Shrink your Highlands County energy bill

Are you a bit outraged about Progress Energy's 25% rate increase as of Jan 1st, 2009?
The increase translates into $27.28 per 1,000 residential kWh. The rate increase includes $14.09 for fuel costs (including the under-recovered amount from 2008); $11.42 for new nuclear-plant construction in Levy County; 69 cents for an additional 180 megawatts (MW) of power at the Crystal River nuclear plant and $1.08 for environmental and conservation projects, including the installation of the latest clean-air technology at the company's coal-fired plants.

So, it's an investment for a cleaner environment, which is a good thing! Still, many Floridians on fixed or low incomes find themselves scratching their heads, escpecially in this declining economy.

We have some energy saving tips for you that might help you reduce your monthly electric bill a bit:

• Install a timer on your hot water heater. Nobody takes showers or does dishes all day long, so there is no need for your hot water heater to be running all day long either. My husband purchased a timer, called "Little Grey Box" at Home Depot for around $50. Ours is set for 45 minutes in the morning, which provides 3 hot showers and plenty of hot water left to do the dishes at night.
  
• With a little trial and error, find the lowest recirculation time for your pool pump. Many pool owners run their pumps much longer than necessary. It also might pay to look into a smaller pump if your current one is getting ready to be replaced.
  
• Replace all your conventional light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. This saves us around $30 a month with an initial investment of $80 for a 1700 sqft home, living with an unconcerned pre-teen.
  
• Does your A/C run all year long? Yes, it gets hot and humid in Florida but we live very comfortably with the windows open from late October through March. During the warmer months we use window units to cool the bedrooms and we don't cool the house while nobody is home.
  
• Maybe a bit extreme but it depends on how you look at it: let the sun dry your laundry for free. I understand this becomes difficult to do with several kids but even then it would pay to at least cut down on your dryer usage. We dry all our laundry in the sun. Towels get a little stiff but a few minutes in the dryer fluffs them up just fine.

Progress Energy has a "Lower my Bill Toolkit" available from their website. Also, check out their Energy Neighbor Fund, designed to assist customers who are experiencing temporary financial difficulties.

Greetings,

Andrea Mills, who's energy bill shrunk by around 50%

www.millsrealestate.net