.png)
The price of natural gas and other fossil fuels can have a big impact on what you pay in your utility bills even if you don’t have a gas line running into your home. This is because 61% of electricity in the U.S is still produced using natural gas or coal (The rest is split almost evenly between renewable and nuclear energy.
Millions of people have felt first-hand how market shocks can have a big effect on your utility bill. With the war in Ukraine, the natural gas supply from Russia was all but cut off, putting pressure on gas and oil prices. From June 2020 to August 2022, natural gas prices shot up by more than 500%. When a winter storm hit Texas in February of 2021 demand for electricity went up, and so did everyone’s electricity bill as utility providers struggled to keep up with demand. Any sudden shift in the demand and supply curves, from local or global market shocks can leave you with a surprise utility bill in the thousands. The best way to hedge against these surprise events and the risk of high utility bills, is by transitioning away from natural gas entirely. We will cover how to transition away from gas in a separate blog post (stay tuned), meanwhile, here are five ways you can lower your utility bill.
There are easy, low-cost, and quick things you can do to reduce your utility bills today, like making sure all your lightbulbs are LED. LED uses up to 90% less electricity than conventional light bulbs and last longer too. You can do what your parents might have told you all along, and turn off unused lights and devices, but an even bigger impact would be to lower your thermostat’s temperature by one or two degrees. If you don’t already have a heat pump, a smart thermostat can help you set temperatures for different times of day, day of week, or when you are away. If you want to make a bigger dent in your utility bills, you will have to consider making some more long term investments in your home and the big energy guzzlers in your home.
Breakdown of electricity usage in a typical U.S. household: Source: eia.gov
If you have an AC in your home, you can blame it for a good chunk of your utility bill. The other half of the blame goes to your heating appliances and furnace. On average, about 30% of your electricity bill goes toward heating and cooling your home. Heatpumps are a proven technology that is catching on as utility prices keep going up. This is because they can not only heat your house during colder months, they can also work in reverse and cool your house down during hot months. They are incredibly efficient and can cut your heating/cooling bill in half. If you have AC units, or oil and gas furnaces, you have big potential savings ahead by going with a heatpump, but even electric heating is incredibly inefficient. Electric furnaces are in many ways just giant toasters with a fan blowing hot air through your house and baseboards heaters that radiate heat into the a single room are even worse. If you can afford it, consider upgrading your home with a heatpump, you will find they give extra comfort, control, are quieter, cheaper, and often increase the resell value of your home.
The second biggest energy user in your home is your water heater. This is because they are giant tanks of hot water that are always standing by with 40-80 gallons of hot water. Traditionally, electric coils inside the water heater, or gasburners are used to heat up the water and keep it hot, and they are wasting a lot of energy. In the past few years, so-called hybrid water heaters have hit the market. They are still water tanks, but instead of being heated by an electric coil or gas burner, they have a small, efficient heatpump on top of the tank that heats up the water. Many of them also have smart controls so you can turn down the heat during certain hours of the day or while you are on vacation. Hybrid water heaters use somewhere between a third and a fifth of a conventional electric water heater.
Big appliances that cool or heat something, tend to use the most energy. Your refrigerator and freezers is a great place to start if you are looking to replace or upgrade some of your appliances. Do your research beforehand though, these purchases tend to happen when one of them have failed and you are scrambling to replace it before all your food goes bad. Go measure the sizes now and figure out what you would replace it with. Go for appliances with energystar certification and look at the yellow labels that indicate how many Kwh you should expect it to use over a year. The labels are no guarantee but they are good for comparing different units.
Many of use use a tumble dryer to dry our clothes and if you have gotten used to one, they can be hard to live without. However, dryers do use up a lot of energy, and if you are looking to lower your utility bill, it’s a great place to focus. If you are replacing it, go for one that has energystar rating, but if you own one, consider drying clothes by hanging on a rack or on a clothing line outside. Not only will your clothes last longer, it will also help reduce your electricity bill. Get a good drying rack that makes it easy for you to hang your clothes. Investing in good habits is always a good idea. Remember, even if you only hang half your clothes that’s still a 50% saving..
Making these investments now, will not only reduce your electricity bill and carbon footprint, they will also make your home more comfortable and reduce the risk of unexpected utility bills.
.png)