What can I do to reduce my light bill?

Question

My light bill came out ridiculously high this month and i dont understand why. The only two things that are on the whole day is the heater and the TV. I live alone in an apartment, so i dont understand what happened. Can you give me some tips?

Answer 1

Turn the heat on a lower temperature to take the chill off the air, but use a blanket to keep warm.

Cover windows, block drafts under doors, and only heat the rooms you are using. Use hot water bottles.

Buy energy efficient light bulbs. They cost more than the energy guzzling kind we all have, but they last longer, use less power and put out great light.

Turn appliences off at the switch. This doesn't make a huge difference in the short term, but saves a few dollars right up and that adds up over time.

I had a radiator heater once. My kids knocked it over and then I got a bill for over $1000. Get the heater checked out by an electrician.

Good luck with all this.

Answer 2

1) Only turn on the light going into a room if it is absolutely necessary;
2) Don't turn off a light to a room you think you may be re-entering in the next half an hour;
3) Don't have the TV on if you are not actually watching it;
4) Keep heating or cooling at room temperature; Radiators and other heating devices really chew up the power. Look into what your's is doing.
5) If the weather is warm, take only warm or cool showers;
6) Use low voltage lighting in rooms which you never use for such things as reading, studying etc.; Better still, use study lamps for any such activity;
7) Avoid fluorescent lighting;
8) Do you really need to turn on the light, every time you enter the bathroom ?
9) Why cook everyday ? Freeze and then heat up;
10) Never use a dish washer;
11) You live alone so you only need to do 2-3 clothes washes a week and don't use that dryer. Plan so that you always have dry ,clean clothes for the next 2-3 days and never need to do a small wash. Hand wash anything you need urgently.

Answer 3

Heaters use a lot of power; in my home I turn on a 600 watt oil column heater, which I keep just in front of my feet, and just for the first 10 - 15 mins, an electrical blower/heater, which runs at 1200 watts. Then, when the temperature goes over 17 degrees C, or around 63 F, I turn it down, so as to maintain that temperature, which is cool but not cold, and wear warm clothes and headwear. Most people, especially women, would want it a little warmer, and I only heat one room, unless I am using another, as with having a shower. Get a duna and put it over you, as you watch TV. Gas heating, or reverse cycle airconditioning are more efficient, if it is more than a small room you want to heat. Turn other appliances off at the power point, as standby on TVs, computers, video equipment, etc., use a lot of power over a year. In summer, I try to get by with a pedestal fan, until it gets too hot, and then set the thermostat at 28 C (82 F) so the air conditioner isn't running all the time, and turn it off as soon as the outside temperature drops enough, and open up the windows and screen doors. Switch to low wattage fluorescent lighting, too: it is much better for the environment, and saves you money.

Answer 4

You can buy energy efficient light bulbs at any home depot. You can switch to energy star apliances but it may be expensive. Running the heater all day uses a lot of electricity so try putting the heater on a lower setting. The tv being kept on also wastes a lot of electricity. You can turn it off when you're not home. If you have a washer/dryer you can use cold water instead of hot water because making hot water uses electricity. If your bill is still high next month contact your electric company and ask why it is so high.

Answer 5

Turn off lights when your not in the room. What type of heater are you using? Some are more expensive to run then others eg. My oil heater cost me a fortune to run last winter.

I also found turning off appliances at the power plug also helps eg: DVD Player etc, that little red light on the appliances all though it doesn't use a great deal, it does add up over a course of a year.

Only boil the kettle with the amount of water you need. An empty fridge costs more to keep cool then a full one. Wait til you have a few articles of clothing to iron then ironing as you require, it costs more to keep heating up the iron often.

Answer 6

Well for starters look at your previous bills. If you know you have been using everything about the same then they might be making a big error.

If everything is O-Ok, check your electricity usage. Make sure the lights are off in rooms you are not using. Also if your heater is electric and not gas fired, yeah that'll make it go up ALOT. Change your light bulbs to CFLs (Compact Flourescent). Check everything you have that plugs in, and make sure it is either off, or unplugged. Also, if you fall asleep in front of the TV alot, that also increases your bill. But I'm guessing its an error on the part of the electric company, or its the fact that your heater is running more often since its cold outside.

Answer 7

Are you using electric heat? That eats up a lot. Put on a sweater and lower the heat.

Switch to energy saving bulbs.

Actually, the thing that uses the most electricity over the year is your refrigerator; it's always running 24/7.

If nothing has changed in your living situation and your bill is "ridiculously" high, contact your electric company. There may have been a misread of your numbers, or someone could be tapping into your supply.

Answer 8

Don't use so much electricity. Don't leave lights on in rooms where there is no need for it. Don't have the TV on if you are not watching it. Try to do most of the jobs that you might now do of a night time during the day so that you don't need your lights on so much at night. Have the lights out when watching TV. Have all other appliances that are plugged in all the time, switched off, except for your fridge and/or freezer. In the winter time, instead of turning on a heating system to keep warm, put on extra clothing and wrap a doona or a blanket around yourself while watching TV.

Answer 9

The heater can really use electricity FAST!. A whole-apartment heater is probably something like 4000 Watts. In 24 hours per day and 30 days (that's 720 hours) it will use 2880 kiloWatt hours. At 10 cents per kWhr, that's $288 just for the heater.

We run our house at 55 degrees F. It's unfortunate, but that's what we have to do to reduce the utility bill.

.

Answer 10

unfortunatly that heater will be using a heap of power. Put on a beanie - you loose something like 80% of your heat through your head, Also a good pair of warm slippers/boots (Ugg boots aussie ones of course are great). you will feel a heap warmer with just those two things.

check for gaps under doors, external ones ie and put a towel or get some gap 'dogs' for the job. get a role of clear packing tape and go around your windows and check for leaks, also if you have any air vents cover them in winter.

stand-by uses about $AU 30/year per appliance so you can save by turning these appliances off at the wall. Hot water is also a big user of power. get an attachment for your tap so you can wash your hair separately from taking a shower and thus turn the tap off when not using it. use cold water for clothes washing works just as well, we really don't get that dirty.

there are plenty of little things - check your thermostat in your fridge and turn down now it is colder, get long life fluro bulbs especially for those areas where you have a light on most of the time at night and turn off any that aren't being used. the old style fluro lights use less power to leave them on then to turn on and off as that is where they use up power.... I guess this applies to the single bulbs now available.

oh yeah grab a blanket to cuddle up in while watching TV :D