This tip comes from my reader Mary who is lucky enough to live in an area that has a reduced rate for off peak electrical use. My electrical company does not offer that, but yours might! Be sure to call and ask.
Here in Arizona the Electricity Department offers a discounted rate if you use electricity on non peak hours. This helps with the draw of power during the peak…many of us use automatic thermostats that adjust at set times to help in decreasing the use of the air conditioner when no one is present in the home, along with other major appliances like the dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers (I prefer using the sun method). Having a delay setting on both the dishwasher and the washing machine can greatly increase your energy savings and is becoming standard on all front loading washers. Currently, they offer a discounted rate from 7pm until 11:59am the following day, along with the discounted rate on Saturday, Sunday and several major holidays through out the year. I am a stay at home mom and like to play the game of how low can I get my electric bill. While it is nothing for people in Arizona to have a $400-$500 bill for an average home of 2500sq ft, I am happy to say that I have never had one go above $300 (and I live in a two story home). I look forward to my monthly bill to show me that I am well below the average for the homes in my area. Making some small adjustments to your lifestyle can change the money you pay out greatly!
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raggedgarden says
Hey…we have been on a peak energy saving program for over 15 years…we home schooled…it was 1/2 priced electricity…how could we pass that up. It was very unpopular in our county and at one point we were the only family still on this program and they told us is we went off of it that would end it never to return. Our sons are in grad school but the savings are so great we are still on the program!
Mary M says
My electric company does not have a monthly fee to use the peak usage rate…It actually varies from neighborhood to neighborhood out here. Our electric bill in the winter months runs about 60-80 a month…with it being up to 360 in the summer (usually about 1 month and then the other 2 months around 280). I think any state that you are in if you average them out it ends up being around the same amount annually. Our electric company shows on a graph the average usage of homes in the area. I think if you try to stay on the low end, you should feel good about how well you are doing!
Amber says
Wow! We have never had a bill above $190. We have an 1800 sq ft house with electric everything, including heat. And it gets below zero here during the winter. I guess it depends on the power company you have.
Sharon says
Make sure you do the math on these programs. In our area we have an “energy plan” option but it requires a monthly fee and then the customer is charged different rates for different times of the day. We tried this program for a year, but did not save any money once we factored in the monthly fee. I was tired of the lifestyle change (doing laundry and dishes certain hours, cutting back on AC other hours) that we actually dropped this program and have not seen a difference in our bill.
renee says
Wow . I am on the “budget plan” so I pay the same amount each month and my elect bill, with a/c, is only $59/month….But I live in Michigan!