what are your ways to lessen your electric bill charges?

There are several ways to lesson eletric charges. However it depends on how commited you are in doing them. I can give you a list of suggestions set forth by my local power compnay Florida power and light (FPL). One of the first things the suggest is to not and I mean DO NOT pre-rinse dishes if you have a dishwasher. Let the machine do its job and clean your dishes, that's why it exists. Second: Turn off any fans when leaving the house or room. This is especially important for celing fans. In w summer run your AC only when you have to, and if possible, keep the temp set between 76 and 78 farinhight. In winter, don't run your heater unless you have too (unless its gass powered) then it won't eat up your eletric. Turn off unused lights when not in a room. Use low watage, engery saver lcd bulbs instead of generic ones. They are not only enverontmentally friendly, but last longer and use a lot less eletric power to run them vurses a standard 60 wat bulb most people use in their homes. If your stove/oven has a timer, don't use it. battery powered or spring-loaded ones are more effective. I even have a large tatical timer that I use, or I do the math in my head. If you have eletrical gagets, unplug them if they aren't being charged. And most importantly relax. Most of the charges on your bill aren't actually usage charges. Each eletric provider has their own taxes and fees that are fixed and apend to your actual eletric usage. Most people use a lot less eletric then they think, but its the hidden feas that you pay for that make that bill high. Next eletric bill you get...read it very carefully, a properally written bill will display in detail what you're getting charged for watage, and what fees and taxes you pay. For example I pay a tax for several (seemingly useless ) things. I have to pay a "storm" charge for example because I live in florida. For example, the charge for my watcage was only 64.40, but with taxes, and service charges it was 75. So see? about 50 is normal, and that's for two people living in a "so-called Large" one-bed apartment.

To save money on the electrib bill, we would unplug the appliances that we don't use. They say that even if we don't use the appliances, they still consume a little as long as they are plugged into those electric outlets at home. So, whenever we are not using any of the appliances at home, we simply pull them out. My mom also considers the fact that if there are lots of people at home, most of them would use the appliances, televisiont to watch shows, the fans to cool down during hot times which often happen during the noon time. I have taken that habit as well, so whenever something is not really being used, I unplug it.

we do not turn on the aircon, and we used to fans in our room instead of an aircon. i also bought a lampshade in the dining area, so that when we will be using the dining only for 1-2 minutes, i just turn on the lamp shade instead of the 32-w light..

One of the ways I have lessen my electric bill is to shut off lights if I am not using them and turn off the tv if I am not watching it. I did read on this site called thrifty fun, one lady put all her plugs in surge protectors if she could and when it was time to go to bed she flicked everything off. When I am not using my computer I either put it to sleep or in hibernation. If the computer is really warm, I will totally shut off the computer and go do something else. When I leave the house for work, I make sure that both air purifiers are turned off and make sure there is nothing to cause a surge. I am thinking of scheduling with my electric company to have someone come out and check my meter so I get the best deal on my electric usage.

Electricity bills depend on many things. In my country we don´t really need central heating in winter. So I havea gas heaterwhere my computer is and 2 in the living-dining room area. As I´m mostly at the computer, that is the only heat a have on for part of the day. I wear thick clothes and woollen socks over panties. I have a dawn bedspread so I don´t need heating in my bedroom. I never iron my clothes and hang them in hangers to dry (I havent used my dryer for over 10 years). In winter I put them in the bathroom. There I have a small electric heater and it helps to dry clothes. I changed my electric bulbs everywhere expect in places where I would read. There are those that are electricity savers. As for the meter, if you feel it could be working badly, maybe you can call the company to make them check it. I hope this helps.Luck!

In lessening electric bill charges, the first thing I did was to replace my light bulb to a minimal watts consumption. They are energy savers and have a longer span usage. I also unplug some appliances I used and make clean my ref regularly. Especially when there are many stacked up ice in the frozen section. I also iron clothes in one time to minimized electrical consumption and it will save energy.

we keep our heat down (whats wrong with wearing a sweater around the house?) we use a lot of candles (so we dont use lights) plus we turn off lights when we are not using them.

I would switch off the mains for my TV and radios and lights when I go to sleep. especially when I travel for a few days. apparently the 'standby' electricity charge can amount to quite a bit over the months. I wouldn't switch off my fridge cos I'd be worried that the food would go bad, or my ice cubes would melt and lump together when they refreeze...

