Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I've made a concerted effort to reduce my energy usage (and therefore cost) over the past year. I was very successful at this over the winter, with my monthly gas bills for 2007/2008 coming in at roughly half of what they were during the 2006/2007 winter. Yay, me!
I've had a little more difficulty in getting my electric bill to decrease substantially, though. Part of the reason for this is that I enrolled in a program in which part of my electricity comes from renewable sources, which results in a small per kilowatt charge. I'm hoping that eventually, as access to renewable energy is expanded, these costs will go away.
One small victory came with my August electric bill. While in August of 2007 my bill came up to a whopping (for me) $84 (with 813 kilowatts of usage), this month my bill was only $41, showing that I used a mere 380 kilowatts! I'm wondering if possibly this summer has been cooler than last (Oregon residents, feel free to chime in with your opinions, here!) I know that last summer I had a fan in almost every room, and sometimes left one on in the bedroom at least half the night. This year, I've used one fan, one time, when I had some friends coming over and the house felt oppressive.
The decrease in fan usage definitely made a huge difference! Now that we're in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave, I'm sure my fans will be working at least a little more than they have been, but hopefully I can just "power" through the heat and keep my electricity costs low in September as well.
Just as a refresher, here are some tips for decreasing your electricity bills.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Frugal victories. . . .
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1 comment:
Ok - that's MY cue to chime in :)
YES - this has been a cooler summer than most, at least here on the Oregon coast. Our fair supervisors were worried that there would not be any veggies/fruits to show at the fair last week due to the late start and continued cool weather!!!
We had several days of Snow the first part of April, and more snow with a terrible crop killing hail the last weekend in April... This is NOT normal. We had FROST in July...NOT normal! Plus... I have been using my wood stove some mornings on my days off just to get the chill out of the house! (in July and August!!!) So yes, it's been colder than normal.
However - This weekend will change that for you - but we are in a cool fog here at the coast.
And - congrats on doing such a great job on reducing your usage! That's great no matter what the reason! Hooray for you!
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