Entergy’s Liz Duhon Says There Are Ways To Lower Utility Bills

With record-high temperatures across most of America we asked Liz Duhon, spokesperson for Entergy in the Acadiana area to visit 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' and provide our listeners with energy saving tips.

Duhon began by saying,

Basically your heating and cooling is 55% of your bill, your water heating is 20% of your bill, your freezer and refrigerator is 8%, lights and TV are about 8% of your bill.  Food preparation is about 5% of your bill and your clothes washer, clothes dryer and dishwasher amount to about 4% of your bill.  With those numbers in mind you can see that the most expensive things to be dealt with are heating and cooling and heating your water.

To minimize the cost of heating and cooling your home Duhon suggested,

Set your thermostat on 78 degrees in the summer and leave it there.  Supplement air movement with ceiling fans or oscillating fans.  In winter you should set your thermostat to 68 and leave it there.  Changing the thermostat to a lower or higher temperature when you leave for work in the morning and then resetting it when you return in the evening is not the most efficient way to cool or heat your home.

To make more efficient use of your water heater Duhon said,

You can wrap your water heater with an insulated blanket and wrap both your hot water pipes with insulated material to prevent heat loss.  You can also equipment your electric water heater with a timer that will only heat water at pre-set times of the day.

In addition to switching to newer florescent light blubs Duhon suggested energy efficient windows, UV blocking window screens and other useful tips that you can hear in this interview: