Turning up your air conditioner this summer, doesn’t have to mean a big bump in your electric bill.
A few things can help you beat the heat, while saving money.
1. Clean your air conditioner
Debris can build up behind the grate on your AC.
“If it’s clogged, it can’t breathe,” said Gary Katz, President and CEO of Total Comfort.
The harder your air conditioner works, the more energy it uses, and the more you pay.
“It’ll cost people a minimum of 20 to 30 percent more electricity to run an air conditioner dirty [than a] clean one,” he said.
Katz says you can call a professional to clean your AC unit or just do it yourself with a garden hose.
2. Xcel Energy’s AC Rewards Smart Thermostat Program
Basically, Xcel pays you to help them out during times when electricity is in high demand.
Join the program, and on extremely hot days, they’ll turn down your AC, saving electricity and reducing strain on the electrical grid.
As an incentive, they credit $75 to your bill when you enroll and you get $25 each year you remain in the program after that.
Xcel notifies participants ahead of time when they plan to change the thermostat.
3. Don’t change the thermostat while you’re at work
That’s a common misconception people have about saving money on their electric bill, Katz says.
“The air conditioners aren’t really big enough to cool down quickly, so they’ll need to run nonstop for sometimes three, four, five, six hours just to get back to the temperature you want it to be,” he said, “Which will eliminate all the savings that you had when you were gone and the air conditioner wasn’t running.”
This is not the case with your furnace during the winter. Katz says furnaces are made differently than air conditioners and don’t require as much energy to fluctuate between temperatures.
So, if you want to turn down the heat while you’re away at work in January, go for it. But who wants to think about winter right now?