If the thought of opening a power bill has you sweating more than the heat itself, you're not alone. Antoinette Martinez has done what she can. When it's cool, she says “The first thing in the morning we have everything open, we circulate the air naturally, open up the door and keep the screen closed."
The real pain of the hottest days of the year always shows up on your electric bill. It's hard to come out ahead...major energy-saving improvements to your home cost a lot of money. What can you do besides keeping the electric fans spinning?
At Reno's Best Buy store, sales associate Justin Stafford pointed out what was left on their floor…"These are your more traditional wall mounts. They tend to be a bit more energy efficient." Stafford says A-C units today cool off more, at less cost. As he put it, "They cover larger square footage in a home, they're way more energy efficient by upwards of 40 to 50 percent, and they're smaller."
To stop those high hot weather bills, his favorite weapon...is a new LG 14,000 BTU unit. $600 to cool your whole house! You just have to move it to the room you're in. "If you're moving around or doing social functions in different rooms, you can always be cool."
Justin had just one more of these for sale. Others stores we called, like RC Willey were sold out of portable A-C units. Justin's been sweating himself…trying to keep up with the demand. "Oh customers, they've been crazy this year. I know definitely with it being a more dry heat than it's been the last couple of years. People are really clamoring for them."
Across town at the Sparks Ace Hardware, they're a fan of the evaporative cooler. For $600, assistant manager Lincoln Coppock says it cools..."1,600 square feet as opposed to a 10,000 BTU air conditioner that's really only going to cool down one room." Folks in most states like California can't use evaporative coolers…they only work in very dry climates like ours. Coppock says “They cool down a larger area in a quicker amount of time. AC units tend to jack up your electric bill quite a bit."
At $600, it's cheaper than central air. And one more way to save and keep your cool...weather stripping. Mike Furse at the Sparks Ace Hardware says it works equally well in summer. As he put it, "You want to fill every gap around the window and the door. Keep the hot out. It'll make your air conditioner work less. It'll save you some money."
Ways to save, before the dog days really bite into your budget.
There are some more things you can do to really save in the summer, and the best part...they won't cost you much at all. To check out the summer tips from NV Energy, just click below:
