ORLANDO, Fla. – With summer electric bills’ now infamous sticker shock behind us, consumers with Duke Energy are turning to home energy check-ups to make sure their homes are energy efficient for the fall and into the summer of 2024.
Duke Energy’s Audrey Stasko told News 6 the company’s new usage alerts provide a heads up 24/7 to keep monthly energy bills in check.
“You can actually track your energy use by the week, by the day, by the hour,” Stasko said. “That helps you make adjustments before that bill even arrives.”
We visited an Apopka home a few weeks ago. The owner, Flo, asked that we not use her last name but wanted to share her power saving strategy.
Flo used News 6 recent bills from July, August and September to demonstrate a gradual decrease in her monthly energy usage going from $362.38 in July to $313.47 in September.
“Keep turning off lights, keeping the doors closed helps,” Flo said.
But her secret to that lower bill was setting the thermostat to 80 degrees, that is 2 degrees higher than the recommended temperature by Duke’s senior energy efficiency advisor, Rafel Moret.
“For every degree that you lower from 78 degrees, you spend 7-8% more,” Moret told News 6.
Moret conducted a complete check-up from doors to windows to attic and even water temperature and the pool pump.
“Even two hours that you can cut back (on pool pump usage), it’s 50 cents a day,” Moret said. “With windows and doors, we want to make sure everything thing is sealed.”
Moret also recommended window tinting to provide an additional cooling effect and something he admits most consumers would not think of: cleaning the refrigerator coil.
“That’s something we overlook as customers,” Moret said. “You can save $2.50 if you vacuum and clean the refrigerator coil twice a year.”
For every update you make, Duke will issue a homeowner rebate of up to $1,700.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: