Protect Yourself Against Expensive Electricity Rates
It’s not a secret that electricity rates are rising more and more each year, and it’s getting harder to catch up with the soaring prices. Your first thought might be to reduce your usage—and while cutting out unnecessary consumption and being more sustainable in your everyday life can help lower your bills, it’s still only a temporary solution.
Currently, the average monthly electric bill ranges between $96 to $216 depending on the province, with rates expected to steadily go up by 3.4% annually in Canada.
So what can we do to protect ourselves from these never-ending rate increases? Here are some common reasons why your bill might be going up and the best ways to save money.
Why Are Your Bills So High and 5 Money Saving Tips
1. Inefficient and Unused Appliances:
Appliances can use up a lot of electricity—especially if they’re not being used efficiently or at full capacity. In fact, a lot of appliances actually never completely stop drawing power, even when they’re not being used. Unused appliances can add up to roughly 10% of your overall energy usage.
Quick Fix: Start using smart strips to help you manage your electricity usage by automatically turning off power to appliances you’re not using. Smart strips can also easily be controlled using a voice assistant like Alexa or a smart app through your phone.
Make sure to also fill up your dishwasher and washing machine before running your next load, and consider throwing out some old unused appliances you still have plugged in. After all, why waste money powering electronics that are just taking up space and inflating your bills
Optimizing your appliance’s efficiency ensures they’ll need less energy to get the job done. Cleaning your appliances, such as your fridge’s coils, from time to time can reduce the amount of energy they need to run.
2. Leaving Too Many Lights On
A brightly lit house can help keep you energized and bring a sense of warmth to your home. However, having too many lights turned on all the time can start to add up.
Quick Fix: Obviously, you shouldn’t be sitting in the dark all day to avoid high electric bills, but some smart strategizing might help. The best way to combat heavy light usage is to make sure you’re turning off your lights before leaving a room. Using lamps instead of ceiling lights from time to time can also reduce your usage.
Don't forget about the best free light available—the sun! Natural sunlight can be used during the day to keep your house nice and bright.
3. Window and Attic Insulation
Proper insulation ensures your house is warm during the winter and cool during the summer. This works by catching little pockets of air, which keeps heat from leaving your house when it’s cold outside while also blocking out the heat when it’s hot outside. Without good insulation, your home can lose up to 38% of it’s heat during the winter.
Quick Fix: Your older windows and unsealed attic spaces might be letting out more hot air than you think. Sealing your windows and adding more insulation to your attic are two simple ways you can make your home more energy efficient.
4. Overused Heating and AC Systems
AC and heating can take up a big chunk of your electricity bill. Sometimes HVAC systems being overused and not working efficiently can cause your bills to skyrocket.
Quick Fix: Like with smart strips, a smart thermometer allows you to turn off your heating and cooling system when you’re out of the house. Many smart thermometers are designed to predict and learn your schedule to carefully optimize your system’s settings. Most come with energy-saving options to prioritize your electric savings over comfort, but can still react appropriately if the temperature rises or drops too low.
5. Inflation and Expensive Grid Maintenance:
Sadly, there are a few things that are just out of our control. Prices are rising everywhere and with the grid aging, the cost of maintaining equipment and the distribution system is growing every year—which is being reflected on our bills.
Best Fix: Installing a Solar Energy System
Solar is one of the best long-term solutions to save on your electric bills and goes hand in hand with a lot of solutions we’ve already discussed. Installing Solar panels allows you to have more control over your electrical consumption—and best of all—producing your own electricity means buying less from the grid. Many utility companies also have net-metering programs, which makes saving with solar even easier and offers an affordable alternative to battery storage systems.
There’s also a big misconception that solar is too expensive and not worth the huge price tag. We’re here to let you know that going solar is more affordable than you think, especially with Polaron’s financing program, which can go as low as 0%. After government rebates, your savings should be enough to cover your monthly payments.
The great thing about financing is that your payment stays the same for the entirety of your financing term. This means every time your utility company bumps up their rates, your savings increase too. Best of all, once your term is done, the panels are completely yours to enjoy many more years of savings without having to worry about expensive power bills ever again.
You might be wondering how all of this works. Most solar homeowners stay connected to the grid to take advantage of net metering.
Net-metering is a great program that allows homeowners to use the grid as an affordable battery. Anything produced by your system will be used by your home first. Sometimes, especially during the summer, your system will produce more energy than you need. In these cases, you can send your excess electricity to the grid in exchange for credits you can use against future power bills.
With the right system, you could reduce the energy portion of your power bill all the way down to $0 annually.
Taking Control Of Your Electricity Bill With Polaron
If you’re considering a solar PV system to offset your rising power bills, Polaron can help. We take care of everything—from design and applications—to installation and maintenance.
Get a free quote with Canada’s number 1 residential solar installation company and start your solar journey off right.
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