(BC Hydro is the name of the company that we get our electricity from, where I live in Canada.)
I hate that time every two months when the hydro bill arrives in the mail. It's always a nervous rush when I open the envelope...
OY.
We moved just over a year ago into an ancient "fixer upper" and I'll tell ya right now, "fixer upper" means MONEY PIT.
So it was with some surprise that I looked at the total for the last two months.
This year has been colder than last year.
Last October, 2008: About 69 kWh per day avg.
This October, 2009: About 45kWh per day avg.
That means we saved a LOT of money, while spending very little. We are scrounges. (To be perfectly polite.)
These are the changes we have made:
*plasticized the downstairs windows. (They are supposedly double pane, but ancient and useless)
*Drippy taps. Replaced two completely, they were too far gone to repair. (One was free) Replaced the "guts" in the shower taps.
*Took out all the crappy CFL lights and replaced them with 15-25 watt bulbs. HAH!
*Replaced all the exterior doors. (Free) We used doors we have obtained from people doing reno's. Still better than what was here....Lemme tell ya.
*Put in weatherstripping.
*Lowflo shower head. (Free, given to us.)
*Ancient dryer died and even more ancient washer replaced. I found a set that are less than 4 yrs old, for $200 bucks that were previously very carefully owned by a meticulous sort of person who is retired with no kids..... HAH! (The Re-Store run by Habitat for Humanity wanted $150 each for appliances that are almost as old as I am. How helpful hey? Beware.)
*Use the clothesline when it is dry enough. Even partially drying clothes before they go in the dryer helps a LOT.
*wash with cold water, and use warm only for sheets.
*15 yr old stove died. Well, almost died. One element was shot and the thermostat was amazingly inaccurate. Replaced with one on sale. $180 off, and it has an energuide rating of 507. For that price? Amazing.
*Don't use the dry cycle on the dishwasher. Cancel the cycle and leave it open a tad.
*became more aware of lights and other vampire appliances.
*discouraged the smallest pixie from running around nekked so we don't have to turn the heat up. This has been the hardest to try to accomplish. :)
We also use a woodstove (it's a high efficiency one) a lot. At the moment we are burning up the trees and branches we had to take out over the last year. Lots of damage from last years storms, left some dangerous trees that had to come out.
In reality, we have spent less on the changes than the savings on hydro will be this year...
Wow hey?