Reading your Utility Bill #1

#1 Your Service Plan (At what time of day it is least expensive to use your utilities)

#2 Total Charges for Electricity

#3 Total Electricity Used (KwH)

#4 Average Base Load (Electricity you use everyday, not including cooling or heating)

#5 Divide your Total Charges (#2) by your Total KwH (#3) to get your Cost Per KwH

  

For more information and for answers to all your Landscape, Garden and Home Improvement questions, visit our website, RosieontheHouse.com!  Listen to our Podcast!

Reading your Utility Bill #2

#1 Your Service Plan (At what time of day it is least expensive to use your utilities)

#2 Total Charges for Electricity

#3 Total Electricity Used (KwH)

#4 Average Base Load (Electricity you use everyday, not including cooling or heating)

#5 Divide your Total Charges (#2) by your Total KwH (#3) to get your Cost Per KwH

For more information and for answers to all your Landscape, Garden and Home Improvement questions, visit our website, RosieontheHouse.com! Listen to our Podcast!

Reading your Utility Bill #3

#1 Your Service Plan (At what time of day it is least expensive to use your utilities)

#2 Total Charges for Electricity

#3 Total Electricity Used (KwH)

#4 Average Base Load (Electricity you use everyday, not including cooling or heating)

#5 Divide your Total Charges (#2) by your Total KwH (#3) to get your Cost Per KwH
 
For more information and for answers to all your Landscape, Garden and Home Improvement questions, visit our website, RosieontheHouse.com! Listen to our Podcast!

20 ways to trim your energy bills!

You can turn your home into a more comfortable place to live—and turn your energy bills more manageable—by doing the simplest maintenance on your appliances, air conditioning system and even your faucets and windows.

     Here are 20 routine chores that can make a big difference. For some, you’ll need professional help. But you can do others yourself in a matter of minutes.

1. Turn twice-a-year maintenance on your air conditioning and heating system into a habit. A qualified air conditioner technician (or a plumber, if the furnace is gas-powered) will inspect cabinets, motors, fan blades, the control box, wiring, the blower assembly and other parts as needed, and alert you to any problems-in-the-making that you can take care of before they become disasters.
   
2. Turn off your air conditioner when you run your evaporative cooler—and vice versa. When you run them at the same time, you’ll actually waste energy because the two systems will compete with each other. The evap cooler works by adding moisture to the air, and the a/c works by removing it.
   
3. Turn the evap cooler off altogether when it’s wet outside. Once the dew point reaches 50 degrees or more, an evaporative cooler is not very effective. Tip: Remember the Rule of 140. If the temperature plus the dew point equals 140 or more, then don’t expect much out of your evap. If you have an a/c with a SEER rating of 12 or higher, then go ahead and turn it on.
   
4. Turn on your ceiling fans. Ceiling fans don’t cool the air; they move it around so the air in that room feels cooler. That means you can inch the thermostat up by three to four degrees without noticing a difference in your comfort.
   
5. Turn off your standard light bulbs. As they burn out, replace those energy-inefficient incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. They use 75 percent less energy, so you can save $30 by replacing just one incandescent with a CFL.

Read more...

For answers to this and all of YOUR Landscape, Garden and Home Improvement questions, visit our website, Rosieonthehouse.com

What are some steps I can take to save money on my electric bill by running my pool pump more efficiently?

Sign up with your electric utility for a “time of use” rate plan; both APS and SRP offer them. You’ll pay a reduced rate for electricity if you run your pool pump and other appliances—like your dishwasher or washing machine—during hours of the day when demand for electricity isn’t at its peak.

1. Example: SRP will cut your “off-peak” rate from the standard 11 cents per kilowatt-hour (a measure of electricity use) to around 6.5 cents if you run your pool pump and other appliances between 8 p.m. and 1 p.m. during the summer. If you run the devices between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., you’ll pay more to use the same electricity.

SRP estimates that “time-of-use” customers save up to 7 percent on their electric bills.

2. Run your pool pump less. It’s not necessary to run it around the clock. Most manufacturers recommend running it between eight and 10 hours a day in the summer and about half that in the winter.

3. Put a timer on the pump so it automatically shuts off after those hours, and set it to run only when you’re paying off-peak rates.

Read more...

For more information and for answers to all YOUR Home Improvement, Landscape and Garden questions, visit our website: www.rosieonthehouse.com

Can I add security lighting without raising my energy bill?

Even if you spend a bundle on outdoor security lighting, there’s no need to overspend when you operate it.

Energy-efficient security lights conserve electricity, focus light only on the areas you want to illuminate, and attach to timers or sensors so they switch themselves off when they’re not needed.

Too many outdoor lights shine large amounts of light in every direction--including upward, where the light is wasted, and outward, where it will shine through your neighbor’s windows instead of onto your patio or driveway. Light your yard, not the sky.

Here are Rosie’s tips for more energy-efficient outdoor lighting:

• Install properly shielded overhead security lighting. The shield will concentrate the light, making the best use of it and reducing light pollution.
• Don’t use more light than you need. Too much light can give off an uncomfortable glare, which actually lowers visibility. Shielded lighting will allow you to use a lower wattage bulb and prevent your deck from looking like a stadium.
• With lighting used strictly for security, install a motion sensor instead of leaving it on all night.
• For security, walkway and porch lighting, use fixtures with a timer or photovoltaic cell unit so the lights will turn off in the morning.
• For security lighting, use a low-pressure sodium bulb, which gives off the same amount of light with less wattage. For other lights, switch to compact fluorescent or metal halide bulbs, which are the most energy-efficient.

Read more...

For more information and answers to all your Home Improvement Questions, visit our website:
www.rosieonthehouse.com