10 + DIY Ways We Reduced Our Electric Bill
by
John @ AZ DIY Guy
(IC: blogger)
Our electricity bill has been dropping for years. It's the result of a combination of little and big DIY things we've done around the house that has added up to real savings, despite increases from the utility company.
Here is our kWh average usage for the last three summers, May through August. Mind you, this is in Phoenix, AZ where cooling is our biggest expense in the summer. We're gaining on it!
By simply replacing the two 60w incandescents in our ceiling fan, with four LED can lights during the family room remodel, we more than doubled out light for less than half the energy usage. Plus, these lamps are cooler, reducing the overall heat our costly AC has to battle.
We saved 204 watts when we replaced our outdoor fixtures with LED lighting. It also increased the overall brightness.
By adding an automated lighting controller to our exterior lighting, we stopped accidentally leaving our lights on all day when we departed in the dark, early mornings. It allowed us to keep the nighttime security for our cars parked in the driveway.
I swapped old-school magnetic ballasted T-12 florescent fixtures for newer electronic ballasted T-8 fixtures in my garage workshop. When I did this a year ago, the new LED strip fixtures were not as affordable, but I still save a whopping 964 watts!
Adding a good layer of insulation and sealing it when we replaced the horrible ceiling of our family room made a noticeable difference instantly. We can enjoy the room during the hottest days of a Phoenix summer
In August of 2012, our average monthly bill was $285.00. Two years later, our average monthly bill is down to $ 175.00, a huge savings of $110.00 per month! That's worth a lot of fancy coffee's eh?
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Published September 16th, 2014 10:55 PM
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2 of 11 comments
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Mary Seymour on Mar 22, 2015Changed all the bulbs in the house with the new ones, bill dropped 30 bucks a month,got a new 14 seer A/C , bill cut by 40%, it is worth it to get rid of the old A/C s.
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Virginia-Ted Rye on Mar 04, 2016I use a clothes line when possible outside. If I do use the dryer, I take clothes out and finish drying in the house. A lot of days even in the winter this works.
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John White on Jul 20, 2018
Great DIY ideas to save money by reducing electricity bills. If you want to know more about energy saving on air conditioners then follow the blog http://blog.whitemechanical.com/top-5-ways-to-conserve-energy-and-save-on-your-air-conditioner-bill/
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