Comments on: Our Electric Bill Arrived…

By: Susana

Susana — Sun, 20 May 2007 19:53:12 +0000

Gain Independence from your Utility Company.
Imagine your electric bill being as low as your cable bill. You could also be eligible for generous government rebates when you decide to convert to solar. When your system generates more electricity than youâ€™re consuming, your utility meter will actually spin backwards. You accrue credit with your utility company at the same rate they are charging you. This allows you to reduce your electric bill and drive it toward zero. By using solar power, you can also reduce the amount of electricity you have to buy. Once the equipment has been installed, the electricity generated is free! In addition, PV panels typically have a long life and with no moving parts, they require minimal maintenance. See Link below for some awesome solar energy products! Save yourself money and the environment!
http://naturalsupply.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-more-electric-bill-welcome-to-solar.html
Sunlight Can Make Your Meter Spin Backwards. Sunlight is a renewable energy source and the conversion of sunlight into electricity via photovoltaic (PV) panels is an environmentally friendly process. It is one that is silent and produces no greenhouse gas emissions or other polluting by-products. You are actually helping the environment! Generating electricity from solar energy reduces your consumption of fossil fuels, which decreases pollution and greenhouse gas emission. By switching to solar power, you will combat global warming and reduce our nationâ€™s dependence of foreign energy sources. Even a small solar electric system has a significant environmental impact. Did you ever leave a hose spread out on your ground in the summer and then hours later squirted it only to find out that the water is very hot? This is the same concept of how solar energy works. GO NATURAL!
http://naturalsupply.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-more-electric-bill-welcome-to-solar.html

By: Were We Able to Reduce our Electric Bill? : Blogging Away Debt

Were We Able to Reduce our Electric Bill? : Blogging Away Debt — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:46:29 +0000

[...] electric bill for last month was a whopping $91. That was the highest bill we have ever had. First thought was that the price of our electricity [...]

By: Ways I Save Money: Take Things Back to the Store : Blogging Away Debt

Ways I Save Money: Take Things Back to the Store : Blogging Away Debt — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:07:28 +0000

[...] Each store has a different policy on price adjustments. Our local department store states that is something goes on sale within a month after you purchase it you can come back to get a refund for the difference in price. The spiral fluorescent light bulbs we purchased a little while ago (3 pack for $9.99) were now on sale for $8.99. Since I bought three packages, taking a few minutes to bring my receipt back to the store during my next trip resulted in a savings of $3.00. Not too bad. [...]

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:43:07 +0000

Maybe you could sell that old freezer in the paper for a little extra cash!!! Might as well if you’re not gonna use it any more! Bonus!

By: Tricia

Tricia — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:36:44 +0000

Thank you everyone for the tips and hints. I’ve been doing pretty good with making sure lights are off when not using them and I’ve been unplugging things (much to my husband’s dismay since I unplug things before he’s done using them ).

Our stove and fridge are both less than 2 years old. The ones in our house when we bought it were quite old. Of course, all of that went on the credit cards. The only old appliance we have is the freezer and that is getting unplugged (waiting for garbage day to get closer to toss some mega old stuff out).

As for weaning us off of the fans – it isn’t going well. I have a story about the fans when I get a chance to write it.

By: plankton97

plankton97 — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:24:25 +0000

You might look into a Kill-A-Watt meter. It plugs in between an appliance and an outlet and tells you how much power the appliance uses over some amount of time. It’s a little pricey ($40), but it’s kind of fun to see which things are power hungry (check your fridge). You might even discover you can keep your fans. Here is a good review I found:

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/kill_a_watt_electric_usage_monitor_review

By: Amber

Amber — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:21:33 +0000

That’s one of the reasons I love Equal Pay. After we were in our apartment for a year we called and they took the amount we paid over the prior year and averaged it out over the next year. That way we pay the same amount every month. If we use less the next year, the monthly amount goes down. But we always know what it’s going to be. We don’t have A/C only heat so the summer months help pull the average down. Plus it helps when we have cold spells because we can justify the extra heat use since we won’t be paying for it immediately. That’s not to say we’re frivolous with electricity just that we aren’t afraid to use it when necessary.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:50:32 +0000

Check the energy ratings on your appliances and consider donating old ones and replacing them. Considering how much energy costs, you could save in electricity the cost of the new appliance within a year (this is esp. true for fridges older than say 10 or 15 years).

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:03:56 +0000

Do you have an alarm clock radio with a sleep function? If so, you an use that for your son. That way you can set it for 30, 40, 60 minutes… Long enough for him to fall asleep, but it won’t be on all night.

And shutting off the freezer should help, especially if it’s empty. Freezers and fridges are more efficient when they’re full.

By: Janet

Janet — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:53:55 +0000

As the mother of a 4 year old, I would suggest going cold turkey for your son’s fan as well. Make it a sort of game or challenge so that you don’t have to replace one thing with another. We did this when my son was attached to a blanket that we didn’t want to carry around anymore when we would sleep somewhere other that at home. It had accidently been dipped in the toilet! Somehow it managed to spend about 2 weeks “in the laundry,” as I tell him (and actually this is true), and then he just never needed it again. Just a suggestion, but of course you know your son the best.

By: reggie

reggie — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:40:39 +0000

Taking fungal living to the next level..

I guess that elec bill really made u hit the roof..

U can also, check your elec breaker, put all not so important appliances on the same breaker.
and at nite, just flip that breaker, no need to be running around the house unplugging…

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:59:47 +0000

Lowe’s always has the 13 watt bulbs (6 pack) for under $10. I use these for every bulb in the house, and I use the 40 watt appliance bulbs for the ceiling fans.

I also bought electric foam insulator covers (they go in between the cover and wall to stop air flow). $2 for 6, they really seem to stop the air flow.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:53:23 +0000

I’ve always been envious of those that have low light bills and low water bills because no matter where I have lived, my bills run high. The spiral fluorescent bulbs HAVE helped a great deal. Turning off the ceiling fans also helped a bit. A new fridge was the biggest help for us because our old, old fridge just ran all the time – not efficient at all.

Incredibly helpful debt resource this is for all of us on the same journey!

Tammy in Maine

By: CPA1298

CPA1298 — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:21:45 +0000

Since it’s wintertime, and maybe cold where you live (I can’t remember your location), the easiest way to same some electricity $$ would be to drop your thermostat by a few degrees, and start wearing more/heavier clothes around the house. Also, check/replace your furnace filter to make sure it is clean and that the furnace doesn’t have to work harder than it needs to. Also, make absolutely sure that your windows are closed completely and latched; I almost fell over when I discovered that several of our windows weren’t completely locked several weeks into winter.

Good luck! We’re going to see a tremendous rate increase on our next Ameren bill here in Illinois.

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 16:49:38 +0000

Since it’s primarily the heat and cold producing appliances that are the electricity hogs, one thing that helped us was to put an inexpensive thermometer in our refrigerator and freezer. We discovered that we were actually keeping our freezer lower than the 0 degrees recommended, and the freezer compartment of our refrigerator was well under the 10 degree recommendation as well. By turning these up a bit we (painlessly) saved some money. We try to bake more than one thing at a time in our electric oven and hang as much laundry as we possibly can, as well.

By: My Financial Journey

My Financial Journey — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:36:34 +0000

If you watch the local electric company/state (at least in my neck of the woods) runs these promos a couple months each year where you can purchase compact fluorescents for 99 cents due to some instant rebate.

I have them everywhere in my house and even my outside lights and like you said I like the light better and because I installed them all at once I could see right away in the next bill that it saved us about $10 a month in electricity.