, gas or water whether for business or your home, making these inexpensive changes in your home or business should save you big bucks! A home or business energy audit is one of the first steps in making your space more efficient. An energy audit also pinpoints weaknesses in your home and business and how to minimize or eliminate them. Our utilities bills have been increasing steadily for years now and with the economy and folks unemployed, helping to reduce cost is imperative. You can do simple things to reduce cost for water, gas and light bills.

#1 Flow Restrictors or Aerators on Faucets The top favorite tip will save you on water and heating bill and the cost is less than $5.00. Please run not walk to your nearest hardware store and start to add aerators to all of your faucets and see a mark difference in your utilities bills. Aerators reduce the water coming through the faucets by mixing it with air. The aerator acts as a sieve, sending a separating single flow of water into many tiny streams. This introduces the air into the water flow. Also because there is less space for the water to flow through, the water flow is reduced. The water pressure is maintained that is why you will not notice a difference in the amount of water coming out. You can also get an aerator with a flow restrictor. They are so cool because you can just flip the switch to stop the flow of water and flip the switch again to start it.

#2 Thermal Curtains Who could ever think curtains can save you money in the winter and save you money in the summer? Thermal curtains have insulations properties that lower heating cost and prevent drafts around windows. This saves money and is energy-efficient. People living in older buildings with older windows can continue to benefit from adding insulated linings to the curtains. If you happen to have single pane windows thermal curtains are a must have until you are able to purchase energy efficient windows. Thermal curtains are lined with a fabric that traps a pocket of air between the window and the curtain prevents heat from entering or leaving the house. Thermal fabric blocks light and muffles sound, ideal for a sound sleep. Thermal curtains are very stylish now and can be found in any department store.

#3 Seal Air Ducts You can seal all joints with joint tape and insulate ducts exposed to the weather. This could be a pretty big job since you may need to go into the attic but until you can get an energy auditor this will help. Did you know that a quarter of the energy used for heating and cooling is wasted through duct system energy losses? In many places in the country the ducts (and the furnace and air conditioning coils) are located in attics, crawlspaces, garages, basements and other locations outside the heated or cooled parts of the house. Ducts in these locations not only leak air to and from outside, but any heat lost through the walls of the duct (by heat conduction) is also lost to outside instead of heating and cooling the house. This combination of air leaks and heat conduction losses means that a great deal of the energy (and money!) used to heat or cool the house actually ends up outside.

#4 Efficient Lights Replacing Efficient lighting replacing has become the number one thing most households will do first in an effort to going green and saving energy. The old bulbs are the incandescent bulb which makes heat and very inefficient. In order to see a major difference in your light bill begin to use fluorescent which uses less power, longer life, and now the cost is relatively the same. The down side is the bulb contains a small amount of mercury so you have to follow manufacturing standards of disposing. We also have the LED lights which are brighter than fluorescent, energy reduction, and a longer bulb life. The downside they can be costly and you may have to retrofit your existing fixture. But in a manner of months the savings on your bill could equal the price of retrofitting insulation. As the days go by we are finding so many companies stepping up to the plate and training young people to retrofit in older homes and businesses.

This has jumpstart the economy in some areas like Detroit and California. Induction lights can be retrofitted as well and is best suited for high ceilings and hard to access places. #5 Programmable Thermostats A programmable thermostat is a thermostat which is designed to save you money and adjust the temperature according to a series of settings that you program at different times of the day. They can be called setback thermostats or clock thermostats. Heating and cooling losses from a building become greater as the difference in temperature increases. A programmable thermostat allows reduction of these losses by allowing the temperature difference to be reduced at times when the reduced amount of heating or cooling would not be objectionable.

Denise L. Jackson is a Certified Life/Career Coach and a Certified Green Consultant. She has worked in the banking and finance industry for more than 15 years training interns and new graduates. She decided to embark on a new career coaching teens and young adults and soon started Enhance My Skills, an e-mentoring/e-coaching online company preparing teens and young adults for the marketplace. Quickly afterwards she created Mo-Active Learning Series which is a series of workbooks that combines motivation, activation and skill building for the marketplace. She is also the author of Bringing Sexy to Green. For more helpful tips on how to save on your utilities bill please visit http://www.deniseljackson.com and sign up for a free e-book. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Denise_L_Jackson Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6535054