Home Campus & Community How to Save Money on your Electricity Bills

How to Save Money on your Electricity Bills

by Ryleigh Gibbel

Field Organizer Marisa Joyce from Elevate Energy went to all the dorm parlors at Blackburn College to educate students on how to save money on electric bills.

Joyce goes into communities with low to middle incomes. “We design efficient programs to make people’s homes comfortable and help them save money on their electricity bills,” Joyce said. “This helps us all collectively reduce our energy use, and in return, we are protecting the people and the environment.”

The first thing Joyce went over was a smart meter. All Ameren users have this digital meter in their homes. With this smart grid, there is a flow of information going back and forth between the consumer and Ameren. There are many other benefits including the electricity being more reliable, and renewable energy from solar and wind powers can be integrated much more effectively into the electricity pool.

Ameren also offers two programs. The first is Peak Time Rewards, which is free. With this program, Joyce explained, “On a really hot day, Ameren will ask you to lower your electricity usage for two hours, if you don’t have to if you don’t want to. If you do, the next month, you’ll see a credit on your electricity bill.”

The other program is Power Smart Pricing. With this program, it costs $2.25 a month. With Power Smart Pricing, users will pay the real price for electricity. Electricity does not cost the same amount throughout the day, although most people are paying only one rate for electricity. Those who may have a nine-to-five job are using their electricity in the morning and the night time when electricity is cheapest. With Power Smart Pricing, those people especially will be paying less on their electricity bills by paying for the actual cost instead of the set rate. “People who have followed up with me to let me know what they’re saving are saving $10-$20 a month by doing nothing other than signing up for this,” Joyce added.

There are also things people can do on their own to save money. “Seal up the cracks and crevices of the base of your home and the roof of your home and that will slow down that air flow,” Joyce said. With attic insulation, one wants to have snow on the roof of the house in wintertime. If there isn’t snow on the roof, that means one has poor attic insulation and heat is escaping quickly and is being wasted.

Other things one can do in their home is adjust the thermostat a couple degrees below where one typically wants it; update thermostats; unplug things that are not being used like phone chargers, coffee makers, and toasters; only run appliances like dishwashers and laundry when they are full and replace shower heads with a low-flow shower head. “Low flow does not mean there isn’t water pressure,” Joyce said. “You’re still going to feel the same amount of pressure…but there is actually going to be less water that’s coming out.”

Refrigerators are huge “energy sink.” They are never unplugged and the run all day long and all year long. Joyce said, “A good way to check the seal on your  refrigerator is you just take a piece of paper, you put it in the door jam of your fridge and if you shut the door on the paper and you can pull that piece of paper out, you do not have a good seal on your refrigerator.”

With these tips in mind, students will be able to know how to save money on their electricity bills in the future and do good for the environment, which is always a step in the right direction.

 

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