With cooler winter weather, there are steps you can take now to reduce energy use and improve comfort in your home.
- To cut heat loss, close your drapes at night and open them during the day to let the sun in and warm your home.
- Check your heating ducts to ensure they’re properly sealed and insulated. This can cut up to 25 percent off your heating bill.
- Lower heating costs and improve air quality by cleaning or changing your furnace air filters every two months during the heating season.
- Caulk and weather-strip windows and doors.
- Set your thermostat at 68 degrees or lower when you’re home. For every three degrees you lower it from your normal setting, you save 10 percent on heating. Lower it to 55 degrees when you go to bed or when you’re not at home.
- If your home has a fireplace, keep the damper closed when you’re not using it and use a glass screen to minimize the heat loss.
- Dress warmer when the days get colder. It’s less expensive and more efficient than turning up the heat.
For additional information and tips, including details about conservation programs, call the PUD Energy Hotline at 425-783-1700 or visit www.snopud.com.
And if you do conserve energy, which is a good thing, and change your consumption dramatically your now monthly billings will on the months of the estimated readings ( every other month) reflect your historical usage and your bill will be high on those months. It won’t true up for a year. And it will be difficult to read and understand the billing.
The look and feel of the bill could be improved. The estimation part of the billing is even more pronounced for those who have signed up for average billing for each month throughout the year. The “adjustment” at the end of the year cycle overcorrects.
People will notice the following on the new billing format:
1. Rates will gradually rise
2. Real readings vs estimated readings may be a little spurious
3. Next will come [not-so] Smart meters
4. Inslee’s Cap & Trade will then sky rocket energy costs and hurt the middle class budgets