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How to Reduce Your Power Use and Save Money on Your Electricity Bill

October 11, 2017 by Janice

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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Are you wasting money on electricity? Could you cut back on your power use and reduce the cost of your bill? Well, we’re here to help! There are easy steps you can take to reduce your power use and save money. Thanks to BC Hydro for their tips and resources as well as for sponsoring this post and helping us all reduce our energy consumption.

How To Save Money on Your Electricity Bill

It’s so easy to waste electricity. I hate to admit that I’m doing it right now. And you probably are too. From where I sit on the couch, I can see I forgot to turn the light off in the kitchen. My phone power charger is plugged into the wall even though I’m not using it. And I’m sure there are several other ways I’ve wasted energy today.

But the good news is we can change. We can all take power saving steps today that will save us money on our electricity bill and help us do our part to protect the planet.

7 Tips to Become a Power Saving Ninja

Saving power can be a little like trying to lose weight. You need to make a plan for positive change, but chances are you will slip and fall back into old habits somewhere along the way.

At least, that’s what it feels like to me. I need a restart to motivate me to refocus on cutting my energy use.

So if you’re feeling like you’re wasting electricity and you’d like to cut back on your bill, join us in taking some simple steps to change it.


Here are seven of our favourite tips to save energy and lower our electricity bills:

1. Set a timer for shorter showers

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

If you have a tween or teen who wastes water with extra long showers, try setting a timer to let them know that their shower time is up.

Hot water is expensive. According to BC Hydro, “If two people in your home cut their shower time by a minute each, you could save $30 over a year.”

2. Place stickers on lights

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

To help children remember to turn off lights, try adding stickers on light switches. Turning off unnecessary lights is a super easy way to stop wasting power.

You could make cute signs with reminders such as “Please Turn Off”, or keep it simple and just put a little happy face sticker by light switches that are easily forgotten.

3. Reuse bath towels

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

Does anyone in your household drop their towel on the bathroom floor, destining it for the laundry room after just one use?

Encourage everyone in the family to reuse their bath towels by hanging up their own towel after their shower. You can have designated spots for each family member’s towel or have special towels or colors for every person.

4. Use your dryer less

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

Running your dryer uses a lot of energy. Reduce the amount of time your dryer is in use by hanging clothes to dry after a quick fluff in the dryer and by adding a dry towel to wet loads to help them dry faster.

If you don’t have a lot of space to hang wet clothes, try what we do — use the towel rack in one of your bathrooms as a clothesline.

5. Skip the oven

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

Instead of heating up the oven — and the entire house — use smaller appliances such as a toaster oven, slow-cooker, pressure cooker, or air fryer instead.

6. Unplug electronics

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

When not in use, unplug chargers, computers, appliances, etc. Standby power can actually account for 10% of an average household’s annual electricity use.

7. Keep the heat down

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

Save money and power by lowering the heat in your house. Have slippers for everyone in the house and keep cozy blankets handy on the sofa.

According to BC Hydro, “If you have electric heat, lower your thermostat by two degrees to save 5% on your heating bill. Lowering it five degrees could save 10%.”

BC Hydro Team Power Smart

Take The Team Power Smart Challenge

If you live in British Columbia, BC Hydro wants to pay YOU to reduce your electricity bill!

Yes, BC Hydro is making it even more enticing to be smart with your power. If you reduce your power use by 10% for the 12 months, BC Hydro will pay you a $50 reward.

If you don’t live in British Columbia, we want to encourage you to get your family to make your own challenge. Talk to your kids about saving power and challenge yourselves to cut the amount you spend on electricity by 10% over the next year. Set a family goal and have fun trying to reach it.

For those of us who live in BC, we can join BC Hydro’s Team Power Smart and start an electricity Reduction Challenge.

Power Smart Challenge - Earn a Reward

How are you going to do it? BC Hydro has your back…

You are going to become a power saving ninja, watching the thermostat from the eyes in the back of your head, sensing the lights your kids left on down in the basement, knowing every appliance that needs to be unplugged immediately after use.

You are going to win at saving power. You are going to be the savviest power user on your street.

