Middle Tennessee Electric officials want to remind its members that hot temperatures can push electric bills upwards.
“With temperatures forecasted to be well above average today, it’s important to remember that we can’t control the weather, but we can curb our home’s energy usage,” MTEMC Communications Coordinator Todd Palmer said.
Palmer says that hotter weather makes your heat-and-air units, your homes biggest strain on your electric bill, run a lot harder.
“Since your heat-and-air unit accounts for more than 50 percent of your electric bill, the more it runs, the higher your bill will be,” Palmer said. “Turning the thermostat up even a degree can save you as much as three percent on your home’s electric bills.”
More tips can be found on the cooperative’s Web site at www.mtemc.com.
Middle Tennessee Electric serves power to its approximately 185,000 member customers in Cannon, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties.
10 quick Ways to save today
1. Close the drapes on the sunny side of the house during the day. This will help cut down the natural heating of your home, which will cut back on the strain of your heat-and-air unit.
2. Set the thermostat to the highest comfortable temperature. Moving the thermostat up one degree means as much as a three-percent reduction in your electric bill.
3. Take a quick inventory of your home, and see what you might be able to turn off or unplug – cell phone chargers, TVs, lights when you leave a room.
4. Keep heating system filters clean.
5. Keep air vents clear of obstructions.
6. Compact fluorescent lamps can replace bulbs in most table lamps and will save up to 75 percent in lighting energy, produce more light and last up to 10 times longer.
7. Wash full loads of clothes in the coolest water possible. Rinse clothes in cold water.
8. Keep the temperature between 36 degrees and 40 degrees in the refrigerator and 0 degrees and 5 degrees in the freezer. Use a refrigerator/freezer thermometer to check the settings.
9. Stop the dryer as soon as clothes are dry, or use the moisture sensor control to automatically shut off the dryer. Overdrying wastes energy and sets in wrinkles.
10. Dry loads one right after another. You'll use less energy because the dryer is already heated.
