Tips For Reducing Your Electricity Bill

Unless you've been living in a cave for the last year or so, you may not noticed that there is something of an economic crisis happening. While the US is the worst affected, it's also taking its toll on the average Australian family.

In difficult financial times, it's best to try and spend less, but there are certain things in our lifestyles that are generally unavoidable: and paying utility bills is one of them!

Did you know that 50% of each Australian household's monthly bills (not including rent or a home loan) are spent on gas on electricity? That's a lot of money, and those dollars can ever add up.

Do not fret, there are quite a few ways you can cut back on that electric bill. Not only will you end up with a few extra dollars in your pocket each month, but you'll also be doing your bit to help reduce our carbon footprint. So cutting down on your electricity bill is not only a smart move financially, but you'll also be doing a little bit of green living.

Here are a few simple tips to make sure you're using as little electricity as you can:

Tips on how you can save energy

When it comes to heating your home, make sure you chose the right sized appliance. A small heater will be very inefficient in heating a large space, conversely having a huge heater in a tiny room is overkill.

On a cold day, make sure you keep all doors closed and windows. Make sure you have a good set of curtains. If you have a lot of windows that are really exposed to strong sunlight, especially in summer, then consider tinting them. Tinting can reflect 70% of the sun's heat, which will mean you'll spend less money cooling your house down.

Often you only need to heat rooms which you'll be spending a large amount of time in, such as your lounge room or your bedroom. Do not waste valuable electricity heating rooms such as your bathroom or laundry. Keep these rooms sealed off as much as possible (by shutting doors etc) from the rest of your house, so you do not lose any heat through them.

Warm air is air that you do not have to re-heat, so make sure you can trap it inside. While it looks obvious, hot air rises, and if you have something like an open chimney you're going to lose a lot of that precious heat right up it. Make sure you have chimney dampers. Also make sure that all your doors have effective sealing gaps.

Insulate! For Australians, now has never been a better time to insulate your house, thanks to the new Australian Government rebates, meaning you'll end up spending very little, if anything at all. Insulation will keep your house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. A well insulated house will mean you'll have to spend less time powering those electric hungry appliances to keep your house cool or warm.