The colder months often bring higher energy bills for homeowners. Many people are at home more during the winter months. Add shorter days and long, dark nights, along with cold temperatures, it’s easy to see how you could use more energy than other times of year.

Luckily, there are several ways to conserve energy when the temperature drops, including 10 suggestions below.

1. Weatherstrip your doors and windows
Put a stop to the heat loss by installing weatherstripping around them or door sweeps at the bottom of your doors.

2. Switch to a smart thermostat
A smart thermostat is a high-tech way to save electricity in the winter. You can program the thermostat to turn down while you’re sleeping or when you’re away and then set it warmer for just before your arrival back home at the end of the day. 

3. Close the damper when not using the fireplace
Relaxing in front of a warm fireplace can be a wonderful end to a cold day, but heat could later escape up the chimney if you forget to close the damper.

4. Give your heating system a yearly checkup
Schedule an annual heating system check-up to ensure that your system is clean and running efficiently. Remember to use our HVAC tune-up incentive!

5. Don’t block your air vents
Clearing your vents ensures that every room in your home is getting good circulation and that your system is working as designed.

6. Check the insulation in your house
Good insulation can be an inexpensive way to reduce your electric bill in winter. Adding insulation in your attic is a great place to start.

7. Adjust your water heater’s temperature
Keeping the temperature set at 120 degrees Fahrenheit provides plenty of hot water.

8. Only wash/dry full loads of laundry
Always run full loads whenever possible. You’ll run your washer and dryer a lot less and cut down on your hot water usage.

9. Insulate your hot water pipes
Depending on how far the water has to travel, you could be losing a lot of heat.

10. Unplug unused electronics
Many electronics and appliances draw energy even when they’re set to the “off” position. Prime culprits are devices that operate with a remote control because they stay in a standby mode. Other common energy vampires include desktop computers/laptops and monitors, printers, televisions, microwaves and video game consoles. You can save energy by unplugging these devices when not in use.