Conservation

The following tips are meant to assist you with keeping your electric bill down and lowering costs.

Appliances

It is essential to ensure that electrical appliances are only plugged in when you are using them. Appliances that are turned off but still plugged in can continue to consume electricity. Appliances that consume a large amount of electricity like heaters and air conditioning units should always be unplugged when not in use.

Refrigerators
  • Repair refrigerator door seals if you feel cold air around the closed door or if moisture is collecting.
  • Dust your fridge the next time you dust your house. Check the coils behind the refrigerator and use coil vacuums or dusters to clean it off and keep costs down.
  • Keep your freezer full – it uses less energy than an empty one. For maximum savings, consider filling your freezer with gallon containers of water.
  • Choose energy-efficient appliances.
  • Replace your refrigerator. New energy-efficient models can use 75 percent less energy than your older model.
Air Conditioning Units
  • Ensure that you turn off all AC Units when leaving a room
  • Change or clean your AC's air filters at least once a month to keep your system running at peak performance
  • Give your AC a tune-up. Running an inefficient AC system can result in high monthly bills.
Washer and Dryer
  • Wash with cold water whenever possible.
  • Wash and dry several loads at once, so that your dryer isn't completely cooled down when it heats up for the next load.
  • Avoid over-drying your clothes. It wastes energy, plus causes static and wrinkling.
  • Separate wash loads into light and heavy fabrics for the shortest drying times. Or better yet – air-dry your lightest fabrics.
  • Vent your dryer to the outside to reduce the workload on your air conditioner.
  • Wash full loads of clothes when possible. When smaller loads are necessary, use less water.
  • Hang dress clothing to air dry; they will also look better.
  • Clean the dryer lint filter before every load to keep your dryer running efficiently.
Lights
  • Replace your five most-used light fixtures and/or bulbs with ENERGY STAR products.
  • Swap out your standard bulbs. Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs last up to 10 times longer and use 75 percent less energy than standard bulbs.
  • Use the right bulb. CFL bulbs come in various sizes and types for different lighting needs.
  • Replace halogen light bulbs, which can get hot enough to be a fire hazard, with CFLs – they use less energy and don’t get as hot.
  • Use motion-detector lights for all your outdoor lighting – they’re convenient and efficient. For additional savings, buy compact florescent bulbs for your motion detectors.
  • Consider using timers to turn lights on in the morning and off during the day.
  • Choose outdoor CFLs for outdoor lighting – they last up to 10 times longer than standard bulbs.
  • Light your home with less heat. One CFL bulb is four times more energy-efficient than a regular bulb, while producing less heat.
Television and Stereo’s

These appliances may not use a lot of electricity like other appliances but leaving them on overnight will add up.  Most televisions have timers that you can set to turn the television off.  Therefore, it is recommended that you utilize this feature.