I'm hoping you've found the last couple of posts helpful when it comes to understanding your electricity bills. Next, we are going to start looking at some energy efficiency improvements that you can make for less than $100 that you can start doing today. By themselves, the savings may not look like much but when you add them all together, you will notice a difference.
Let's start with your electric water heater. The same tip applies to gas water heaters also, but it tends to be less of an issue since gas is much less expensive. And the nice thing is it won't cost you anything. :-)
In any case, find out the temperature setting on your water heater. The average setting is 140 degrees. But that's really too high. At that setting, you end up wasting a lot of energy in standby heat losses. But the real killer is that this high setting contributes directly to those demand charges we discussed in my last post.
By setting your water heater temperature between 120 degrees and 130 (between the "A" and the "B" shown in the photo), you can potentially save $100 - $200 annually by cutting down on the standby heat losses and demand charges.
You should not go below 120 degrees because doing so could allow for the spread of bacteria. It also increases the chances of scaling.
The photo shows the thermostat on my water heater. Notice that the temperature is set well below 120 degrees (the "A" setting). That's because I have a solar water heater. That tank is out of the frame to the left. The tank with this timer is basically a storage tank. So I because I have two tanks full of water being heated by the sun instead of the primary fuel source (natural gas, in my case), I never run out and it doesn't cost me any extra money.
But the main point is to check your water heater setting and adjust it s low as is comfortable for you while keeping it at or above 120 degrees. This will allow you to save money safely.
Today, I wanted to go over a very important line item on most energy bills. This will help you get a better understanding of how you are being charged so you can start taking steps to reduce your costs.
I have attached a photo from an APS utility bill. If we take a closer look at the first one, you will see that there are a ton of line items showing the various charges. This is actually a small bill from one of my commercial clients, but the residential bills have pretty much the same line items.
The third line down shows what's referred to as a demand charge. Yesterday, we spoke about On Peak and Off Peak charges. The demand charge is an extra charge where customers have pay a certain amount based on their highest power usage in an hour during a given month. If that maximum usage comes during the On Peak time (between 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM year around), then your bill could wind up being sky high for that month.
Two of the three residential APS Time Of Use plans include demand charges. And they can range anywhere from $8.40 to $17.39 per kW. On this bill, the total charge is $263.19. The demand charge was based on 31kW. . Remember that this is a business account. But it's not uncommon to see demand charges for residential accounts in the three digit range.
The key takeaway is you don't want your demand charges to occur during your On Peak times. Otherwise, you end up paying way more money to the utility company than is necessary.
That's all for today. I hope you are finding this information helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day! 🙂
To follow up on our discussion from yesterday, I am going to use my own utility bill to answer the three questions I posted.
1.) With my rate plan, the rates are higher between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. They are referred to as "On Peak Charges" For all other hours as well as on all day on weekends and designated holidays, Off Peak Charges apply.
2.) The difference between On Peak and Off Peak charges does vary depending on the time of year. My utility company breaks the year up into three seasons:
Winter (Nov - Apr). This is when the rates are least expensive: $0.0738 per kWh Off Peak and $0.1063 per kWh On Peak.
Summer (May, Jun, Sep & Oct). The Off Peak rates are $0.0829 per kWh and $0.2895 per kWh On Peak.
Summer Peak (Jul & Aug): This is the most expensive season. Off Peak rates are $0.0853 per kWh. On Peak rates are $0.344.
So you can see that in the Summer Peak season, the On Peak rates are basically four times higher than off peak. Therefore, it makes sense for me to limit my usage during the high peak times has much as possible.
3.) Regarding my rate plan, I selected what is called the EZ-3 Plan for my residence. It is a Time Of Use plan, but with shorter hours. This is a good fit for household where there is usually someone home all day. My provider also has a basic plan, a different Time Of Use plan that has longer, but different On Peak times. The majority of those hours line up with when there is no one at home. This is common when both spouses work away from home. You need to check with your provide to see what works best for you.
So that's it for today. I encourage you to get the answers to these three questions. This will give you a good starting point for what we want to do. Have a great afternoon!
So today we begin our series on making your home more energy efficient. In many cases, what we discuss may apply to businesses also. I will be sure to point that out when it applies.
As I mentioned yesterday, there is so much information out there that sometimes people don't know where to begin. I usually tell them that the best place to start is at the beginning.
That means knowing exactly how much you are currently paying in electricity costs each month. Even more important is understanding what each of the charges mean. So here are a few questions you want to have answers for from the start:
1.) Do you know the time of day when you get charged the most for your electricity? How about when you get charged the least?
2.) What is the difference between those charges? Do they change throughout the year?
3.) Is your current rate plan the one that is right for your household?
The assignment today is to find out the answers to these questions. That's the first step in making sure that we aren't just giving our hard-earned money away to the utility company. Tomorrow we can see how you did. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the weekend!
There is a ton of information out there when it comes to making your home more energy efficient. And it can be a challenge to tune out all of the noise in order to find the information that's going to help you.
That's exactly what I plan to help you do. Over the next several weeks, we are going to take a deep, informative dive into the different ways to save money by becoming more energy efficient.
I will walk you through the steps that you can take to start whittling down your electricity bill. The most important thing to know is that it doesn't have to happen overnight. The changes you make over time will definitely add up.
When my I moved here with my family in 2005, our electric bill was about $3,000 per year. It's a two story house, and there are four of us, but that was unacceptable. Over the next several years, I made several incremental changes to become more energy efficient. And slowly, but surely, it began to pay off.
In 2019, we only paid a total of $769.40 for the entire year to SRP. That is not a typo. Over the years, our average monthly bill has gone from about $250.00 per month to less than $70.00. That's roughly a 72% reduction, and I estimate that we have easily saved over $20,000 in the last 10 years.
Now, every household is different, so your numbers may not wind up being the same. But the fact is it's possible to save a ton of money in energy costs. And I'm going to show you how to do it.
We will begin right here tomorrow with the first installment in our series. There will also be certain topics that I will go into in further detail on the Innovative Energy Solutions blog page starting next week. I am looking forward to having you join in the conversation!
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Innovative Energy Solutions: Energy's Leading Edge . . .
If you are a business owner with utility bills averaging more than $15,000 per month, then you will definitely want to check out this blog post. It is a case study of a business in the hospitality sector. We recommended a package energy solutions and put together an Energy Savings as a Service proposal for them. ESaaS is an excellent way for businesses to manage high energy costs because it is essentially a service contract. And it is paid using the money saved each month, so their is no additional debt accrued.
Take a few minutes to review this case study of an IES client. We just reached the end of the measurement period, so you will see all the energy savings data and how it compared to the baseline.
If you want to find out if your business qualifies for ESaaS, contact us for a complimentary consultation.
https://www.innovativenrgysolutions.com/an-energy-savings-as-a-service-case-study/
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Innovative Energy Solutions: Energy's Leading Edge . . .
Just a little energy humor to get you all through the rest of the week. Have a great day!!
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Found this on Pinterest
Today, we will finish up on our discussion on water heaters.
Another thing to consider is installing a timer. It doesn't make much sense to warm the water over and over during the day if you are not home or do not use it during the day.
The water heater timer could kick on before you come home from work so that hot water is ready and waiting for you.
Another option is ensuring that the timer keeps the heater off during the night when you know you won’t be using it. If it's only a matter of a few hours, the insulation should keep the water temperature above the previously mentioned 120 degrees.
You can the timer to come back on in time to make sure the water is at your desired temperature by the time you wake up. The pricing on these timers varies, but there are good ones on line for less than $100.
