Energy Savings

Score a home run in energy savings

Find your base and save

03.05.20

Mild spring temperatures make it easy to save big on energy bills. But it takes measurement and practice to perfect the game of year-round savings. Knowing your base energy load can help! Your base is the amount of energy you use when you’re not heating or cooling your home. Find your base and slide into savings.

Baseball on a field

Start by tracking your base energy load when you’re not running your HVAC system. Then, follow these steps:

  1. When the weather allows, don’t run your HVAC from midnight to midnight. Log in to SmartHub to view your energy use for that day.
  2. For instance, if you used 25 kWh in a day, that’s your daily base energy load. Next, find your monthly base (25 kWh x 30 days = 750 kWh or about $75, based on a cost of $0.10 per kWh).
  3. Use the square footage of your house to estimate the most you might pay in one month for your base and HVAC. On average, a 2,000 square-foot all-electric home might use a maximum of 2,000 kWh per month and cost about $200.

Take the difference between these numbers and that’s what it costs to heat or cool your home ($200 – $75 = $125).

Now that you know your base energy load and what it may cost to run your HVAC, you can make changes to save. Upgrade to energy-saving lightbulbs and appliances, practice energy conservation, and make sure your HVAC is running as efficiently as possible.

Find more energy-saving tips at pec.coop/savings.