In the height of a stifling summer or in the depths of the frigid winter most of us tend to crank up/down our thermostats with the aim of making our homes as comfortable as possible. On to realize, a few weeks later, that our energy bills have gone up astronomically and we’re left wondering what we can do to strike a balance between a properly functioning HVAC system and manageable power bills.
Here’s the thing; the greater the difference between your indoor temperatures and the prevailing exterior ones, the higher your energy bills will be at the end of the month. As much as it can be tricky to find an optimum temperature that optimizes your HVAC system performance without exposing you to impossible bills, the following pointers could prove useful.
1. Turn Off your HVAC System When You are Asleep or Out of the House
There’s little need to run your HVAC system at full capacity at night when asleep or out of your home. As much as the idea of coming to a pre-cooled or pre-heated home might be appealing to you, it is wasteful and unsustainable to run your air conditioning system continuously even in absentia. What’s more, you can slash back as much as 20% of your heating or cooling bill just by turning off the system whenever you walk out of the front door.
2. Invest in a Programmable Electronic Thermostat
One of the reasons homeowners rarely remember to give their HVAC systems a break when they should ( e.g when stepping out or going to bed ) is because most of us forget to manually turn off or crank down the thermostats. A programmable thermostat, on the other hand, makes pre-cooling or pre-heating your home very easy as you can set it to turn off the system when you are not there but just turn it back on before you arrive. This way, you can still slash back your power bills without necessarily returning to a stuffy or chilly home.
3. Calculate the Ideal Temperatures Needed to Stay Cool or Warm Without Going Overboard with Your Utility Bills
Learn how to calculate your ideal winter or summer temperatures to maximize utility bill savings. Remember that lowering or raising your thermostat settings by a degree could cut or add as much as 5% of your monthly power costs.
References: Bankrate, Nerdwallet