Home energy use audit – some questions to ask

Did you know that of all homes constructed prior to 1980, just 20% are well insulated? To bring down your energy costs, it becomes crucial to seal doors and windows, add insulation, and take other necessary steps. With the energy scenario in Texas becoming a talking point among administrators and homemakers alike, and the imminent possibilities of power outage and grid failure due to excessive power consumption, it becomes more important that Texas residents do their bit to conserve electricity.

Home energy usage audit

Since it may seem like a daunting task to pin-point areas where your power consumption is more, or locate instances where you can cut down on your consumption, doing a home energy use audit can come to your rescue.

General Home Information

You can begin by asking yourself some general questions, which may include:

When was your home constructed?
Your home belongs to which category - Apartment/Condo, or Single Family?
On each side of your home, how many windows are there?
Do your home has broken or cracked windows/doors?
How many outside doors does your home have?
Are your doors insulated?
Do your doors and windows leak air, or do they seal tightly?
Do you have ceiling and wall insulation in your home?

Answering these questions will help you target the problem areas, which if repaired, can help you reduce your electricity bills.

Heating/Cooling Systems

Almost 43% of your utility bills are attributed to running heating and cooling systems. With simple steps like setting your thermostat at 78° F or higher in the summer and 68° F or lower in the winter can help you save precious dollars on your utility bills. Here are some questions to ask during your home energy audit to find out how much of energy your heating/cooling systems are consuming:

What type of heating and cooling system do you use?
What fuel does your heating/cooling system use? (you can pick your answer from oil, electricity, natural gas, and propane)
What’s the age of your heating system?
Do you use a programmable thermostat to control the temperature?
During the heating or cooling season, what are your thermostat settings?
During summer, do you use fans in place of air conditioning?

Water Heating

In your home, the third largest energy expense is attributed to water heating. You can cut down water heating bills with some simple steps like insulating your water heater, using less hot water, keeping the water heater's thermostat down, or by purchasing a more efficient model.

Some questions related to water heating systems, which you should answer during your home energy use audit include:

What type of fuel is used to heat water in your home?
What’s the age of your water heater?
What’s the temperature at which your water heater is set?
Are the pipes and your water heater insulated?

Clothes washers, refrigerators, and clothes dryers are some other appliances that consume a lot of energy. So, you should try to buy appliances with ENERGY STAR labels as they are more efficient than other products.

So, use the above questionnaire to perform an effective home energy use audit, which would help you get started on steps for cutting down your electricity bills.

Electricity Usage Report – how can it help?

Excessive power consumption in domestic and commercial settings, and their implications are the reasons of much hue and cry in Texas these days. Putting a restriction on unnecessary electricity usage and enhancing power conservation is the need of the hour. Owing to the rapidly depleting resources and consequently rising costs of power usage, it might be a good idea to have an electricity usage report at your disposal. Not only does the report give a detailed picture of your power utilization, but also highlights times when your consumption increases and denotes areas where the consumption has spiked.

What is an Electricity Usage Report?

It is just a detailed sheet of facts and figures, depicted with easy-to-read graphical presentations and charts, which give a clear idea of your power usage. It takes into account all the appliances and electrical connections that are in use to provide you with useful insight into your electricity usage, and control your energy consumption. The report can be availed on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis.

Benefits of keeping an Electricity Usage Report

Owing to the shortage of conventional sources of energy, and a limited number of power generation plants, the surging costs of electricity is a known and acknowledged fact today. This is where an electricity usage report can come handy, as by showing how your consumption increases during a particular weather/time of the day, it can help you curb usage and facilitate electricity conservation. Since you need to steer clear of indiscriminate use of power to avoid blackouts and grid failure, the electricity usage report can serve as an effective tool.

Power Usage: Life in Texas

According to certain statistics collected in the year 2005, Texas stood second in terms of population and was ranked first as per the criteria of residential energy consumption. The state’s per capita carbon score rating was pegged at 10, and each resident of Texas was known to produce an average of about 32 tonnes of carbon each year. As years passed by, Texas has emerged as a state with a whooping population cover, and an economically and industrially intensive region, which naturally calls for a high power demand (accounting for one tenth of the total US energy consumption).

