5 Energy Bill Mistakes Utility Companies Hope You Keep Making

Go get your last electric bill and look at the number at the bottom. The power company is happy for you to believe that number is the weather, or just the price of things now. It is not. Most of it is five habits scattered through your house that nobody at the utility has any reason to fix, because every one of them lands on their side of the ledger. Mi amigo, not one of these five is a repair. Every fix is free, or twelve dollars. In this video: • #1 THE THERMOSTAT is a target, not a gas pedal. Cooling and heating are close to half the bill, and dropping it to 65 does not cool the house faster than 75. It only runs the machine longer • #2 THE WATER HEATER is about a fifth of the bill and it comes from the factory at 140 degrees. Turn the dial to 120 (breaker off first on an electric tank), and the honest bacteria caveat for a house with a sick, elderly or newborn member • #3 THE RATE PLAN they never offered you: most utilities have a time-of-use plan where power is far cheaper off-peak. The flat rate is the default because it is easiest for them. You have to call and ask • Never run the dryer while the house sleeps, even on the cheap rate • #4 THE ALWAYS-ON TAX: 30 or 40 boxes sipping at once eat 5 to 10 percent of the bill. Cable boxes and consoles in instant-on are the worst. One switched power strip per corner • What NOT to unplug, and the miracle gadget with the green light that does nothing • #5 THE TWELVE-DOLLAR PLUG-IN METER that catches your vampire red-handed: the old garage freezer, the spare TV, the surround sound • Who profits when you do not know: the flat rate, the extra degrees, the glowing boxes, the gadget aisle I am not a licensed electrician or a licensed anything, and I never claim to be. Turn the breaker off before opening any panel on an electric water heater. If your bill barely moves after all five, the problem is a machine, not a habit, and that is a different conversation. Tell me in the comments: your state, how old your house is, and once you buy the little meter, what your vampire turned out to be. I read every one. My wife's channels: Clean The Mexican Way · Cook The Mexican Way