Air Conditioning Bill Savings

The best way to reduce your utility bill this summer is to reduce heat in your home. Here are some tips below that are proven to help reduce the workload on your air conditioning solution. The following tips from HVAC PROS will get you started. High energy bill? Learn how the typical utility bill is broken down.

12 Ways to Save Money on Your Air Conditioning Bill this Summer

1. Adjust Your Thermostat to a Higher Temperature Whenever You Can – Generally, you can save about 3% on your bill for every degree that you set your thermostat higher. Use a programmable thermostat to adjust the temperature when you are not home. Raise the temperature one degree at a time and give it a week. Try it again for a second week. Eventually, you’ll reach a level you can live with comfortably, and you will save money. It’s a thermostat myth that raising the thermostat for a few hours will take more energy to cool the house back to the desired temperature. By raising the temperature while you are gone all day, you can remove a house full of heat at one time when you get home, rather many times throughout the day.

2. Upgrade to a Smart Home Thermostat – Then you can adjust the temperature on your way home from work! We can install these and help you configure them.

3. Replace Air Filters – Check the filters monthly. The cost of running your unit with a dirty filter outweighs the cost of replacing them monthly. If you have pets that shed, consider replacing them more often than other people. Home Depot has most common filters for as little as $5 each.

4. Use Fans – Ceiling fans can make it feel 3-5 degrees cooler than it actually is in the room. A ceiling fan can cost about a penny an hour to run. This means you could run 30 ceiling fans for the same cost as central air conditioning.

5. Close Your Curtains, Drapes & Blinds – Direct sunlight can warm a room by 10 degrees in a few short hours.

6. Evaluate Your Heat-Producing Electronics – Incandescent light bulbs produce more heat than compact fluorescent. TVs and computers can also put out heat, even if they are energy efficient. Turn them off when not in use. These “vampire energy charges” account for $10 billion in wasted utility spending annually (according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Video games, television sets, computers, printers, and other electronics can be plugged into smart power strips that power down when not in use.

7. Check Your Bill for Peak Hour Usage – This varies by area, so check with your utility company. Time of use rates are based on the time of day you use the most energy. Avoid peak hours. Kilowatt Per Hour charges usually increase (almost double), during Peak Hours. This is when everyone is at home using electric. Between 4 pm and 8 pm, or in the morning 7 am to 10 am. Try to avoid using electric during these times and you will see a reduction in your bill.

8. Weather-strip – Leaky doors and windows.

9. Energy-Efficient AC Unit – Install it in the shade – it requires more energy if it’s in the sun.

10. Clean AC Unit – Remove leaves and dirt off central air conditioning units.

11. Close Off Unused Areas – Don’t cool areas of the house that you don’t use. Close doors and air registers to control the flow.

12. Run Appliances At Night – when it’s cooler outside. Your air conditioning unit won’t have to work as hard to cool the house down. If you run most of your appliances after 8 pm, most PECO customers will be in what’s known as “Off-Peak” hours. This means that your kilowatt per hour price will drop almost in half.