Looking at this Texas picture, an electricity usage report will surely help by letting Texas electricity consumers know about how much electricity they use and the way of such usage. Armed with such knowledge, these people will have more control on their electricity usage, and save on their monthly bills, not to mention helping the environment as well. So, you too can sign up for a weekly or monthly report to save on your electric bills.

If you look beyond the immediate benefits, such a step would help you to build a better future through intensive power conservation, thus bringing down your carbon footprints and making the state a greener and pollution-free place for future generations.

So, sign up for your free electricity usage report today to make a difference.

About Shop Texas Electricity - Shop Texas Electricity helps consumers and businesses compare and shop for their electricity plans in Texas. Learn more about Shop Texas Electricity by visiting us at www.ShopTexasElectricity.com

Why Texas PUC urges consumers to conserve energy

Having touched record power consumption in June, Texas PUC has urged the public to conserve energy, which in turn would help avoid outages. When record heat and drought last year tested the limits of Texas's primary power grid, it was the public's response to energy conservation appeals that helped avoid outages. Authorities believe that this year too, a similar appeal is called for, especially when temperatures throughout the state are soaring.

This year, the electricity conservation campaign will target community organizations, business groups and middle schools, to create a rise in awareness and popularize small steps for energy conservation that can help people save money. In fact, the campaign titled ‘Power to Save Texas’ is part of an effort by the PUC and ERCOT to meet a goal of decreasing demand for electricity during the peak hours.

Since the peak demand for electricity in Texas is between 3 and 7 p.m, the campaign asks Texans to reduce their energy use during this period to avoid outages and save money. Starting from turning up your air conditioner 1-2° warmer, to closing blinds, doing laundry or running dishwashers after 7 p.m, several small steps were highlighted in the campaign to limit the power usage during rush hours and ensure reliability of the grid.

What you can do

To respond to the campaign, you can take the following steps:

From 3 to 7 p.m, turn down your electric water heater by 10 degrees.
Put on the fans and try not to turn down the AC until after 7 p.m.
Don’t run your dryer, washer, and dishwasher during the peak demand hours.
Use a timer on key appliances and lights to decrease usage during peak times.
Run your pool pump overnight or early in the morning.
Instead of a standard oven, use a slow cooker or an outdoor grill to bring down electric usage during peak times. Remember that ovens heat up your house, which in turn makes your AC work harder in summer, thus consuming more electricity and driving your power bills up.
When not in use, turn off the appliances, lights, and cable boxes during 3 to 7 p.m.
To save money, use a solar dryer or a clothesline instead of an electric dryer. You can run your dryer's fluff cycle, if required, during the off-peak period, to decrease laundry stiffness.
Use smart meters to monitor your usage and manage your costs.

Campaign blueprint

‘Power to Save Texas’ will include radio news features, media tours, television ads, and video news releases. Apart from a dedicated website at https://www.powertosavetexas.org/, this campaign will also run online ads on Facebook and Google.

Planned to run for the next 16 months, this campaign will cost $700,000, which includes the cost of purchasing commercials and ad space.

Conclusion

With Texas's decreasing reserve margin, and limited amount of surplus generation, it has become important for the Texans to respond to the call for energy conservation. So, play a significant role by using the power conservation tips mentioned above.

Using Smart Meters to track your electricity usage

Though smart meters have been getting a lot of media attention recently, only a handful of customers belonging to the deregulated regions of Texas actually use them. However, before going into the details of how these devices can help consumers of Texas electricity, let’s take a look at what they are all about.

What are Smart Meters

Transmission and distribution utilities of the state use these digital devices to calculate electric consumption. Also called digital meters or advanced meters, these devices are substituting the old analog boxes, which you can find attached to the outside of business offices and homes.

How to use Smart Meters

You should register a new account online at https://www.smartmetertexas.com. For this, you will need your smart meter number and the EISD number for your apartment or home. You will also need your Smart Meter ID, which you can find listed on the right side of your electricity meter attached to the outside your home. You can check your monthly bills or log into your account with your electricity provider to get the EISD number. It is this unique EISD number that your TDSP (Transmission and Distribution Service Provider) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) use to track your electricity consumption, which is then linked to your bill.

Once you have all the above mentioned information, you can log in with your username, and click the Usage link to see your home’s usage. Usually, the information listed is almost 2 days behind the actual date. For example, if you log in on a Wednesday, you can see your usage information from Monday.

