Ways to reduce your electric bill

There's many ways to reduce your electric bill, let's go over a few of them

Written by Tomas Lyngen

Published: 05 Jun 2024

There's many different approaches to reduce your electricity bill, all from reducing your usage to finding more efficient equipment

Upgrade your equipment

If you have older equipment, upgrading to a newer and more efficient one can have a huge effect on your electric bill

I personally upgraded my inverter aircons to a newer / higher model and saw over 180 kWh/month reduction, compared to the same period the year before. This of course is a pretty big short time cost, but given I got about 12% bill reduction. It shouldn't take too long for me to recoup that investment

Of course how much you'll save, will depend on what you upgrade from and to. Sometimes you can also opt to go for a bigger model, such as a bigger fridge, and end up around the same or lower in electricity cost. So sometimes it's also get more value out of the consumption you already have, even if you don't directly decrease the overall usage

Insulate your home

Reducing the cost of heating or cooling your home, is an areas that can save you a lot of money and as an added benefit, make the indoor temperature much more stable

Window

Windows are often one of the biggest improvement factors in a home, as windows by default aren't the best at insulating a home. This is especially true if you have a single panel window (only one sheet of glass), if you have two or more sheets of glass and ideally gas in-between them, then the insulation should be fairly decent

Upgrading the windows

If you have single panel windows, then upgrading them to a more insulating window type will have a pretty huge impact. Given the cost, we understand that it's not always an option and you might also be renting or living in an apartment building, where you can't easy just swap the windows, even if you can afford it

Windows film/tint

No matter which type of window you have. Unless there's some film on them, sun rays will go straight through them. Adding a film to the windows can have a pretty substantial improvement to the indoor temperature, especially on the windows facing the sun. Still, even windows not facing the sun, will get increased insulation compared to just bare glass and this is especially true if you have single panel windows

Newer window film can be transparent, but still block out unwanted sun rays (UV/IR) and don't always need to be darkening / blocking out view. Still, if you want to reduce view from the outside during the day, this is a good option

Window frame

Windows are normally insulated, but if your windows are a few years old or sliding window. It can be smart to go over to check that the insulation still holds up. If it doesn't or if you find gaps, it can be smart to either replace or add extra insulation

Curtains

One of the cheapest options, which also helps decorate your interior. Is to invest in proper insulating curtains, which can help block out both heat, sound and light

Doors

Doors frames can often have big improvement possibilities. If there's no door stopper and insulation around the door, especially exterior doors, and doors towards garages and other areas you don't want to cool or heat. Then you can notice quite a huge improvement by adding insulation

Door stopper

If you have a gap under your door, especially on exterior doors. It's time to cover this up and there's multiple approaches

One is to install a permanent door stopper. Another is to install

Insulation

Upgrade doors

Not all doors are made equal, so interior doors are often hollow and exterior doors are often more solid. If your builder have cheaped out, they might have used a lower quality door on exterior and you could notice decent improvement upgrading your door to a more solid kind

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