How to reduce my electric bill? Frugal

Hello r/frugal.

I was hoping to get some advice on reducing my electric bill. It's summertime(in the USA anyway) and I've got my air conditioner pumping so naturally my electric bill has sky rocketed. But even before that, my average bill and usage is almost double what the electric company deems as "standard."

It's a relatively small 4 br house with two people. The major energy users should be:

• 1 AC unit
• 1 Refrigerator
• 1 dishwasher
• 3 computers(average 400W PS)
• 2 TVs(45" and 55")
• 1 Microwave(I think it's a 1200W nuclear reactor)
• 1 toaster oven
• 1 Washing Machine
• 1 Dryer
• about 35 light fixtures, half of which have CFLs, the other half are on dimmers and need to be incandescent
• 2 Ceiling fans

I've got gas heat and stove, so that's not an issue. The electric company has an energy saving box attached to my AC unit which is supposed to make the fans cycle and keep the actual AC off on specific days of the year.

So far these are my ideas to help save money, but I'm not sure how much impact they will truly have:

• Programmable thermostat
• Attic exhaust vent(do these work?)

That's it. I'm probably going to go around the house and note how much wattage ever item in my house pulls and try to add them up and see if it's close to the 1300kW im using in a month. Is it possible there's a "leak"? Can an electrician do a power audit of sorts?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

Submitted July 09, 2016 at 01:57AM by CaptainPeachfuzz http://ift.tt/29oTmfu Frugal