To get an idea of your Texas electricity usage, you can select three types of graphs. The monthly usage graph displays the monthly electricity consumption of your household and goes back an entire year. For an overview of the month, you can see the graph showing daily totals, where a summary of usage for every day is shown side by side for the past month. Another graph, showing 15 minute segment breakdowns, can be used to ascertain the hours when your usage of electricity becomes much more or much less than the average consumption.

Advantages of Smart Meters

By making you aware of your electric consumption, the smart meters can help you to plan and budget for your utilities better. Though you may try to lower your Texas electricity bills with conservation, you start looking at things differently when you have real data in front of your eyes. Starting from knowing whether you are using more electricity in the mornings or evenings, to taking steps for cutting down your bills by planning your laundry in the weekends, remembering to turn the fans and lights off when you are not in the room, or investing money to buy energy efficient drapes, you become more earnest in your endeavors and can make well-informed decisions.

About Shop Texas Electricity- Shop Texas Electricity helps consumers and businesses compare and shop for their electricity plans in Texas. Learn more about Shop Texas Electricity by visiting us at www.ShopTexasElectricity.com

Will high electricity prices in Texas trigger more energy generation?

A report released in May this year predicted a gloomy picture about the state’s future electric reserves. According to the analysis, by 2014, Texas energy reserves are predicted to drop below the safe levels. What’s more threatening is that beyond 2014, the reserves are likely to dip even lower, which in turn is expected to cause rolling blackouts.

Plans for the future

With such dire predictions and an expected rise in Texas electricity prices, it becomes imminent to plan for the future. However, some experts say that there’s still hope as the outlook for 2013’s summer has actually improved since the last CDR, which was released in 2011’s December.

After the release of that report, almost 1240 MW of previously “shelved” capacity has returned, which would help meet the future needs. Another 1,130 MW is also expected, as a coal-fired plant which was earlier slated to discontinue under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule but has been ruled over by the federal court.

After the last CDR report, ERCOT has started operation of almost 600 MW of new renewable power sources, which includes solar power (59 MW), biomass (105 MW), and wind power (432 MW). The additional capacity of these Texas energy resources are expected to help reduce the growing blackout threats in the state. According to a forecast, by 2016, Texas will have several new power generation plants in place, which will deliver over 2,000 MW (for wind power), 3,657 MW (attributed to gas-fired facilities), 900 MW (from coal-fired resources), and 60 MW (solar energy) of power.

Demand response

In addition to the energy generation that the above sources will bring, ERCOT is also planning to bring “demand response” in use, which will allow it to deal with forthcoming summer months when the load on the grid is high. Though ERCOT has adequate electric power to serve users throughout the year, the demand response programs will help in addressing the highest demand periods, where consumers agree to decrease their power usage when particular conditions occur.

High price cap a deterrent for new power plants

According to Robert McCullough – an economist based in Portland, the rising power cap in Texas can discourage power companies from setting up more power plants, since by letting scarcity of power stay intact, these companies can benefit more from the higher prices. Thus, McCullough and several other experts feel that the new cap on Texas electricity will encourage traders to create artificial shortages.

Conclusion

According to McCullough, Texas has more energy resources than many other US states, and yet it has skyrocketing prices, which are higher than most of its neighboring states, due to a failing electric system. Though ERCOT’s plan to bring more energy resources into play in the near future to tide over blackouts and energy scarcity gives hope to Texas electricity consumers, only time will tell if power companies will set up power plants to trigger more generation or opt for easy profits by making the most of the higher rates and letting the energy scarcity prevail.

Tips for Texas Electric Shopping

With Texas energy deregulation, consumers have got a choice to select their electric providers and plans that suit their needs and budget. But since a wide variety of electricity deals available in your zip code, which may vary either by the length of contract or price, it becomes quite difficult to compare them. Since most Texas electricity contracts don’t have any uniformity among the contract terms, and even the ones that do only have a limited amount of uniformity, you need to consider certain factors while shopping for Texas electricity plans, as mentioned below:

Frequency of bills: Unless your electric service is provided for a period less than a month, your REP would issue bills on a monthly basis. However, in case you and your REP agree to bills issued less frequently than monthly, the same can be done as well. So, check the options your shortlisted REP offers before you sign the contract.