With their Team Power Smart challenge you simply become a member of Team Power Smart and start a challenge to reduce your electricity use by 10% over the next 12 months.

If you’re successful, (come on you are a power saving ninja you can do this!) you’ll earn a $50 reward.

Become a Power Saving Ninja

So, let’s do that math. You reduce your energy bill by 10%, (that means you pay LESS money to BC Hydro,) AND they give you a $50 reward.

That, my ninja friends, is exactly what you call a WIN-WIN situation.

How to Join the Team Power Smart Challenge

Okay — so you want to save money and get money from BC Hydro. But, this needs to be a pretty quick and painless transformation into power ninja. I understand. I have not one free nano-second in my schedule either.
 
This is going to be easy. To be eligible you just need to be a BC Hydro residential account holder with 12 months of billing history at the same address.

  1. Start with creating an online MyHydro profile and link your BC Hydro account to it. Doing this gives you access to your bill, detailed electricity use graphs, Team Power Smart and other self serve functions.
     
  2. Start a Challenge - Join Team Power SmartJoin Team Power Smart once you are logged into your BC Hydro online account.
     
    You’ll see a Green box “Join Team Power Smart” or join at at bchydro.com/teampowersmart

    • Choose how to receive TPS emails and newsletters
    • Accept the Terms & Conditions

     

  3. Start a 10% electricity Reduction Challenge.
     
    You must have lived at least one year at your current residence (with billing history) to start a Reduction Challenge.

    • Navigate to the Team Power Smart Member Toolbox
    • Click on the “Start a Challenge” button.

Susan and I are also joining Team Power Smart to take a Reduction Challenge to try to reduce our power use by 10% over the next 12 months.

As we shared last year, we already had embarked on a Power Smart journey to reduce our power use. So it will be tough to reduce another 10%, but we are taking the challenge.

You can read about some of the strategies we’ve been using over the last year in our two posts…

  • Are You Power Smart? Here’s How To Lower Your Electricity Bill…
  • How To Stop Wasting Money On Electricity – Even During An Extra Long Winter

BC Hydro wants to make sure you succeed in the Team Power Smart challenge as you reduce your power usage and lower your electricity bill, so they have compiled a helpful list of 21 no-cost ways to save electricity.

For more tips and to start a Team Power Smart Challenge, visit BC Hydro at bchydro.com/teampowersmart and follow them at:

Facebook: bchydro
Twitter: @bchydro
Instagram: @bchydro
YouTube: BC Hydro

Pin it for Later

How To Save Money on Your Electricity Bill

 

Become a Power Saving Ninja - Tips to Save Electricity

 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BC Hydro. Extra thanks for reading and sharing.
Written by Janice Croze, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
Talk with me: @5minutesformom and Facebook.com/5minutesformom
Pin with me at pinterest.com/5minutesformom

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About Janice

Janice is co-founder of 5 Minutes For Mom. She's been working online since 2003 and is thankful her days are full of social media, writing and photography.

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33 Comments

  1. Black Latte Prix en France says

    June 26, 2019 at 6:47 am

    I am glad that I found this post. It is a gaggle of helpful how-tos.

    Reply
  2. Phenq en France says

    May 15, 2019 at 5:16 am

    Electricity is becoming more expensive every day. You have to find ways to reduce its consumption. Thank for sharing such ideas.

    Reply
  3. Iraklis says

    May 10, 2019 at 8:50 am

    Nice ideas to reduce electric consumption.

    Reply
  4. Pierre Martin says

    November 10, 2017 at 6:33 am

    I try to learn my kids to switch off the lights and stickers are a great idea. Thank you for sharing this.

    Reply
  5. Katherine King says

    October 20, 2017 at 4:46 pm

    I would your money-saving tips and it always helpful learning how to save on my electric bill.

    Reply
  6. Heather says

    October 19, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    I know there’s more I can do to reduce our family usage. I love the little stickers on the light switch plate. Maybe drawing attention to our wasteful habits with fun visuals will help us all.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:48 am

      Yes, visuals can help with kids.

      I really like the visual charts on the BC Hydro site that let you compare to neighbours. That’s a tough reality check..

