Hello and welcome to another one of our blogs, part of our blog series on lowering your energy bills. Today’s blog will help you face high electricity bills, understand where they come from, & teach you what to do next time you get them while also helping you avoid them in the future. So if you’ve been receiving high electricity bills lately, don’t freak out! Let us guide you through this process to ward them off away.
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
How to check high utility bills?
So if you’re striving to get lower energy bills, one of the things you should understand is how to check them. In fact, we bet you wouldn’t be surprised by knowing that more than half of Americans have no clue about how to read it, so if you’re one of them, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. So before jumping into how to check them, let’s understand how they’re measured.
Most of the time, you’ll see on your electricity bills the term kWh; this refers to how much energy you use in one hour. It is a long-spread industry standard to measure energy consumption in terms of kWh. If you want to know how much energy an appliance uses, all you have to do is multiply the rating by the hours you have it running.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, when you look into high electricity bills the first there are three things you should look at: How much are you paying per kWh, can you
- How much is the kWh rate? What is your electricity rate type?
Your bill should be a reflection of your consumption. If you see that your energy consumption habits haven’t changed that much, but you’re getting high electricity bills, this could be a sign of higher energy rates than usual. How to check this? Check out your plan specs and the type of electricity rate you’re on.
If you’re on a variable rate plan, you’ll see that energy prices fluctuate as they’re ruled by the energy market. On the other hand, with fixed electricity rates, you can have stability by knowing your rate will remain the same for a certain period.
- How much should be the kWh rate?
The price of electricity varies based on offer and demand forces. If you want to know the average cost of electricity in your state, take a look at this chart by the EIA. When you get high electricity bills, you can be having just higher energy rates than usual.
For Residential rates, the average by Aug 2021 are:
| CENSUS DIVISION | RESIDENTIAL AVERAGE RATE (Cents Per kWh) |
|---|---|
|
New England |
20.87 |
|
Middle Atlantic |
16.90 |
|
East North Central |
14.14 |
|
West North Central |
13.32 |
|
South Atlantic |
12.43 |
|
East South Central |
11.85 |
|
Mountain |
12.32 |
|
Pacific Contiguous |
19.58 |
|
Pacific Noncontiguous |
29.68 |
- Is there a difference in your billing cycle?
While many factors can bring you high electricity bills, you should check first how your billing cycles are charged. A billing cycle can vary from 27 to 33 days, including or excluding weekends. If your consumption habits haven’t changed, having a longer billing cycle will significantly impact your monthly bill.
What causes electricity bills to be high?
One of the common causes of high electricity bills is spikes in energy consumption; this can be caused by seasonality, extreme weather conditions, a new member of the family, or even an electricity leak.
If you don’t think there was a difference in consumption, look at the electricity rate. Suppose you’re on a variable rate plan. In that case, rates tend to fluctuate each month, so you might just be paying a higher electricity rate if your consumption is the same and therefore getting high electricity bills.
Source: Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
How to prevent high electricity bills?
From buying energy-efficient appliances – yes, the ones with the blue label -, to insulating your home, there are many steps you can take to reduce your energy consumption and avoid high electricity bills.
1. Buy Energy-Efficient appliances
Appliances that comply with energy-efficient standards use much less energy to perform the same tasks as your old appliances. We know this can hit your wallet; however, you can try replacing them once in a while – once your current ones are faulty. You can often find good deals, rebates, or tax incentives to change your old appliances to newer – most efficient ones. This change will help you save in the long term, especially if you stop getting high electricity bills.
Check out this video to see how you can benefit from home improvements torwards efficiency:
Ps. We have an article on buying energy-efficient appliances to ease out the process for you.
2. Switch your energy supplier
If you’ve seen that your electricity rates are going up and up each month, it might be time to think about switching your energy supplier. Because on these times of uncertainty, it’s always good to have some degree of stability, especially if it comes from a secured fixed rate. Your state might give you the power to choose your energy supplier, so you can use it in your favor.
Ps. When you’re in the search for a new energy supplier, make sure to check out these articles, it would make the process much more straightforward:
– Our Top 3 Tips to Find The Best Time to Change Energy Supplier
– 5 Easy Tips to Compare Electricity Rates & Get Lower Bills
– Looking to Switch Your Energy Provider? We Unveil The Truth to 7 Common Myths
3. Try smart thermostats
Smart thermostats can help you avoid those high electricity bills by using the power of IoT. They learn your habits as they go and can plan to set your temperature how you need it when you need it. Some options can even know where you are and plan accordingly.
They’re great for all seasons, as you can also control the temperature of your house from your smartphone through an app and set everything right to be just as you want it once you come back.
Photo by Max Bender via Unsplash
There are just so many ways you can have lower energy bills that we have a whole article dedicated to that. Remember to check out our blog if you want to understand how you can get good savings on your bills. At PowerChoiceNow We offer you all the information about energy deregulation to ensure that you have a seamless switch with no service, product, or quality change when it’s the best for you! If you switch to deregulated energy, you will have complete control over your monthly expenses.
Go On, Be Powerful!
Reach us through our website powerchoicenow.com or call us now at 833-762-0555. One of our Power Choice Now experts will be happy to answer all your questions!
Just wish to say your article is as amazing. The clarity in your post is just nice and i can assume
you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your
permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.