With its cooler temperatures and shorter days, fall always boosts your home power bill.
Here are a few simple, affordable hacks to use to improve the situation. They’ll lead to long-term savings, as well as increasing comfort in every room of your house or apartment!
Insulate doors and windows
Cold has a way of seeping in through every opening, no matter how minuscule. If you see condensation on your windows or mist between the panes, or if you feel a draft nearby, it’s worth it to fill the spaces around the window frame with caulking or spray foam to prevent air leaks. You can also opt for heat-shrink film applied using double-sided tape. Another solution: thermal drapes, curtains and blinds also block drafts.
You can install weather-stripping or a draft stopper along the bottom of the entrance, patio and garage doors. Also check on the quality of the joints in the door frame. If the door has a window in it, you can make it more weather-tight it by redoing the joins around the glass.
Inspect or tune up your heating system
Over time, heating devices lose efficiency, whether because they’re outdated or because they need a good tune-up.
Consult the maintenance guides for your heat pump, baseboard heaters and other heating devices (which you will have saved in Edwix!) for how to clean them and make any needed adjustments. This way, they’ll operate optimally all winter!
Install programmable or smart thermostats
A thermostat forgotten at 22°C all day when everyone is at work or school can be expensive in the long run!
Programmable electronic thermostats are certainly an investment ($30 to $50 each, depending on the model), but they lead to long-term savings.
Smart thermostats perform even better because they connect to your mobile devices and can be controlled remotely. They can save up to 10% to 15% on your electrical consumption if you adjust the temperature based on the time of day. Savings will be even greater if you join a program such as Hilo from Hydro-Québec. However, each thermostat costs around $180.
Take advantage of the sun’s natural heat
We often ignore them, but there’s nothing like the sun’s rays to heat a room in cold weather. Open the blinds and curtains wide to take advantage of this free heat source!
Seal drafts
Various other places in the home often let in drafts, such as electrical outlets, attic hatches, stove hoods and dryer vents. Check whether there are cold air drafts around them and insulate them properly to maximize heat conservation.
Choose LED lighting
In fall, the days get shorter and lights are on longer. LED bulbs, which consume less electricity and last longer, are a good way to save!
Clean air vents and heating devices
Make sure that air vents and heating devices are cleaned properly so that heat can flow evenly into each room.
If you add up all these small hacks, you’ll definitely reduce your power bills. Store them in Edwix so you can compare amounts month-over-month!
