Your Family is Unique
Your Family is Unique
As the cost of energy goes up, more and more people are concerned about their rising utility bills and are looking for ways to control their energy use. The best way to do this is to be aware of how much energy you use each month and how it is being used in your home and on your farm.
Your Lifestyle can make a Difference! The WAY YOU LIVE and the WAY YOU USE your electric has a greater impact on your consumption of electricity than the NUMBER of appliances you have.
Family Size
There is a direct relationship between the number of people living at home and the amount of energy that is used. In addition, if friends and relatives are visiting, you can expect to use more energy for cooking, baking, laundry, and hot water.
Space Heating & Cooling
In Iowa, humidity plays an important part in our year-round comfort. Operating dehumidifiers in summer contributes to our household energy consumption as they tend to run continuously. Portable space heaters, air conditioners, and fans contribute as well.
By taking a look at our “comfort” lifestyle in terms of maintaining relative humidity and temperature, we can use energy wisely in many ways. These range from adding insulation, weatherstripping and caulking to simply turning down the heat and turning off the air conditioning in rooms not used.
Water Heating
About 25% of the energy used in the average American home is for water heating. Hot water plays an important role in everyone’s lifestyle. Ask yourself some of the following questions…
“When I take a bath, do I use hotwater sparingly?”
“Do I take short showers?”
“Do I repair leaky faucets?”
“Do I operate automatic washers and dishwashers with a full load?”
Appliance Use
We have a host of time and labor saving appliances available to help us do our work whenever we need them. You probably use far more electrical servants than you are even aware of. These appliances work for you around the clock, whenever you choose to use them. However, wise use of appliances can have a positive effect on your energy consumption.
For example, ask yourself questions like…
“Do I turn off lights when a room is not in use?”
“Does my television set entertain an empty room?”
Why Is My Electric Bill Higher Than My Neighbor’s?
It’s YOUR electric bill, and it reflects the amount of electricity consumed by YOU and YOUR FAMILY in YOUR HOME and on YOUR FARM. Your neighbor may have a completely different set of circumstances…different number of people living at home, different lifestyle, different size home, different farming equipment and methods, etc. These and many other factors make a comparison with your neighbor less than meaningful.
You Can Do Something About Your Electric Bill
Each day, take a few minutes (preferably at the same time) and jot down the reading on your electric meter. By subtracting the previous day’s reading from the current reading each day you get the number of kilowatt-hours used during that 24-hour period. By adding the daily figures into a weekly total, you can see how much – and when your family used power during that month.
If your meter seems to record more electricity than you feel you are using, try to find out why. Looking at your family’s activities during that period will help. Was the weather colder than normal? Was it a wash day? See what activities, if any, can be altered to use energy wisely.
Where Are Your Energy Dollars Going
1. Determine your average cost per kWh. Divide your total bill by the total kWh used.
2. Determine the wattage of your electrical devices. The wattage of an appliance is found on the serial plate, but it is possible that the electrical requirements will be expressed in volts and amperes,rather than watts. If so, multiply volts times amperes to obtain the wattage.
3. Determine how much each electrical device uses per day by the following method:
a. Multiply device wattage by .1 to convert it into kWh.
b. Multiply your answer in a. by the number of hours device is used in a day.
c. Multiply your answer in b. by the average cost per kWh you found in 1.
* Motors in the ½ HP to 10 HP range use approximately 1 kWh per HP per hour.
4. Determine your daily cost for total electricity by dividing your bill by the number of days in the month.
5. Determine the daily cost per person in your family by dividing the daily cost by the number in your family.