Reduce Your Electric Bills With These 5 Maintenance Practices

Whether it’s a big or small home, a large chunk of our monthly expenses go towards our energy bills. Especially in countries like Dubai with its desert climate, escaping from high electricity bills is challenging. However, by making yourself a little bit more conscious of some standard home maintenance services or practices you can save up on your electricity bills smartly and have stable control over them. Below are 5 such maintenance practices you can follow to reduce your electricity bills. 

Service Your Air Conditioner

Make it a habit to do regular air conditioner servicing or AC cleaning.  When your AC is dirty it takes more energy for the system to provide adequate cooling, which means higher bills. Cleaning and removing dirt from your AC on average will reduce its energy usage by at least 15%. 

It is also helpful in making sure your indoor air quality is safe, hygienic and gets proper air filtering. While it is always best to service your air conditioner once a month, it’s often recommended to do it more in the summer months when the AC is used the most. 

Wash Your Laundry with Cold Water

Another common electricity drainer in households is the washing machine. Most of the energy a washing machine uses is to heat water. Using cold water whenever possible is a good maintenance tip to lower electricity bills in summers. 

Unless the fabric type requires warm or hot water, make it a regular practice to wash clothes in just cold water. In general, most fabric types can be washed in cold water, which is actually an optimal temperature to remove stains as well. 

Maintain Your HVAC Usage

Taking small yet consistent steps in regulating your HVAC usage is a great maintenance tip to reduce electricity bills. Make sure to turn on the AC or heater only when necessary. Making lifestyle changes like changing dressing styles to suit outdoor temperature can also help you maintain your HVAC usage. This will also help you reduce your HVAC dependency all the time. 

Another common way to regulate your HVAC usage is to give it proper maintenance or servicing. After a few years of use without proper maintenance, HVAC accumulates a lot of troubles that cause technical issues. HVAC that manifests malfunctions consumes more power than normal. 

While regular HVAC cleaning and maintenance (once a month) may look like you spend a lot of money, it actually saves a lot on your energy bills in the long run and can also help you avoid costly repairs.

Weatherize Your Home

Sealing air leaks around the house is a great maintenance practice to reduce your heating and cooling bills. Hot or cold air leaking from the outdoors to your house will make you want to use more AC or heating systems to keep your house at optimum temperature, increasing energy usage and electricity bills. 

One of the most common sources of air leaks into the house is through windows, doors and vents. By doing a regular check-up for these leaks once in two or three months, you can secure any rifts by stripping and caulking, which are simple air sealing techniques and will offer a return on investment in less than a year. 

Clean Your Refrigerator

Make it a regular maintenance practice to defrost the ice in your freezer. The frosted ice acts as an insulator and stops the fridge from cooling efficiently. 

Cooling coils are designed to remove this heat and to achieve a cooling effect. Frost will reduce the amount of cooling available over time, your refrigerator will have to run longer for achieving the desired cooling state than it would without having to frost. This additional running time of the cooling coils increases power consumption and electricity bills. 

While these may sound like simple or ineffective tips, they can actually go a long way in saving you money. Incorporate these tips into your electricity usage for a month and see the drop it brings in your month-end utility bills.