Turn it off, turn it off

Today's title comes from a cheesy song I remember singing in a second grade musical and it went something like this "Turn it off, turn it off! Running water…Turn it off, turn it off! Save the power...Turn it off, turn it off! Running water…" Don't ask me why stuff like this sticks in my head, but it has and while this was a cute song to sing in second grade it's basic message is ringing true as an adult. Since moving back to Kansas I have a hard time understanding my energy bill.  How can the bill for my 900 square foot apartment consistently be higher than the bill for my mother's 1300 square foot (plus a basement) house? Below is a table of my monthly energy bills since I moved in...

Date RangeDaysKWHBill Amt
Feb. 19 - March 17 26 days603$85.68
March 17 - April 1529 days252$42.15
April 15 - May 1429 days386$59.54
May 14 - June 1330 days550$78.04
June 13 - July 1532 days1011$135.11
July 15 - Aug. 1329 days562$80.16
Aug. 13 - Sept. 1230 days881$118.22

As you can see it varies vastly from month to month. I don't have a washer or dryer. I run my dishwasher about 1-2 times per week on the air dry cycle, I keep my thermostat between 75-78 (if I have my air on at all), I don't use my oven but 1-2 times per week and I only have one TV. 

Here is my game plan to see if I can lower my bill

1) Turn the air conditioner off.. and leave it off. Going into the fall months it's really not necessary. 
2) Take a daily reading of my energy meter to watch for trends
3) Check with my neighbors to see how their bills run 
4) Change the six blinding bathroom vanity bulbs from regular 60W bulbs to energy star 40W bulbs
5) Make sure lights are turned off when not home 
6) Keep blinds closed when it is hot out and open when it is cold
7) Take shorter showers (and if that means timing my showers, well I guess I'll start timing my showers)

Being that my apartment is older a large part of the reason my bill is so high could be due to the fact my appliances are older, which is an important fact one should consider when renting. My energy bills being sky high eat up the money I save each month by renting an older apartment. In my 2 years and 3 apartments of rental history, I have never had such high energy bills... even at the peak of summer in South Carolina my electric bills were not this high. I am greatly dreading the coming winter in my new home.  

You can find more helpful energy saving tips from Westar Energy here and from Energy Star here. 

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