Hi flagella, One thing that really, really draws a lot of electricity is an old refrigerator that runs a lot. For a while my electric was extremely high and a big part of the reason for that was my refrigerator. I finally convinced the landlord to replace it and what a difference it made. Ok to save, I shut off all lights that I'm not using. At night, if we are just on the computer or watching tv, I have nightlights rather than the regular lights. I unplug all my appliances when I am not using them. I am very very careful with the hot water because the hot water heater really umps up the electric bill. I do laundry in cold water.

One thing I do is to do laundry only once a week. I feel that the dryer wouldn't take up as much energy if it keeps heated up only once a week, rather than a few times a week. Another thing I do is I shut of the heaters as soon as it's warm enough where we wouldn't need it. Then the heater stays off as long as we can stand the chill when the weather turns cold again. I'm also going to line dry my clothes when it starts warming up. This will definitely save money there.

hi gella, really by the first of month by seeing all the bills we get scared and feel that have we used this much of power or anything. Nowadays I am taking much care of shutting off lights even making kids to learn that. Before they leave the place to make sure that they switch off lights and come out or leave. Even the water heater not like just on and leave it off just before going for bath switching it on and making use of water. Computer , Tv if not in use just put off them instead of keeping it on and roaming here and there. By doing taking care definitely we can reduce the bills.

Any electrical equipment consumes electricity even when it is in the turned off position. Since most of the modern appliances like t.v. set, have a hibernate mode that does not completely turn off till it is plugged into the power switch. So be sure that after watching your favorite show on TV, unplug it. This way I save a lot of electricity and lessen my bills!!

I have to say my electric bill is really not bad but I do keep all applicances unplugged if not in use. I only keep a light on in the room that I am. When I watch TV in my bedroom I usually only keep the TV on and watch in the dark. I also have all energy saving applicances from the Fridge to the washer and dryer. I also completely shut down the computer when not in use. I hardly iron clothes because I take the clothes out of the dryer right away and hang up to avoid wrinkles.

hello there.... nice topic! well one way to lessen the electricity bill is lessen the use of computer....hahaha.... but kidding aside... we use fabric conditioner to our clothes,by using this there are few clothes that will be iron.or when no one is inside a room we switch off the light.if nobody is using the fan,air con, or other appliances TURN IT OFF. by doing this we lessen our electric bill. bye bye! have a nice day..

I do not do anything special to cut off my electricity bill. I just take care that all my gadgets are being judiciously used. I turn off lights, fans, etc when not in use. This I do not follow at my home only. I follow this at my office or any other place wherever I go. I dont like wastage, whether it is of electricity or anything else. My husband monitors the meter reading carefully and reports if there are any issues. He is very careful at that. These are some common practices, where we try to cut off on our bills.

first of all, i always see to it that i've unplugged every electric appliance if not in use. i turn off my fridge at 10pm coz im sure it will stay cool until the next day. our clothes are being ironed all at the same time for one day. when drying clothes, i unsqueeze those jeans before hanging them to dry.(i wash clothes manually) this way, it wont be necessary to iron them and you'll be surprised coz it will look like you've ironed it so well! whenever i wake up at 3am, i turn off the aircon. happy mylotting flagella08

Mine too is quite significant and I have been taking steps to minimise my electric bill .Well in the past I normally allow my Tv to play even though I am concentrating on my laptop.In addition I have started to plug out my refridgerator during the nights and days when I am at home.I also freeze a bottle of water and take it out so I dont have to go in the fridge all the time

That is funny you ask because as I am reading the heading I am also looking a my electric bill...weirdly enough my bill is actually about $20 cheaper than previous months and I am not really sure why because we had our christmas lights up since the weekend of Thanksgiving and also we are turning our lights on a lot earlier because of it getting darker sooner so it is hard to believe but hey I will take it no matter what the reason... As for things I do to try and save is to obvious try and make sure that my lights are turned off when I am not using them and then I also unplug items from the outlet when they are not being used..I have heard that that will help save on 10% of your bill...

I hope my suggestion would help somehow. If you are not using the appliances, see to it that you unplug the switch. Even if the appliaces are not turn on there is still minimal flow of electricity that is being charge. Then if you iron your clothes, make a schedule of ironing your clothes once a week. These are simple ways but it can really help.

We have all but one light off, when it is time for bed, nothing is to be on during the day, if noone is anyof the bedrooms. Everytime someone flicks a light on and off, we charge them 50 cents, and everything gets turned off at bedtime. Lights don't come on until about 6pm due to being able to see the rest of of the day.