She came. The dreaded meter reader.

Every January, we sit and wonder just how severe our bill will be for the previous year…and if the monthly payments we made in advance will actually cover what we burnt up in electricity.

You see, since we first bought this house, one of the sorest spots of all has been the energy consumption that we use to keep this place going. Our first year was just crazy because we were renovating, there was a huge hole in the side of the house for a few weeks while we still ran a bit of heating in other parts of the house (our heat is oil but the heat pump itself runs on electric), our workers used all sorts of power tools…and the bill was icky.

Now before I make this sound too bad, we have managed to lower our energy use on many accounts. But compared to “average” figures, our house just doesn’t fit the plan at all. And it’s not unusual for an old house like ours to be an energy hog (our new windows should help with some of our heating waste costs.) Sometimes we even have to wonder (or maybe just hope) that someone is stealing power from us. (*cue the suspense music*)

But in all honesty, you certainly don’t want to find yourself paying more and more for electricity each year if you can help it. Here are a few of the things we have done that you can do as well to save electricity (and lower your bills):

• Get new appliances — We have a new fridge (July 2007), new washer and dryer (September 2010), new freezer trunk… all of which were likely a serious drain on the meter because there is no way they were running efficiently.
• Turn off gizmos and gadgets — We have reduced the number of computers we have running at any given time, and try to keep all the chargers, lights, etc turned off/unplugged when we can to reduce our power consumption.
• Replace your old light bulbs — We have energy saving light bulbs pretty much all over the house now. Yes, they take a while to warm up and get to full brightness, but it gives a more romantic feel to the rooms when the lights aren’t glaring down on you.
• Install newer radiators — Our living room always used to be cold, even with the heater set to full blast. Then we installed a new super efficient radiator in the room and found we only needed to run it at about half-power. Gotta love that!
• Get automatic thermostats — The rooms in our house which have huge temperature fluctuations during the day because of constant sunshine have automatic thermostats which adjust according to the current temperature in the room. They’re really cool. Plus we have them programmed to turn the heat down when we’re not in the room at night (or during the day as is the case in our bathroom upstairs.)
• Put on more clothes — We are generally warm weather folk. And I’m not too keen on the idea of having to wear two pairs of socks and a thick wool sweater while I watch TV at night. But sometimes it’s really a better idea to put on a bit more clothing if you find it chilly in your house before you crank up the heat.
• Use area rugs — We have wood flooring all over our house and it definitely gets chilly under our floors (which are poorly insulated to begin with.) But we’ve put down big carpets in most of the rooms and it makes a huge impact. The thicker the rug, the better. Especially in a place like the living room where you always have your feet down on the floor where you feel the drafts.
• Never turn the heat completely off — Some people love to turn off their heaters when they leave the room during the day or go on vacation. But doing this will only make it take longer to heat your rooms up again to a comfortable level. Instead of turning your heaters off, just turn them down to a lower setting.
• Install new windows and weather stripping — Although I kinda hated to see the ratty old windows in our house go, the new ones are really awesome. You no longer feel a draft when you walk by a window and we have barely had to touch our thermostats which definitely shows us that the house has become more energy efficient in the last month.
• Don’t buy an old house — Many of the things we are dealing with throughout the year have to do with controlling the temperatures in our house, but for us keeping our house warmer organically goes hand in hand with saving heating oil and electricity. Newer homes usually have better insulation in the walls and aren’t as drafty, which saves you a lot on heating and cooling. Of course, they often lack a lot of personality which was definitely a consideration for us when we bought our “gingerbread house.”

A few weeks ago I decided to compare electricity prices online and I think we can definitely start saving some money from just the price per kW that we are paying…and even get the energy from a “green” energy source. Our current provider certainly isn’t doing us any favors on price.

By the way, if you personally feel assaulted by your electric bill every month — don’t EVER move to Germany. The costs here are through the roof compared to in the U.S. — and filling up your car at the pump will make you cry even harder.

What other tips do you have for lowering your energy bill?