It can be overwhelming to incur a higher than normal electricity bill each month. While it’s easy to blame your energy provider for the hike up, your bill is likely to be high because of your usage.
At Boulder Electrical, we will help identify reasons behind the high electrical bills and offer solutions. Typically, here are some of the most common culprits of high electricity bill:
Idle Plug-Ins
One major contributor to high electrical bills is leaving your appliances or electronics plugged in when not in use. These appliances don’t really shut down completely. When you press the “Power” button on your computer or television, the appliance will transition to a standby mode so that it can turn back on much faster.
Letting Vampire Appliances Bleed You Dry
Some big appliances like cloth dryers, dishwashers, and cloth washers generally use a lot of electrical power to work effectively. Therefore, using them frequently can drive your electricity bill way up. So run your dishwasher at least once a day and wash your clothes once or twice a week.
Misusing Lights
Lighting is effective when used to provide light to a specific room, such as kitchen tables and couches. Individual lamps are better for providing the light you need instead of ceiling lights. Besides, your electric bill is likely to spike if you keep lights on when nobody’s using them.
Old Appliances
All things have a lifespan where they work effectively, after which they start to wear off. The wearing off of your appliances leads to power leaks and taking in too much power to perform its functions. The outcome is a high electrical bill at the end of the month.
Climatic Change
A change in weather will prompt you to use either a heating or cooling system in your home. Using room heaters, water heaters, or livestock heaters significantly increases your energy consumption in the cold season. Running a dehumidifier and watering your lawns in the hot months will also increase your energy use.
Use of Non-Energy Efficient Light bulbs
Energy-efficient light bulbs are slightly expensive than other bulbs. However, they are a necessary expense if you want to cut down on your electrical costs. The LED light bulbs use up to 90% less energy than other light bulbs.
Owning many Electrical Appliances
The more gadgets you own, the more energy you are likely to use. Cell phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes, and a whole lot of similar devices will definitely cost more in electricity bills.
Solutions to Fix High Electricity Bills
Make use of power strips: Connect all your electrical devices to power strips and turn off the strips when not in use. This trick will cuts off the power supply to your appliances completely.
It will also help if you charge your devices when unnecessary. Overcharging not only adds up to your energy bill but also shortens your gadget’s battery life.
Replace old appliances: Replace old electrical appliances with the modern ones. Unlike the old makes, modern devices have power control options. You can also contact a professional technician to carry out a yearly inspection to ascertain that your electrical appliances are in good working condition.
Routine maintenance services: Your heating and cooling system may work harder to draw air when its filter is clogged. It’s therefore advisable to change the filters frequently to make it more cost-efficient.
Proper usage of lighting: Be sure to turn off the lights in rooms that are no longer in use. Also, use energy-efficient CFL bulbs to save on power.