How to Take Control of Your Energy Costs

The best way to lower your energy bill is to take control of it. You can do that by making your home as energy efficient as possible.

Lake Country Power offers online resources and references for energy conservation that are just a click away: 

• The Energy Guide, developed by Great River Energy in Minnesota, provides practical tips to save energy at home and also offers a worksheet to figure out how much energy your family uses. This particular guide is popular among members wanting to know how to get a better handle on their power bills. 
• The Home Energy Savings Guide, developed by Touchstone Energy Cooperatives across America, is a smaller booklet that can be used as a starting point to better energy management for your home. You’ll learn helpful, easy tips to cut energy usage in your home…without sacrificing comfort.

Little things mean a lot when it comes to energy usage. Here are 21 tips for energy conservation:

1. Review your usage. Go over bills to get an idea of your costs. The average American family spends 60 percent of their utility bill on heating and cooling. Our Energy Wise electric heating and cooling programs can help you reduce your power bill.
2. ENERGY STAR rated appliances, compact fluorescent lighting and Marathon® brand water heaters can help reduce energy costs.
3. Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers, etc.  Activate the "sleep" features on computers and other equipment during long periods of non-use.
4. In winter, open window coverings and let the sun in, keep window coverings closed at night. 
5. When cooking, keep the lids on pots. Better yet, use a microwave oven instead.
6. Heat or cool your home with an Energy Wise„µ program such as dual fuel, off-peak heating or cycled air conditioning for a lower energy rate.
7. Dress for the weather and set your thermostat to the lowest possible comfortable setting.  On winter nights, put an extra blanket on the bed and turn down your thermostat more.
8. Only heat or cool the rooms you need—close vents and doors of unused rooms. Close the fireplace damper when not in use.
9. Clean or replace the furnace filter each month.  Keep the outside heat pump or A/C unit free of leaves, debris and dirt. 
10. Save hot water; take showers instead of baths.  Do only full loads of dishes and clothes and use cold water for laundry. 
11. Keep the clothes dryer filters and vents clean.
12. Keep your refrigerator at 37 to 40 degrees and the freezer at 0 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the refrigerator coils clean.
13. Incandescent light bulbs use 95 percent of the energy to heat the bulb. Replace your five most used light bulbs with ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent bulbs.
14. Wrap an insulating blanket around your water heater if you don’t have a Marathon„µ brand electric water heater.  The blanket will pay for itself in one year or less.
15. Seal and weather strip your windows and doors and caulk holes or cracks around your walls, ceilings, light and plumbing fixtures, switches and electrical outlets.
16. Seal attic bypasses (air leaks into the attic).   Maintain proper insulation levels for your attic, walls and floors particularly above unheated basements and crawl spaces.
17. Storm windows can reduce heat lost during the winter. Alternatively, you can improve your windows heat loss temporarily with plastic sheeting installed on the inside.
18. When shopping for new appliances, demand the ENERGY STAR label.  Remember, these items have two price tags: purchase price and lifetime energy cost.
19. Install an ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat. It adjusts the temperature automatically for you.  
20. Add area heaters to warm just the occupied rooms in your home and keep the rest of your home cooler.
21. Landscape. A windbreak of evergreens on the north side of a house can cut heating bills by a third and you can cut air conditioning costs in half by planting bushes, high-canopy trees or vines on trellises around your home.  However, be careful not to plant trees under or near power lines.

For more energy saving ideas, visit these websites:  

• www.commerce.state.mn.us
• www.aceee.org  
• www.eere.energy.gov
• www.energystar.gov  
• www.energy.gov 
• www.useelectric.com

Where to Recycle CFLs…
Compact Fluorescent Light disposal information

Special Update: If you're a co-op member, now you can take your used residential CFLs to Menards and have the store recycle for you. The best part is it's free!

Compact fluorescent lights save energy, which is good for the environment and your pocketbook, but it’s also important to dispose CFLs properly because they contain about five milligrams of mercury, equal to the tip of a ballpoint pen. To locate the nearest recycling center, please visit www.earth911.org or call 800-657-3864. Or for your convenience, the following information provides brief disposal information. Within each county, you may also check with your local hardware store as it may accept lights, however there may be a disposal fee per light.  

• Aitkin County: The Aitkin County Recycling Center in Aitkin schedules a spring and fall drop-off day for residential homeowners at no cost. The next scheduled drop-off day is September 22 from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Call 218-927-7342 for details. The Garrison Disposal site takes lights on a regular basis at a charge. Call 218-927-6435 for details.
• Carlton County: The Household Hazardous Waste Facility in Carlton County accepts fluorescent lamps from residential homes free of charge from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday (mid-May through mid-October). No appointment needed. The facility is located at 1950 Highway 210, west of Interstate 35. 
• Cass County: Lights are accepted at county transfer sites including Walker-Hackensack (218-675-6807), Slagle Demo Debris Transfer Site (218-363-2246), Cass County Transfer Station (888-910-2425), May Township Transfer Site (218-746-3593), Crooked Lake Township Transfer Site, and Leech Lake Tribal Solid Waste Transfer Site (218-335-4160). These sites may charge a disposal fee.
• Itasca County: The Itasca County Transfer Station accepts lights with a scheduled appointment during the summer by calling 218-327-2857. There is a disposal fee.  
• Koochiching County: The County offers two collections each year free of charge for residential homeowners. The next scheduled collection is August 29 from noon until 6:00 p.m. at the Koochiching Transfer Station Recycling Center in International Falls. For details, call 218-283-1157.
• Lake County: Lights can be disposed free of charge for residents at the Household Hazardous Waste facility in Two Harbors. The facility is open mid-May until mid-September from noon until 6:00 p.m. each Wednesday. 
• Pine County: Lights can be disposed at Hoffmann ACE Hardware in Pine City (320-629-6363), Willow River Mercantile (218-372-3137) and Hoffmann ACE Hardware in Moose Lake (218-485-4211). There is a disposal fee.
• St. Louis County: The Hibbing Transfer Station (218-362-5922) accepts lights on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. The Household Hazardous Waste Facility in Virginia (218-741-8831) accepts lights Tuesday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Both sites take up to four bulbs per visit free of charge. The Western Lakes Superior Sanitary District in Duluth can be reached at 218-722-3336.

For additional information, view a fact sheet from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency about CFLs.

Our member service department is ready to help you get a better handle on your energy costs. Call us at 1-800-421-9959 to begin the dialog about your energy usage and how we can assist.