When summer heat starts hitting southeastern Pennsylvania, keeping your home cool and comfortable can send your energy bills through the roof, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Getting lower electric bills in Chester County, PA is often as simple as employing the right strategies at the right time.
Here at New London Electric, we believe that homeowners shouldn’t have to sacrifice their wallets just to stay comfortable during the hottest months of the year. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you stay cool without breaking the bank. So, if you’re sick of high electricity bills, here are some summer energy tips to help you enjoy a cool and affordable summer.
Understanding Where Your Energy Goes
To effectively lower your energy consumption, it’s crucial to first identify the specific areas where electricity is being used and potentially wasted. In summer, air conditioning can account for up to half of your home’s total electricity usage. However, issues like inefficient lighting, outdated appliances, and inadequate insulation can exacerbate this, leading to even higher bills. Pinpointing these problem areas is the first and most important step towards finding solutions and reducing your overall energy costs.
Improve Air Conditioning Efficiency
Air conditioning is by far one of the biggest consumers of energy in any Chester County home in summer, but there are a few things that you can do to make your air conditioning system more efficient.
Replacing air filters and scheduling seasonal maintenance is an easy first step. This ensures that your air conditioning system will be able to perform at its peak during the hot summer months. However, if your air conditioning system is more than 10 years old and you’re not opposed to the investment, installing a new, more energy-efficient air conditioning system has the biggest potential to reduce cooling costs.
Use a Smart Thermostat
Another easy way to lower your electric bills is to install a smart thermostat. Smart thermostats are becoming increasingly popular because they use smart technology to learn your habits and your household’s patterns to strategically adjust the temperature throughout the day. Smart thermostats offer all sorts of useful customization tools, and by fine-tuning these settings, you could save up to 10% on your electricity bill.
Seal Drafts and Windows
To significantly lower summer cooling expenses without sacrificing comfort, homeowners can focus on improving their home’s insulation. Sealing small gaps and cracks around doors and windows with weatherstripping or caulk can prevent cold air from escaping. Additionally, replacing older windows with energy-efficient double-pane options can further enhance insulation, minimize drafts, and improve your home’s ability to retain cool air.
Install Energy-Efficient Lighting and Appliances
While lighting doesn’t use nearly as much energy as air conditioning systems, old, outdated incandescent bulbs can waste a lot of unnecessary energy while also producing a surprising amount of heat. By replacing these old lights with more energy-efficient LED lighting homeowners can keep their homes cooler while also using up 75% less electricity on lighting.
The same goes for appliances. Older appliances tend to use a lot more electricity than newer ones, so installing new, more energy-efficient appliances can also save you a ton of money on electricity if you’re willing to make the investment.
Maximize Shade, Insulation, and Natural Cooling
You may be surprised by just how much energy you can save by simply using the right shade and insulation tips to manage sunlight and airflow throughout your home. Keeping blinds and curtains shut during the day can block much of the heat that would otherwise enter your home, reducing the need to run air conditioning systems as hard. Along the same lines, opening up your windows at night when it’s coolest can also cool down your home much more efficiently than AC ever could.
Even something as simple as adding trees to your landscape or installing awnings or exterior shades to your home can significantly reduce how hot your home gets during the day, cutting the amount of time you need to run your air conditioner to stay cool.
Use Your Electricity Wisely: Peak vs. Off-Peak Hours
Understanding how electricity rates fluctuate throughout peak and off-peak hours can also help you make smarter decisions about when and how you consume power. While you’ll undoubtedly have to use some appliances and lighting during peak hours, if you can avoid using your most power-hungry appliances until off-peak hours, you’ll be taking a big step toward lower electric bills.
Schedule a Professional Home Energy Audit
If you aren’t sure what the problem is and want to figure out why it’s so hard for you to lower your electric bills, seeking out an electrician to perform a comprehensive energy audit is an easy way to get answers. These professional inspections can identify even the tiniest leaks and inefficiencies in your electrical and cooling systems, allowing you to take targeted measures to correct them.
Contact New London Electric Today
Are you looking for ways to lower your electric bills in Chester County, PA? Give us a call, or contact us on our website, newlondonelectric.com. Our team of electrical experts is always here to answer questions and will happily give you some additional summer energy-saving tips to help you along the way. We can even help you schedule a home energy audit so that you figure out exactly how much electricity you’re using and where it’s being spent.
Don’t settle for unreasonably high summer electric bills when you don’t have to. Contact New London Electric and take the first step toward lower electric bills today.
