Living in a cold weather climate can often see energy bills rise to a high level. No doubt as the homeowner or the one who pays the bills you keep tabs on your energy use. Here are some great ideas on what to do to manage your energy bills. Read on for some great ideas.

Is the weather in your region driving up your energy bills?

Have you ever seen your utility bills jump up or even double at certain times of the year? Unless you do not care about budgeting all that much, it is hard not to notice such a drastic change.

Seeing your bills swing by as much as fifty or seventy dollars month to month is quite frustrating. Unfortunately, complaining about it to your loved ones or your neighbors will not solve the issue. But you know what will? Taking action and figuring out why it happens. Try Hometree cover for starters to cover your boiler insurance, that will mitigate any costs of repairs needed.

If you have no idea where to start, you might want to consider checking whether the weather in your state is driving your bills up. To make that easier for you, we prepared a short guide. It explains why the weather can have such a massive impact on your utility bills and what you can do to lower them quickly and effectively. Take a look!

Insufficient Insulation

Your windows and your garage door may not be as well-insulated as you think they are. In fact, insufficient insulation is considered to be the single biggest culprit behind high energy bills. Why is that the case?

If you live in an extreme climate, your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system has to work overtime to keep your house at your desired temperature. If that house is not properly insulated, the warm or cool air will escape. As a result, your HVAC system will use up way more energy than it should. That does not sound good, does it? Luckily, you can prevent that from happening. All you need to do is make sure that your home is not under-insulated.

First, examine the exterior frames of your windows. For instance, you can look at their edges from the inside of the house on a sunny day. Can you see pinpricks of sunlight through the seam where the frame meets the wall? Each spot of light is a gap that you will have to insulate. Next, take a look at your garage door. Are there any gaps? If there are, consider investing in garage repair or buying a new garage door.

Extreme Climate

Did you know that seeing residential energy bills double from month to month is not that unusual? In fact, it is quite common in certain regions. One of the main reasons why that is the case is extreme climate. The freezing cold will force your heater to work overtime, while extreme heat is bound to make you turn up the air conditioner. On top of that, you have to keep in mind that electricity rates increase when the demand for cooling or heating peaks.

In conclusion, thanks to extreme climate, not only are you using more energy to keep your home warm or cool, but that energy costs way more than it usually does because the demand is so high. After all, everyone is trying to heat their homes, and utility companies take that opportunity to make a profit by charging higher rates.

However, bear in mind that the electricity rates are also influenced by many factors that utility companies have little to no control over, such as variations in electricity demand, fuel costs, and power plant availability.

Taking this into consideration, it is worth mentioning that the demand for electricity has risen in recent years, which made energy costs higher. Consequently, your utility company has to make your electricity rates a bit higher every year so that they match the rising energy costs.

Irregular thermostat use

Did you know that the way you use your thermostat can raise your energy bills? You need to manage your HVAC System. If you are like most people, you probably do not think about it that much. You just adjust the thermostat based on how warm or cool you want to be without any second thoughts. Once you notice that it has gotten cold, you turn the thermostat up.

Unfortunately, that is a really inefficient way to go about controlling the temperature inside your home. Instead, you might want to consider purchasing a smart thermostat. You can program it so that it will turn down the heat when no one is home or at night when you are in bed. That way, you will reduce the use of heating and cooling systems when nobody is home for significant periods of time.

Lastly, you can save a lot of money by dressing more adequately. When you feel chilly, you can throw on an extra sweater instead of bumping up the heat. And when you feel way too hot, you can put on a pair of shorts and a vest instead of relying on the air conditioner. Remember, every degree that you set back your thermostat will give you quite a few dollars of additional savings!

Lowering your energy bills is easier than you think!

All in all, lowering your bills is easier than you think! In fact, fixing your garage door or getting a new thermostat can be more than enough to achieve that goal. And while it might seem like too much of a hassle, your efforts should pay off as soon as you notice that your utility bills are not as high as they used to be.

Managing vacant property efficiently

Find housesitters

When you are leaving your home to go on holiday, resist the urge to leave all the lights on while you are away. This can be very expensive and waste energy especially if you are on holiday for several weeks at a time. Naturally, you will be concerned about the security of your home and property. A better way to manage the security of your home and the energy bills is to find housesitters. Join a housesitting website to find live in housesitters who will guard your home.

Free sitters – Yes, free housesitters!

If you choose the right sitters from a professionally run website you can also find free housesitters. These sitters will move into your home as live in house and petsitters. So they can also offer petsitting to look after any resident pets. They will pay their own way and care for your home and pets as if they were their own. The people who choose to do this are often retired or semi retired folk who like to travel and have active holidays. They exchange their time and services for free accommodation. It’s a fair exchange. And in this way you can find free housesitters. Plus they offer added advantages…

Garden sitters help eliminate signs of an empty property

One real giveaway sign of an empty property is a neglected garden. Your housesitters can also act as garden sitters to help you maintain the condition of your garden so that opportunists do not think it is abandoned and therefore worth breaking in.

Plant sitters

Finding these garden sitters to act as plant sitters will also help you nurture your plants in your absence. This will not only maintain your plants saving any money you had spent in costly nurseries, but it also means you can return to a well ordered garden, thriving rather than parched, overgrown or neglected.

A final word on managing energy bills

If you still feel lost or confused or do not have the time to deal with such issues on your own, you might want to hire a professional that will do it for you. There are many companies out there that are guaranteed to help you out in no time.

Once you find a solution to this issue, you are bound to feel really satisfied. After all, you will get to put away quite a few dollars each month or spend that money on something far more interesting than your utility bills!

FURTHER READING ON KEEPING HOME AND MAINTAINING PROPERTY

At Housesitmatch.com we like to offer useful and practical articles on topics for our readers. In this selection we offer you a number of suitable pieces from our own blog on renovating, keeping and maintaining a home.

Top tips to cut energy bills at home

Maintaining a sustainable lifestyle at home

Switching to solar – The big benefits

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities