How to Get Utility Bill Assistance

The average U.S. household paid $2,300 in 2008 on residential energy costs, with heating accounting for
almost 45 percent of that total. That means each
house pays approximately $1,035 a year on heating
costs. Since a majority of our energy costs are spent on heating, it is a
great place to minimize our expenses and make our
home more energy efficient. The following ideas are
low-cost, simple ways to start saving more money
on you heating and energy bills immediately.

1. Step 1

   Get a Free Energy Audit.
   Most people don’t realize that they can contact their
   local utility company and request a free energy audit
   for their home. Most utility companies offer this
   service free of charge. They will tell you how much
   energy you are currently using and tell you specific
   ways to reduce your energy usage and save money
   on your utility bills every month. This is an invaluable
   service, and best of all, it’s free. It will help you save
   money and use less energy, which in return, helps
   save our environment.

2. Step 2

   Only Heat the Rooms you Use.
   If you spend most of your time in only a few rooms
   of your house, then it doesn’t make sense to waste
   money heating unused rooms in your home. Use
   space heaters in the rooms you use the most. This is
   especially useful when you are sleeping. If you sleep
   for 8 hours a night, you can save a lot of money
   every night simply by using a space heater in your
   bedroom rather than heating your whole house (in
   the summer use a fan to save on cooling costs). By
   keeping the thermostat at 62 degrees and putting a
   space heater in one room can save you about $200
   a year. Most space heaters will work fine. They are
   affordable and can be found in home improvement
   and department stores. Since some space heaters
   can reach a surface temperature of 200 degrees
   Fahrenheit, it is highly recommended that you get a
   space heater with added safety features, especially if
   you have children or pets.
   Honeywell makes a pet and family-safe space heater
   that has one of the lowest in-use surface tempera-
   tures as compared with other space heaters. It also
   has other added safety features that are beneficial
   for families with children and pets.

3. Step 3

   Get Personal.
   While doing stationary activities such as sleeping,
   reading, using your computer, or watching TV, it is
   very energy efficient to use a heating pad or elec-
   tric blanket to keep your body comfortable and
   warm. You don’t need to waste energy on all of
   the areas of your home. Use these types of per-
   sonal heating products to keep you warm and save
   money when possible.

4. Step 4

   Bundle Up.
   This is a no-brainer, but still worth mentioning.
   If you are cold, put on warmer clothes. It’s much
   smarter and efficient to put on a few extra layers of
   clothing and socks or slippers rather than crank up
   the central heat while you walk around in shorts,
   no socks, and a t-shirt. On the flip side, if you’re
   using blankets and wearing sweats in the summer,
   the AC temperature is too low. Switch your sweats
   for shorts and turn the AC temperature up a few
   degrees.

5. Step 5

   Use Fans.
   Really, in the winter? Yes, use fans in the winter. Hot
   air rises, and most of the heat in your home is stuck
   to your ceiling. Use a ceiling fan or any fan to blow
   the warm air off the ceiling and circulate it down to
   yourself and the floor to warm up your home. For
   ceiling fans, reverse the direction of the fan so that
   the air blows upward and bounces the warm air off
   the ceiling, down to you. To do this, flip the blade
   direction switch, which is usually located around the
   motor of the fan. With most fans, a counter-clock-
   wise spinning motion is blowing down and a clock-
   wise spinning motion is blowing the air up. In the
   winter, blow the air up. In the summer, blow the air
   down. If you’re not sure which way the air is blow-
   ing, stand directly under the fan, turn it on high, and
   feel which setting is blowing the air down on you
   stronger. When changing directions of the spinning
   motion, make sure your blades come to a complete
   stop before changing the direction. If you don’t have
   a ceiling fan, use a regular fan and point it towards
   the ceiling so that it shoots air at the ceiling and
   bounces the warm air back down. This is a very use-
   ful and cost-effective way to keep your home warm.
   Fans use very little energy to power and in this case,
   by using a little energy, you are saving a lot of en-
   ergy by circulating warm air and keeping your home
   heated well.

6. Step 6

   Change Your Filter.
   If you do use a forced-air heating or cooling system,
   be sure to change your air filter every month or as
   recommended according to your filter type. A dirty
   and clogged air filter restricts air flow and makes
   your heating and cooling system use more energy
   which costs you extra money. The system has to
   work harder to pump warm or cool air through-
   out your home. A clean air filter ensures that your
   heating and cooling system is running efficiently and
   pumping clean air into your home. If you’d like to
   avoid the cost of buying replacement air filters, you
   can purchase a permanent air filter, which can be
   removed and cleaned by spraying it with a garden
   hose. Simply spray it, let it dry, and re-install it.

