January brings opportunities to save energy and money

Jan­u­ary often brings some of the cold­est weath­er of the year, and as our home heat­ing sys­tems run more to keep us warm, many of us notice high­er ener­gy bills. For­tu­nate­ly, there are sim­ple, effec­tive ways to reduce ener­gy use and save mon­ey, even dur­ing the chill­i­est months of the year.

When you receive your month­ly bill from Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, you’re pro­vid­ed with a sum­ma­ry of how much elec­tric­i­ty you used dur­ing the billing cycle. You can also track your use in the Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive app or mem­ber portal—down to the hour. This can help you iden­ti­fy pat­terns in your ener­gy use and pin­point oppor­tu­ni­ties to save. For exam­ple, you might notice high­er ener­gy use on par­tic­u­lar­ly cold days or when you’ve had guests.

By under­stand­ing how and when you use elec­tric­i­ty, you can take steps to reduce your con­sump­tion and low­er your costs.

Adjust your ther­mo­stat

The good news is that you have more con­trol over your ener­gy bill than you think. One of the most effec­tive ways to save ener­gy is through ther­mo­stat man­age­ment. Heat­ing and cool­ing account for a major por­tion of home ener­gy use, so adjust­ing your ther­mo­stat to the low­est com­fort­able set­ting dur­ing win­ter can lead to notice­able sav­ings.

For every degree you low­er your ther­mo­stat, you could save as much as 1% on your heat­ing costs. Once you set the tem­per­a­ture, it is ben­e­fi­cial to leave the ther­mo­stat set­ting the same. In most cas­es, it is more effi­cient for your heat­ing sys­tem to main­tain a rea­son­able tem­per­a­ture than com­pen­sate for sud­den changes in the tem­per­a­ture set­ting.

Addi­tion­al­ly, be sure to ser­vice your heat­ing sys­tem annu­al­ly and replace fil­ters as need­ed. A clean and well-main­tained sys­tem will oper­ate more effi­cient­ly, sav­ing you ener­gy and mon­ey.

Seal air leaks

Anoth­er easy and inex­pen­sive way to save is by seal­ing air leaks around win­dows, doors and oth­er open­ings. Gaps and cracks allow cold air to enter your home, forc­ing your heat­ing sys­tem to run more to main­tain a com­fort­able tem­per­a­ture. Use weath­er­strip­ping, caulk or insu­la­tion to seal these leaks and improve your home’s ener­gy effi­cien­cy.

Ener­gy-effi­cient habits

Small changes in dai­ly habits can add up to big sav­ings over time. Turn off lights when you leave a room, unplug devices that aren’t in use, and con­sid­er upgrad­ing to ener­gy-effi­cient appli­ances and LED light­bulbs. These sim­ple actions can help you low­er your ener­gy use with­out sac­ri­fic­ing com­fort.

Explore effi­cien­cy pro­grams

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive offers a vari­ety of pro­grams and resources to help you save ener­gy and mon­ey. From Coop­er­a­tive Solar to our option­al time-of-use rate, use alerts and free home ener­gy audits, we’re here to help you make the most of your elec­tric­i­ty. Vis­it our ener­gy solu­tions page to learn more about pro­grams designed to improve your home’s effi­cien­cy and reduce your ener­gy costs.

Work­ing togeth­er to keep costs low

While exter­nal fac­tors like weath­er and fuel prices can impact elec­tric­i­ty costs, Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive is com­mit­ted to help­ing you save ener­gy and mon­ey. As your local ener­gy part­ner, we’re focused on pro­vid­ing reli­able pow­er at an afford­able cost and empow­er­ing you with the tools and knowl­edge you need to man­age your ener­gy use.

Stay warm this win­ter, and remem­ber that small changes can lead to big sav­ings. Togeth­er, we can make a dif­fer­ence for your bud­get and the envi­ron­ment.