Delivery of Texas electric bills: The electric bills are issued in writing to the residential customers by their respective REPs, which are then delivered by the United States Postal Service. In case you and your REP agree, you may also get electronic bills sent by your REP at your email id registered with it. Most people these days prefer to get their bills online. In case you too belong to this league, check if your chosen REP provides this service or not.

Actual vs. Estimated bills: If for some reason, the REP is incapable of taking the actual meter reading, it may issue a bill based on your estimated usage. In case of an estimated bill, you will be informed about the cause why such a bill was sent by your REP. Make sure to know the circumstances when such a bill can be raised before you sign an electric contract.

Bill content: Make sure you know what elements form an integral part of your electric bill content, and check if your REP sends bills that adhere to the same.

Getting copy of electric bills free of charge: An REP usually maintains monthly records of billing and payment data for a minimum of 24 months after the bill has been mailed. You can obtain a free copy of your electric bill upon request. However, during every 12-month period, you can get such free copies of bills only for once.
Customer service: Check if your shortlisted REP has a good and prompt customer service desk that attends to your queries and problems quickly, and resolves them at the earliest.

With the power to choose in the hands of the consumer, you can now shop around for favorable energy plans for your business or home. Since most electric companies vie with one another to lure consumers, they offer lower rates and additional deals, which spell value for money. In today’s competitive energy markets, you need to make a knowledgeable choice to benefit the most. Use the tips mentioned above while shopping for Texas electricity to make an informed decision, and get plans and services worth every dollar of your hard earned money.

Tips to Spot Air Leaks in Home

For bringing down your electricity bills, you need to air seal your house properly. Starting from doing a blower door test, which depressurizes a home to disclose the position of many leaks, to hiring a qualified technician for performing an energy assessment, there are many ways to spot and plug air leaks. Here are some simple tips that can help you spot air leaks in home:

Visual assessment

You should examine all regions outside your house, where building materials of two different types are joined together. This includes:

Water faucets located outdoors
Every exterior corner
Regions where the foundation and the base of siding or exterior brick meet

Inside your home, you need to inspect the following for any gaps and cracks, which could trigger air leaks:

Switch plates
Electrical outlets
Window and door frames
Baseboards
Fireplace dampers
Gas and electrical service entrances
Attic hatches
Weather stripping around doors
Air conditioners mounted on windows or walls
Phone and cable TV lines
Fans and vents
Areas where dryer vents pass through the walls

Checking for gaps around foundation seals, wires and pipes, as well as mail slots is also important to spot air leaks. You should examine the weather caulking and stripping too to ensure that they are in good condition, and are applied properly without leaving any cracks or gaps.

Testing the exterior caulking around windows and doors, and checking whether primary doors and exterior storm doors seal tightly is yet another important step to spot air leakage in your home.

Air leak tests

If you can’t spot air leaks with visual inspection, you may use these tests for the same:

After lighting incense stick, move it around the edges of common leak locations. Wherever the smoke is sucked out of or wavers or blown into the room, there's a draft. You may also use a damp hand to find leaks, as any draft will give a cold feeling to your hand.

Check if you can rattle windows and doors as movement means potential air leaks. Locating daylight around a window or door frame also means that there may be air leaks.

Shine flashlight over all probable cracks at night while you ask a partner to scrutinize the house from outside. Though big cracks will be revealed as rays of light, it’s not a good way for locating smaller cracks.

Shut your window or door on a piece of paper. In case the paper can be pulled out without getting it torn, it means that you are losing energy through air leaks.

So, use these tips and tests to spot air leaks and seal them to avoid wasting energy and paying for steep electricity bills.

About Shop Texas Electricity- Shop Texas Electricity helps consumers and businesses compare and shop for their electricity plans in Texas. Learn more about Shop Texas Electricity by visiting us at www.ShopTexasElectricity.com

Save energy with CFL & Lighting Tips

Though making your home shine bright by installing and using outdoor lights, indoor lamps, and holiday strings is a good idea, the entire thing can often become quite expensive as a lot of electricity is consumed by these artificial lighting equipments. But if you thought that saving energy means sacrificing the use of such lighting choices, think again. With some day lighting plans and the right choice of lighting equipments, you can make your home bright and beautiful without sacrificing on the comfort and visibility quotient

Here are some simple tips to save electricity and decrease your lighting bills:

· Use the power of the sun: Sunlight is the most energy- and cost-efficient lighting as it's free. So, make sure that your windows facing north and south allow day lighting, which in turn could save you a lot of energy and money.

