In the following article Brian Smith gives us an entertaining and informative look at utility bills.
Utility Bills Don’t Have to Be Daunting
By Brian Smith
Fall is upon us. We can trade shorts for a hoodie. People are pulling out their Uggs and North Face jackets like they are relics from another era. The mower will soon be trading spots in the garage with the snow blower. Football weekends and tailgates have started. Maybe have a bonfire and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Did I mention that the Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL) are flowing? I love fall. I don’t even mind raking leaves.
As awesome as fall may be, you are still going to receive an electricity bill this month and if my calculations are correct- it will be here today.
Some call it an electricity invoice. I feel like “invoice” sounds more professional, but we all know what it is. It is your cost for being comfortable. It is the cost for making your house/apartment/dorm/cave/abode a temperature that is comfortable for humans. The cost for taking warm showers, having clean clothes, Netflixing/Chilling and cooking (on the rare occasions when you don’t utilize Grub-Hub).
The bill will be here today, but later today. It is not here currently and that is important. That should give you adequate time to run to the store to purchase cold water laundry soap, wash your clothes in cold water, consider washing your clothes in the river and hanging them on the clothesline, give up on the river/clothesline idea since the river is not close, turn down the thermostat-all the way, turn off the lights that the kids keep leaving on in the back hallway and finally fix that leaky hot water faucet (it’s only a few drops per minute, right?)
If you can get all of that done before the bill/invoice arrives this afternoon, you should be good-right? That much action on your part should really make a difference in your bill. You said the same thing last month, but this month is different. This month you really mean it. Like REALLY mean it. You are tired of the $250 dollar bills. You may not know what exactly a “kilowatt” is, but based on the size of the check you are writing each month, you are ready to consider “killing a watt.” If you cannot reduce the amount of your bill, you might have to avoid the $9 dollar coffee each day (think back to the PSL). That type of aggression will simply not stand.
You decide that the laundry isn’t super important, the lights aren’t that big of a deal, and you settle for turning the HVAC off. After 10 minutes of instant discomfort, you turn it back on but adjust the temperature setting. It is really hot today and being uncomfortable is …well, uncomfortable. As you bask in your perceived accomplishments of the morning, you start to daydream. You think of all the things that you are going to do with the money that you are saving on your electricity. Vacation, new car, swimming pool? The possibilities are endless. Suddenly, you see the mail carrier in the distance. He looks smug as he traverses the sidewalk and makes his way up the driveway. The mailbox lid squeaks as he opens it. You can see the electricity invoice in his hand. He throws a flyer in the mailbox with the electricity invoice and the mailbox appears to sink into the ground based on the weight of the invoice. Maybe that was just your imagination. Hopefully that was just your imagination.
You wait for him to leave. You debate opening it while he is present and doing backflips across the yard based on the savings you have created by turning down the thermostat on your HVAC system and the fact that you briefly considered replacing your old incandescent bulbs with LED, but the light is different, and you would have to repaint the walls…
As soon as he leaves, you open the door, open the mailbox and grab the electric invoice. For the second time today, you are suddenly nervous. You question if the Herculean effort of turning down the thermostat for 15 minutes will actually make much difference on your invoice. The anxiety that you had before opening the envelope is now confirmed as being legit. Your invoice is more than last month. As it turns out, the effort you put in this morning didn’t help much. Goodbye pumpkin spice latte.
Nobody enjoys paying for anything. We seem to especially hate paying for things that aren’t “cool.” A new jet ski is cool. Insurance and electricity are not. A jet ski brings us joy when it is present. Electricity and internet are assumed to be present until the lights go out or the Wi-Fi glitches. We don’t realize joy in the presence of the electricity, but we certainly feel the pain in its absence. Lowering your electricity invoice is simple in concept but challenging in execution.
You have to use less electricity.
(Gulp)
The easiest way to do this is to alter the setting of your thermostat.
R-E-L-A-X
Hear me out.
Please put down the pitchfork.
The torch that you just lit is only going to make it warmer in here…
Average homes use electricity in the following percentages: (What Uses the Most Electricity in My Home)
- HVAC- 50%
- Water heater-15%
- Appliances-15%
- Lights- 10%
- TV/Media- 5%
Lowering your electricity bill is easy; turn everything off. The hard part is balancing comfort against using less energy. HVAC is the biggest offender for utilities. HVAC uses more energy than water heaters, appliances and lights combined. It is up to you when/where you use less energy, but you will need to reduce the energy you use to lower your utility bill next month. A variation of only a few degrees on your thermostat will make a noticeable difference in your bill. Personally- I am very aggressive with temperature alterations, but you don’t have to be like me.
You don’t have to make big changes. You shouldn’t need mittens and a hat inside the house during the winter. I would recommend that you purchase a programmable thermostat and set it appropriately. Set it to get colder at night when you go to bed, warm up in the morning as you prepare for work, revert to the colder setting while you are at work/school for the day and then back to a comfortable temperature when you arrive home, until you go to bed. Repeat as appropriate for the season.
Key Benefits of the programmable thermostat:
- They are coming down in price
- There are rebate programs where you can knock off a significant percent of the price (Check with your provider.)
- Relatively simple to set up
- Savings pay for themselves in a short time, and you spend half of your utility budget on heating/cooling your home
The mail carrier is quite persistent. Next month should be a bit less painful, but he will most certainly make like the Terminator and – “be back.”