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Staying cool without breaking the bank

Tips to lowering your electric bill this summer
Use TEP app to check for outages, pay bills
Posted at 5:38 PM, Jun 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-05 12:46:37-04

TUCSON, Ariz. — The sun is shining, and we're starting to see those 100 degree temperatures in Arizona again. This means, Air conditioning unit are blasting across town.

"It's going to get hot out there, and people are going to rely on their cooling systems," Spokesperson for Tucson Electric Power Joseph Barrios said.

Using the AC more, makes a person's electric bill go up. To lower the bill, Hamstra Service Technician Brandon Orr said it starts with changing the filter of an AC unit every month.

"There is a common misconception that it's three months," Orr said. "If you look at the manufactures filter specifications, it actually says up to three months."

With high temperatures most of the year in Arizona, Orr said it's especially important to change the filter sooner, so a house can stay cool all the time.

He also said to get maintenance on an air conditioners twice a year, typically in the spring and fall, to make sure the condenser coil is clean.

"Dirt can act as a natural insulator, so if it's insulating the coils, it hinders the heat transfer," Orr said.

TEP said there are ways to lower an electric bill everyday.

Those include:

  • Have control of your thermostat: try to put it as high as it's comfortable for you, especially when you're not home.
  • Keep you shades closed: when the sun shines in, it only makes your home hotter.
  • Use a fan: it will cool you in a specific part of the house, instead of the whole house.
  • Use warm or cold water settings for the laundry: up to 85 percent of the energy used by a clothes washing machine goes to heat the water.
  • Switch to Energy Efficient light bulbs: You can cut your energy costs instantly by replacing all of your traditional incandescent light bulbs.

"We try to encourage our customers to learn more about how they use energy and encourage them to make use of this information because it really can have an impact on their electric bill," Barrios said.