7. Step 7

   Get a Programmable Thermostat -
   Set It and Forget It.
   According to Good Housekeeping Research Insti-
   tute, it is a fact that for every degree you set your
   thermostat back, over eight hours you’ll save about
   1% on your heating bill each year. The easiest and
   most effective way to automatically do this is to use
   a programmable thermostat that you can set 10-15
   degrees lower (in the winter) when you leave the
   house or go to sleep. You can also program it to
   start warming the home just before you get home
   or wake up. By simply installing an Energy Star-rated
   programmable thermostat alone can save you about
   15% or $150 every year. The thermostat pays for
   itself in less than a year.
   The Good Housekeeping Research Institute recommends this thermostat as the best overall:

   Honeywell RTH8500 Thermostat: It has a
   highly intuitive touch screen, is a cinch to program,
   and has easy-to-find override options.

   It is available here:
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VLG1ZQ?ie=UTF8&tag=ehow0f-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000VLG1ZQ

8. Step 8

   Get Insulated.
   Proper insulation in the attic, ceilings, floors, crawl-
   spaces, and exterior and basement walls can save 30
   percent or $310 a year on home energy bills. If your
   attic is not insulated, or poorly insulated, it is well
   worth it to have insulation added. It is a basic job to
   cut and lay insulation. Be sure to wear long sleeves
   and pants to avoid contact with the fiberglass insula-
   tion, which may irritate skin. Also wear some sort of
   breathing mask to protect yourself from breathing
   in the harmful fiberglass. If you are physically unable
   to insulate your attic, call your local home improve-
   ment store to get estimates on installation. Ask them
   what type of insulation is recommended for your
   local area.

9. Step 9

   Seal Windows and Doors.
   Most heat is lost through leaks around windows
   and doors. Did you know that a small 1/8 inch crack
   under your window or door wastes as much energy
   as a 2 inch square hole in your wall would? To save
   energy and money, it is very beneficial to prevent
   these leaks. By sealing your windows and doors, you
   can save approximately 15%-20% or $155 a year on
   your heating or cooling bill. To prevent leaks from
   the inside of the home, simply buy self-adhesive insu-
   lating tape or weather stripping from your hardware
   or home improvement store and follow the direc-
   tions on the package. If you really want to reduce
   heating costs and save energy, consider getting a
   window insulator kit. It’s a little more than the cheap
   insulation tape, but overall, you will save much more
   energy and money on your heating and cooling bills
   each month.

10. Step 10

    Install a High Quality Window Insulator Kit.
    3M makes a quality window insulator kit that can
    cover up to 5 windows. It is a favorite choice among
    people who have used insulation kits on their win-
    dows.
    You can purchase the 3M window insulator kit
    online here: (see resource below)

    Or, you can usually find it in your local
    hardware or home improvement store. It may be a
    few dollars more than the generic brand up front,
    but in the end, you’ll save much more on energy
    bills and you won’t regret it. By cutting corners on a
    product like this, you’ll find out that you’ve initially
    saved a few bucks only to get an inferior product
    that is difficult to work with and needs replaced
    before expected.

11. Step 11

    Add a Door Sweep for Extra Savings.
    Also consider installing a simple screw-in door
    sweep to the bottom of your leaky doors.

12. Step 12

    Caulk your Home.
    Use a high quality silicone caulk to seal any small
    cracks and holes around the outside of your home.
    Also caulk around windows and doors to prevent
    air leaks and energy loss. You will usually require
    about 1/4 - 1/2 a tube of caulk per standard win-
    dow. For added savings, you can also use caulk on
    the inside frames of doors and windows. As noted
    before, by sealing your windows and doors, you can
    save about 15-20% or $155 a year in energy costs.
    Which Caulk should you use? (see resources below)

13. Step 13

    Close the Fireplace Damper
    If you have a fireplace with an open damper while
    not in use, it is like a giant hole in your pocket. Your
    energy and money is going right out the chimney.
    Close the damper in your fireplace when you aren’t
    using it to prevent warm or cool air from escap-
    ing. You can also enclose your fireplace with a glass
    door or covering to help prevent air leakage.

Tips & Warnings

• After utilizing some of these great money saving tips, you may still want to find out about how to get utility bill assistance here: http://www.utilitybillassistance.com/html/utility_bill_assistance_progra.html