The ways to save money on utility bills are endless so the moment you think you’ve saved as much as possible is also the moment you’re losing an opportunity to save more.

1. Post Reminders
Just because all the members of your home are aware of the need to save money on utility bills doesn’t mean that they’ll know how to do so much less remember to do it all the time. It also doesn’t mean that they don’t care, but since they’re not the ones managing the budget, saving money on utility bills will definitely not be their first priority.

2. All about Control
As much as possible, purchase and use lighting fixtures, electrical appliances, and any other object which uses electricity as a source of power that offers you manual control for its settings. Today’s newest batch of television sets, for instance, allows you to manually configure video and audio settings so you can reduce electricity consumption. The same can be said for light dimmers and even water heaters with temperature control.

3. Maximize Use
Whether you have one piece of outfit or a bunch of clothes to wash in the washing machine, the same amount of energy will be consumed per round so make sure that you maximize use.

4. If You Don’t Have to Use It, Don’t
If sunlight’s pouring inside from the window then by all means, let it shine and provide lighting for your home instead of switching open all the light bulbs. If the wind outside can provide sufficient cooling for the home then again, open the windows to let the air in rather than using the air-conditioning.

5. Go for Automation
Many light fixtures and electrical appliances can now be automatically turned on and off. Although it can cost you more than usual for the initial costs of purchase and installment, the benefits are long-term and they can instantly make sure that electricity is only consumed when there’s actually need to do so.

6. Set the Timer
In the instances that automation is the possible, go for the next best thing and that’s by using and setting the timer. Water and air heaters and coolers can all benefit from the use of timers. Even showers can also make use of timers; with a timer, you can ensure that all members of the family won’t spend an unnecessarily long time inside the bathroom.

7. Maintain It
Another possible reason for your home to consume more electricity than it should is when you allow electrical appliances to reach a state of disrepair. An electric stove that’s suffering from mechanical malfunctioning one way or another will not be able to perform efficiently, which will naturally increase your electricity bills. Thus, it’s important to perform a regular maintenance check on all the things that consume electricity in your household.

8. Fix Problems Immediately
Even regular maintenance checks however won’t be able to completely prevent a few or some of your electrical appliances from malfunctioning. When this does happen, you should have the repairman fixed it instantly to prevent it from breaking down further.

9. Shut it Off When Not in Use
There are lots of things that don’t have the benefit of automated and timer features. This would then require you to consistently check that all of them are shut off when not in use. Coffeemakers, for instance, are always left switched on even though you often drink coffee during mornings. Lights are sometimes left switched on when you’re in a hurry to leave.

10. Replace the Old with New Energy-Efficient Models
And most importantly of all, replace old and existing electrical appliances as well as light bulbs and fixtures with new and more energy-efficient models. The US Environmental Protection Agency as well as the US Department of Energy, for instance, has created the Energy Star label to assign to hundreds of products that have been able to meet their strict requirements for quality, energy efficiency, and environmental safety.

Energy efficiency ratios of electrical appliances are often displayed as well so make sure that you obtain the highest ratio for the least possible cost. Even if you use an old air-conditioning model for just an hour to save money, you’ll later on realize that one hour’s use of your old model is equivalent to several hours of use for newer models.

[image from therisa]

Tags: utility, frugality