Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Cut Your Buffalo NY Electric Bill by 32%



Thats what we've done in the past two months and it didnt take much time or effort. From 80.00 two months ago, down to 54.00. Here's the simple steps to save on electric so you can put that money in your gas tank:
When we opened our bill 2 months ago and it read $80.00 I was shocked. Granted I work from home and I'm on the computer all day, but 80 bucks seemed ridiculous. So we took action. from that day, I unplugged cords that normally sat plugged in (cell phone and computer charger) and turned off things that were normally left on (modem, printer, lights and computer) Typically, if I was running out to a meeting or something, I'd leave all that stuff on because Im coming right back in an hour or so and why bother.
The next bill came and just like that our bill went from 80 to 63. To be honest, it is a bit of a pain, but its also 200 bucks a year we threw away.
This month I took the plunge and replaced about 10 regular light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. The cost of the bulbs were app. 15 bucks total but they last 3-5 times longer and use 10-15% of the energy a typical bulb uses. I made up that last sentence. I can't remember the percentages, but when I read them, it seemed pretty impressive at the time. And those numbers all seemed pretty impressive just now. We still unplug things not in use. The bill came and...
bam, 54 bucks this month. So our overall savings already paid for the bulbs.
The only downside is getting used to the light from the bulbs. It is different, but after a couple hours, you adjust and alls well.
What other ideas are out there?
Of course, now that summer is in full swing here and I do have an AC unit we'll see how long I can hold out on those humid nights.

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