Hold Down that Heating Bill

The Energy Information Administration estimates that we’ll see an overall rise of 24 per cent in winter heating bills this year. That’s if we have an ordinary winter – and the forecast is for a colder-than-average one. That’s a pretty scary prospect for those of us already feeling the pinch of higher energy prices. “It’s just like taking a cut in pay,” says one midwestern man, shaking his head over his fuel bill.

It is possible to minimize your heating bill without spending a lot of money. Here are a dozen ideas to get you started.

Turn down the thermostat! You’ve heard that before, but it really does work. You’ll save about 3 per cent of your heating bill for every degree you lower that thermostat, according to the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). So wear a sweater! Wear fingerless mittens! Carry a hot-water bottle! If you can’t bear the thought, at least turn the heat down when you’re at work or in bed. If you turn it down 10 degrees for 16 hours a day, you can save about 14 per cent on your heating bill. That’s a significant drop in your payment! If you can’t stand a chilly house when you first get up on the morning or arrive home, you can install a programmable thermostat. Most of them cost between $50 and $100.

Turn off the vent fans! Yes, you need to remove steam and odors from the kitchen and bathroom, but turn the fan off as soon as the job is done, usually within 20 minutes. A small vent fan left running for an hour can exhaust a houseful of air. That’s expensive!

Close the fireplace damper. A fireplace chimney is specifically designed to pull smoke out of the house. Leaving it open is like having a hole in your roof. About 14 per cent of the warm air lost from your house escapes through the fireplace, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Cut back on fireplace use in general. It’s a great pleasure to sit by the flames, but a traditional fireplace sucks heat out of a room. Turn down the furnace when you build a fire. If you can seal the fireplace when it’s not in use, do it.