· Install ENERGY STAR windows: Installation of such windows will help you to maintain a desired temperature indoors, by blocking as much as 70% of the solar heat in summer. During the winter season, such windows will reflect heat indoors, thus keeping your indoors warm and comfortable.

· Use LED and CFL light bulbs: Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are considered to be efficient bulbs as they emit light only in one direction and save energy. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are also a good choice as they consume 25% to 30% lesser energy as compared to what incandescent light bulbs use.

· Employ lighting controls: Setting up automatic devices like timers, dimmers, and motion-sensors can estimate your needs and adjust the lights accordingly, which makes them an excellent way to control your energy use when you are not at your home or present in a room.

· Decrease background lighting: Rather than lighting large areas that don’t need to be illuminated, you can use floor lamps, table lamps, track lights etc to concentrate your lighting on specific areas, thus controlling your electricity consumption.

· Use energy-efficient lights: You should replace energy-wasting lights with energy-efficient models. While the former usually trap light inside the fixtures, the latter push more light out into the room, thus improving both efficiency and illumination.

· Ensure proper maintenance of your lighting fixtures: With age and the accumulation of dirt, dust and grime on the surface, your lamps and lighting fixtures may start performing at 50% or lower than their full capacity, while they continue to consume 100% of the energy. So, ensure proper maintenance of your lamps and lighting fixtures to avoid paying steep electric bills.

With these tips, you can reduce your lighting bills considerably.

Landscaping Tips for energy saving

Did you know that trees positioned strategically can save up to 25% of a household’s energy consumption? If not, you would do well to remember that landscaping may be your best long-term investment for bringing down your cooling and heating costs. So, if you are struggling with rising power bills, it’s time to consider landscaping tips for energy-efficient homes.

Consider the climate

Due to its large size, different regions in the state of Texas have different climates, which could vary from humid in the east to arid in the west. Since landscaping strategies for conserving energy depend on the region you live in, you need to consider the climate and plan accordingly. For example, people living in hot-arid regions should provide shade to cool walls, roofs, and windows; use evapotranspiration by plants around the home to cool the surrounding air; and channel summer winds towards homes etc. However, people living in hot-humid zones should plan differently and maximize summer shade with trees that permit penetration of winter sun even with a low-angle; allow summer breeze to get easy access to homes; and avoid having planting beds near homes if they need frequent watering.

Check your microclimate

Microclimate is the climate immediately adjacent to your home. The microclimate of your home may be more shady, sunny, windy, rainy, moist, or dry than average local conditions. For example, if your home is positioned on a sunny southern slope, it may boast of a warm microclimate, even when you stay in a cool region. So, assessing your microclimate is crucial to determine the type of plants that may or may not grow in that particular location.

Design and orientation of your home

If you are building a new home, ensure that it’s well-designed and well-oriented so that it rejects overhead summer sun, allows low-angle winter sun, and minimizes the winter winds’ cooling effect. You should also consider your location’s exposure to sun, water, wind etc, and note the proximity and location of nearby buildings, trees, water bodies, fences, and pavements, while assessing their probable climatic effects.

In case your home is already built, consider shading and wind protection to bring down your electric bills.

Shading and wind protection

Before planting trees and shrubs for shade, assess your exact needs. If you need warm sunlight during the winter while enjoying shade in the summer, opting for deciduous trees that shed their leaves in the winter would be a good idea. However, for enjoying a year-round shade, lush evergreens would be the ideal choice. You should avoid planting dense foliage in close proximity to your home as such a step may cause moisture-control problems.

You can use shrubs and trees with low crowns to offer you windbreaks that would block winds close to the ground. Proper landscaping will not only let you enjoy excellent wind protection, but also reduce your heating costs considerably. Though the most common category of windbreak employs shrubs and evergreen trees planted to the northwest and north of a home, you may even use bushes and shrubs along with a fence, wall, or earth berm (man-made or natural walls or raised regions of soil) that can redirect or lift the wind over your home.

So, use these tips to make your home energy-efficient, thus decreasing your power costs.

Contact

Shop Texas Electricity

7505 Middlewood St Houston, TX 77063
Houston
77063

817-510-3043

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Electricity Shopping in Texas Made Easy