It became official this week: my electricity prices have increased. Last year the price for off peak hours go up by 0.3 cents/kWh, mid peak up by 0.6 cents/kWh and peak by 1.4 cents/kWh. This week the increases were by .4 cents for off and mid peak and by .5 cents on peak. There’s a bit of political kerfuffle around it but at the end of the day ML is going to be paying more.
I’m the one who is hyper aware so if I hadn’t seen an article advising of the rate change I wouldn’t have known. Unlike me, ML bears these price adjustments with a shrug and an understanding that there is always going to be an increased cost of living.
I’m not sure why I’ve decided electricity is my new cause, especially since I have no real understanding of how energy is measured and tracked.I’m already working on this. I feel like it’s an environmental area I’ve fallen down on. Being able to decrease my energy consumption and save money is right up my alley!
The plan:
- Continue using the bulk of energy during off peak hours
- Use the microwave and toaster oven more
- Work on air drying more
- Unplug items more often
I’m not sure how much it will help but if we could keep our energy bill on par with last year I’d be happy.
Any tips on being better would be greatly appreciated.
Image by ponsulak at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Saving Without Scrimping 
A slow-cooker is much more energy friendly than the oven or hob 🙂
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I didn’t grow up with one and it’s absolutely insane to me that I seem to have this irrational fear of it.
I’ve heard so many great stories of slow cookers and have eaten amazing meals from them that I really should get one. Thanks for the tip!
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If you have air conditioning make sure you close curtains/blinds on any windows the sun is shining in. It will heat up the house and therefore run the air conditioner more. On sunny days in the winter, open curtains/blinds to let the sun in and provide a little warmth for the house while keeping the windows covered to keep drafts out. Of course, I live in a one hundred year old house so if your place is newer it may be more energy efficient anyway.
Running your hot water too long will cause the electricity to turn on to heat up the water tank. Take shorter showers.
That’s all I have for now. Our prices are going up also where I live but we don’t have peak hours and such. Just a flat rate.
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Thanks so much for your ideas!
The peak hours is both a boon and a curse. I’m lucky as it’s really created with someone like me in mind. A person who goes to bed after 7 p.m. and is out of the house during the day.
I need to make better use of your winter tips as I tend to keep the drapes closed during those months so I can pretend the snow on the ground isn’t there :).
We don’t have AC though we’ve got loads of fans in the summer. A few that run continuously on very hot days. A practice, methinks, that needs to be re-assessed.
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Keeping the drapes closed on cloudy days in winter or when you’re out of the house is probably the best way to go. If you are home, however, and it does happen to be a sunny winter day, use that sunlight to your advantage on the windows that it is hitting.
The curtain/blind thing could still be used for greater comfort in the summer months even if it doesn’t provide much in energy savings.
Good luck!
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“while keeping the windows covered to keep drafts out.” Meant to say while keeping the non-sunny windows covered. Basically, you do the opposite in the winter from the summer.
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Switching to LED bulbs can make a difference. However, my house was built in 1948 and still has a lot of the original wiring, and I’ve found that LEDs don’t always work well with this wiring.
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That’s a great idea! We’re trying to transition slowly to LEDs.
1948? I bet it’s got some great features from the time. Ours is a 1970s build and has forced us to embrace minimalism and really assess our electronic gadgets. At that time there was a one outlet per wall quota, no matter the length, it seems and the cupboard space is definitely smaller. It was one of the hidden benefits of the not so great things when we purchased the house 🙂
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A friend bought surge protector power strips. Instead of reaching back to plug and unplug so much, she turned off the switch on the strip. Made a huge difference in her energy cost with little more effort – one more switch rather than plug hunting. Good luck!
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That’s fantastic! I’e got one strip that we’re attempting to use. I should invest in a few more for a few specific areas.
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Sigh, energy consumption is something I will never understand either. Some quarters I think we’ve been really good, and the bill is higher than ever. Other quarters when I think the bill must skyrocket because it’s winter and I have the heater on constantly, the bill comes up average. Who knows.
Air drying – if you can time your laundry cycles it might motivate you to line dry more, e.g. put a load on at night and delay it to the morning, so it’s washed and ready to hang as soon as you wake up (or alternatively, as soon as you get home from work)
Hot water – you could try change the temperature limit that your tank keeps the hot water at, because otherwise it will keep boiling it to keep it at that temperature whether you are using it or not. There’s two ways to consider it… at my family’s home, the tank was solar and had fancy new gadgets to time how often it uses electricity to heat the water, so my dad turned the heat right down so that it wouldn’t use any electricity to heat the water because there was enough from the solar. In my current home however, our tank is tiny, so we turned the heat up. This means the water is hotter coming out of the tap (be careful!) but it’s hotter meaning we use less so it lasts longer, rather than using a whole tank of not-so-hot water and then having to wait for it to heat a new batch of cold water. I hope this makes some sense…
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Timing the laundry cycles is a great idea!
I really have to look at our heater and see what our options are. Your comment also triggered that we have a water softener unit. I need to explore how it works as I know it cycles at seemingly random times.
Thanks for the tips!
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Since I don’t have any good advice, I will try to offer humorous advice. (Bear in mind doctors are not famous for our humor!) Ready?
Have you considered cave dwelling. Should bring down the cost of electricity dramatically! 😀
Sorry, it’s the best I could do! Have a great weekend.
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I haven’t, though I have wondered about a hobbit’s hole :). I’m short and have a Hobbit appetite . I was part of the group happy to discover the term second breakfast exists 😀
Happy weekend!
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Like a previous poster mentioned, high efficiency lights are the way to go! We also changed ours gradually as it didn’t make sense to drop tons of money to save a few bucks a month lol. If you have newer appliances, pick the shorter cycles – we always use quick wash on our dishwasher and washing machines.
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We’re slowly upgrading our lights and appliances so it’s good to keep in mind that shorter cycles may help. Thanks!
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