Trimming Energy Costs - More Progress

Today our electric bill came and I am pleased to say that the bill is down. Finally our utility bills are under $500/month. That is almost a 17% savings compared to last March and a 23% savings compared to March 07. We are making progress in spite of increases in the cost of gas and electricity.

It is hard to say exactly what changes are responsible for the savings, but I suspect the insulating of our attic is a major contributor. We are using less gas for sure, but because our burner cycles on less often we must also be saving electricity. Check out the National Grid programs. We received a 75% rebate on the cost of the insulation job so the net cost was less than $700. It looks like the payback will be less than a year. That is a great deal.

We have also installed CFL light bulbs in all our high use fixtures and we seldom use our outside lights since we added our solar lamp post light out front.

Now that we are seeing some progress from our energy efficiency efforts, I am motivated to do more. I know that my old refrigerator downstairs should go, but I am not prepared to replace or do without it, yet.

Using my kill-a-watt monitor I discovered that my TV/Cable/VCR consumes over $20/month in electricity even when it is off. So I think my next step will be to put the whole set up on a power strip and shut it off completely when we are not watching it. And I am thinking I will make more of an effort to turn off my computer equipment each night, but that will be a bit more of a challenge.

Visit www.ComfortAndSavings.com for products that can help you trim your energy bills.

Check out the NSTAR and National Grid rebate programs. They have a free service where they will send an efficiency expert to help you determine energy saving steps that make the most sense for your household. They may provide you with some free CFLs and possibly coupons to help you replace some old appliances with energy star appliances.