Spring Cleaning Your Energy Bill

CHICAGO, April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the time of year when customers are tackling projects to rid their home of clutter that accumulated over the long winter. While customers are sprucing up their home this spring, ComEd is encouraging them to look for ways to tidy-up their electric bill to save energy, reduce their environmental impact and keep a little more change in their pockets.

Last summer was one of the hottest in decades(1) and as a result, ComEd's residential customers used 50 percent more energy to cool their homes in July 2010 compared to July 2009. While it's tough to predict this summer, customers can take steps now to conserve energy and save money on their electricity monthly bill as temperatures heat up.

"Saving energy doesn't have to be a complicated task," said Sandra Henry, a ComEd Energy Doctor. "It can be as easy as turning your ordinary spring cleaning into an energy-saving event."

To help customers spring clean their way to energy savings, ComEd offers the following tips:

1. Make refrigerators the first stop – Fridges are one of the largest consumers of energy in the home. Because a refrigerator is always on, typical refrigerator usage can total approximately 8 percent of an average electric bill. An easy way to help a fridge run more efficiently is to clean the outside coils on the refrigerator twice a year.
2. Don't overlook ceiling fans - Make sure all the fans in the home are working properly and are dust-free. Also, don't forget to redirect ceiling fans to circulate counterclockwise in the summertime to push the air down, which provides a cooling effect.
3. Look at windows for additional savings – In addition to turning off the household thermostat (when weather permits), replace storm windows with screens to allow air to circulate in moderate temperatures.
4. Install a programmable thermostat – To help adjust to unpredictable changes in temperature and humidity, consider installing a programmable thermostat. Also consider keeping the thermostat at 78 degrees or the warmest temperature that is comfortable as the weather heats up.
5. Seal air leaks - Gaps and cracks allow air to leak in and out of a home, causing a loss of both energy and money. Installing weatherstripping, caulking windows, installing or repairing doorway seals, and adding insulation can help keep your home well-heated during cold weather and efficiently cooled by air conditioning in the hottest days of the summer.

Spring cleaning advice for energy bills is the latest in ComEd's 12 Ways to Green campaign, which aims to educate customers about ways to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. This campaign also supports Exelon 2020, an aggressive environmental strategy by ComEd's parent company, Exelon, to reduce, offset, or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020.

ComEd also offers customers a portfolio of energy efficiency programs and incentives to help them manage their energy usage and save money on their electric bills. For more information, please visit ComEd.com.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.

(1) "Summer – One of the Warmest and Wettest on Record," Illinois State Water Survey, Sept. 2, 2010.

SOURCE ComEd