      Reply
  7. reesa says

    October 19, 2017 at 10:59 am

    These are awesome tips. I feel like so many of our devices and appliances around home just suck energy out like a sieve!

    Reply
  8. Nancy at Whispered Inspirations says

    October 19, 2017 at 10:43 am

    This is such great advice. I am always looking for great ways to lead by example in my family, and this is perfect!

    Reply
  9. LaShawn says

    October 19, 2017 at 5:24 am

    I’m always looking for ways to teach my son about saving energy. He is horrible at leaving the lights on. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Meagan says

    October 18, 2017 at 11:52 pm

    Okay, what a cute way to teach young kids how to turn on and off the lights. I need to be better about unplugging my electronics when I’m not using them!

    Reply
  11. Sarah says

    October 18, 2017 at 11:44 pm

    Great tips! I really love the timer tip for the shower. I think I’ll have to do this with my kids. They love their long showers.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:48 am

      It’s frustrating how it’s hard to get kids to take a shower but once they are in there, they drain the whole tank.

      Reply
  12. Chelley Martinka says

    October 18, 2017 at 11:01 pm

    These are awesome tips. My kids are learning the benefit of turning lights and toys off by being rewarded with an extra dinner out every month if we keep the bill low 🙂

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:47 am

      Great idea!!!

      Reply
  13. Kathleen says

    October 18, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Why are all kids so bad at remembering to turn lights off! Thanks for the tips, I can always use more ideas to lower the hydro bill.

    Reply
  14. krystal says

    October 18, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    We try to reuse towels to save energy and laundry time! I need to try to cook without my oven more often!

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:47 am

      Yes, it can be a challenge to make sure tweens and teens reuse their towels. LOL

      Reply
  15. Amy Desrosiers says

    October 18, 2017 at 9:35 pm

    I try to save electricity whenever I can. I wish our energy companies rewarded us for saving electricity too.

    Reply
  16. Randi says

    October 18, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    Our electric bill has been awful lately. I need to implement some of your tips.

    Reply
  17. Liz Mays says

    October 18, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    I could definitely stand to save on power. The Reduction Challenge should be really helpful. I know there are plenty of ways I could cut costs!

    Reply
  18. melissa says

    October 18, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    These are fantastic energy saving tips! I always forget to unplug my electronics so thanks for the reminder and we always use the smaller appliances! Definitely going to bookmark this post to remember all the ways I can reduce power and save money on electricity!

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:46 am

      Glad to hear you’ve found the tips helpful. Best of luck reducing your power use.

      Reply
  19. Sadie Roach says

    October 18, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    Electricity bills can be seriously outrageous so I’m really going to try and use these tips. Always love saving money so thank you!

    Reply
  20. Jen Temcio says

    October 18, 2017 at 5:19 pm

    My husband and I are freaks about saving energy but the boys, not so much. They take long showers and leave lights on…it is frustrating! These are all perfect tips and I hope my kids will “get it” soon.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      October 26, 2017 at 2:45 am

      My 12 year old daughter just drained the entire hot water tank during her shower tonight. LOL

      It’s tough to get them to reduce shower time… I may have to try a reward system.

      Reply
  21. Jeanette says

    October 18, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    I do a lot of these things already. You have some great ideas here that I haven’t thought of. The only one that I probably am not willing to do is keep it cooler in the house. I’m always cold and if the house is chilly and I have no way to warm up.

    Reply
  22. Roger D Willis says

    October 18, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    We can always work to save money on our electric bill! Thanks for these money-saving tips.

    Reply
  23. Connie says

    October 18, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    These are some great tips. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  24. Stacie @ Divine Lifestyle says

    October 18, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    These are such awesome tips! The electric bill can be murder, especially during the summer in Georgia.

    Reply
  25. Jeni Hawkins says

    October 18, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    These are awesome! I never thought to set a timer for my showers. i think I’ll start doing that and unplugging my electronics!

    Reply
  26. Rita says

    October 15, 2017 at 5:58 pm

    Unplug electronics, especially TV. You’ll save money and have a better sleep.

    Reply
  27. Glamorz says

    October 14, 2017 at 3:32 pm

    Place stickers on lights – Smart idea.

    Reply

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