If you’re living in an apartment you may think that there are very few ways that you can lower your electric bill and, if you do, you’d be dead wrong. The simple fact is that, while you can’t do much about low quality construction, inadequate insulation or energy-sucking old appliances, there are quite a few ways that you can reduce your electric bill in any apartment for little or no investment cost. With that in mind here are some excellent tips to help you lower your apartment electric bill. Enjoy.
- Depending on what your idea of an ‘investment’ is, purchasing new, high efficiency LED light bulbs may be a big one or it may not be. While they use a fraction of the energy that incandescent bulbs use, these new, high-efficiency bulbs can be quite a bit more expensive. The good thing is that they last much longer than the old type bulbs and can reduce your electric usage, at least as far as your lighting is concerned, by up to 25%. Even better, you can take them with you whenever you decide to move into a home or switch apartments.
- Of course no amount of high-efficiency light bulbs are going to save you money if you constantly leave lights burning all over the house, even when you’re not in the room. Simply put, a light that doesn’t burn can use no energy so, when you leave the room, turn it off.
- The optimum thermostat settings are 78°F in the summer and 68°F in the winter. While some people may not find these temperatures comfortable the fact is that they will cut your energy bill drastically and save you money. If you’re too cold at this temperature in the winter you can easily put on an extra layer of clothes and, conversely, if you’re too hot in summer you can certainly shed some clothes if you’re so inclined to keep cool.
- Rather than using air-conditioning in the summer using several fans to keep air moving and a slight breeze going will save your energy, help evaporate sweat and actually can make you feel cooler. Remember that, like the lights, it’s best to turn the fan off in any room if you’re not there as its cooling power generally is best when you are nearby and fans don’t particularly cool a room all that efficiently.
- An excellent way to keep your electric bill on the low side is to use insulating curtains on all of the big windows in your apartment. In winter these thick curtains will act as a barrier between the heated air in your apartment and the cold outside air. In summer they will act as a barrier as well by keeping the hot summer sun out of your apartment and lowering your air-conditioning bills. Not only are they an excellent energy saving device but they are quite cheap and are a very small investment that can pay off quickly.
- Just like if you lived in a house, plugging drafts in your apartment is a great way to lower your energy bills due to loss of heated or air-conditioned air. You can find draft plugging kits for windows and doors at most any home care center and they are easy to install with basic tools. Especially in winter it’s a great idea to seal in the areas that are leaky if you want to keep your electric bill in line and low.
As you can see there are quite a few things that you can actually do to start saving money right away on your apartment’s electric bill. Start using these tips today and before you know it you’ll have a few extra bucks to put in savings or put towards your retirement account. We hope you enjoyed this little blog and we invite you to come back soon for more See you then.