According to the article electricity rates have increased for a 5th year…yikes! You know there has to be point when people start looking at solar and wind. I know there are people ahead of the curve – and in some states its actually worth it – but for many states where there aren’t many sunny days and not enough state incentives its still not worth it – it seems.

Check out the article

There’s power in numbers. Its the simple truth. The more you have the more influence you can exert.

Well, a Dutch startup is taking group buying to the electricity industry by signing up consumers and then going to various local energy suppliers to get their best prices. I think that’s a fantastic idea whose time has come.

They plan on signing up 10,000 consumers – now that’s a number any company would love to have or fear to lose to its competitor. Consumers who participate in the scheme are allowed 30 days to review and respond to the offer.

The great thing about this is that for consumers there is nothing to lose. They sign up for free and use their collective purchasing power to get best offers from the top Dutch electricity companies.

The startup known as “Met De Stroom Mee” plans to approach the following energy companies: Nuon, Eneco, Dutch Energy Company, Dong, RWE, Electrabel, E. ON, Oxxio, Direct Energy and Essent.

The idea of collective buying is not new and even in the US, companies and groups have joined together to get better deals. One example is the Nonprofit Energy Alliance that worked with Clean Currents to negotiate the cost of wind power electricity supply for 16 non-profits. They’ve reportedly saved $76,000 over a 2 year period and purchased 2,800 Megawatt hours (MWh).

Another US example sis the “Philly Buying Power” where local businesses in the city of Philadelphia can group together to purchase their electricity needs.

Both of the above examples are limited to non-profits or businesses and the Dutch startup has gone beyond that to individual consumers. In the age of Facebook, Twitter and all sorts of rapid communication through websites, emails, and live chat, I believe, its an easy and low-cost way to get a group together to jointly purchase all your gas and electricity needs whether its conventional or green, wind or solar – its time to move in this direction.

Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding, and everything related to groups working together for the common good are doing well these days. Its a throwback to ancient times when we use to be in small tribes looking out for one another. Good natural concept. So are you going to form a collective purchasing group for your electricity needs today?

So the folks at Yahoo have a news story about Cheap and Easy Ways to Cut Your Electric Bill by 10%

The reason why I liked this article is that its one thing to do and then you’re set. If you live in the North then you know that your water heater does have quite an impact on your electricity bill. So take a look at these suggestions and see if you too can save 10%

Every inventor will tell you he or she has come up with the greatest thing since sliced bread but they don’t really size up to that claim. We live in a consumer based society that makes us spend money to save money but you have to do what you have to do.

There are a lot of things that claim to save fuel, electricity and all the other modern inconveniences we need. You’re not reading my article to splurge – you’re reading it to save and so we’ve come across a product that actually does save you money on your electricity bill. The funny thing is that its not all that hi-tech, but it works.

Its an Electricity Usage Monitor. In a nutshell, it will tell you which of your appliances are give you those eye strains when you open your electric bill and then it leaves it up to you – a human – to decide: “Is it worth it to keep this appliance plugged in the whole day?” Some of you might want one just to know what those devices consume in electricity on a daily basis. Some will get act on the knowledge – close the surge supressors and save a few bucks on their bill monthly.

You’d be surprised that you have some devices that are plugged in (yet turned off) that still consume electricity. You probably know that but seeing the watts it uses up might motivate you to unplug that device or appliance.

For my frugal friends out there, you can find Kill-A-Watt Monitors in libraries and check them out for free as well. If not try calling village hall or your local municipality because this a small low-cost program they can implement. I’ve seen them in libraries so I know there’s a good chance you might be able to use it for free.

Welcome to the 2nd part of our series on saving electricity. In our 1st post we talked about actually purchasing some energy saving products to reduce your electrical bill.

4.) Free Spots: Everybody likes to spend some time outdoors and going and visiting places. The problem is when you’re on a budget its hard to do that. Its not much of a savings to shut off the lights and electric-hogging devices at home and head to a venue where you fork out $20 or $30 to spend the evening.

A better alternative is to visit places like libraries where you can get some great reading and relaxation done. Lets take that idea a step further – you can stop by on your way from work and spend an hour or two. No need to worry about electricity usage there – most libraries have free wi-fi, loads of new books, newspapers – think of it as your relaxation spot. You also save on your electricity bill.

5.) Phantom Users of Electricity: Whether you’re at work or at the library – you might have many devices plugged in at home that are consuming electricity even when they’re off. Take those out. Unplug them. That can include appliances, cell phone chargers, laptops, printers, and much more.

6.) Screen Saver: More and more we’re on the Internet and with Facebook and Twitter the usage has just been growing and growing. Make sure you have a screen saver set on – ideally at 3 minutes that’s about long enough for you to be able to surf without the screen going dark and nagging you.

7.) Light moves with you: Get into the habit of switching off lights if you leave one room and go to another. What’s the point of keeping the light on in the kitchen or the living room for the next hour or two before you come out to shut it off.

8.) Look and look again at your bill: Make sure all is okay with your bill. Check previous bills. How many kilowatt hours have you been using. Discipline yourself. Reward yourself for reducing the cost. When the next bill comes and its lower – treat yourself.

9.) Make use of the windows in your house, let natural light in, don’t turn on the lights if you don’t need it.

10.) Take advantage of the air and natural ventilation. Don’t turn on the A/C if you don’t need it.

11.) Clean your filters. Dirt and dust in your filters and prevent proper air flow. You’ve got it on for 2 hours when 1 1/2 might have done it. What’s that extra half-hour going to cost you in terms of $.

2011: The world is in the midst of a depression/recession/whatever you want to call it – and quite honestly saving money by reducing consumption is no longer frowned upon.

Where are you in all of this? What’s something you use every single day and could tweak your usage at least a little to save a few bucks here and there (answer: electricity).

So we decided that with our 1st blog post of 2011 we’ll share with you eleven ways to reduce your electric bill in 2011. We are going to split these 11 tips into a few blog posts for easy of reading.

Tip #1 If you live in a northern climate then ironically you can save more money by increasing your electricity usage. No, we’re not crazy. Here’s the deal: You cut down on your central heating usage and get affordable, durable space heaters that are safety rated and use them in the rooms you normally inhabit. Its amazing that many people who have 2-3 individuals in the household yet are heating up 2000 square feet of their living space to 70 degrees! Save Money – Use More Electricity – Reduce Central Heating

Tip #2 If you thought our first tip was crazy – wait till you hear this one: Spend More Money Buying Stuff. How’s that going to save me on electricity you say? Well – instead of making impulse purchases, you should research and buy energy-saving appliances to replace your old energy-hogging ones. Many people have an issue with saving their discretionary money, so instead of changing a habit here, we’re just redirecting it to better use.

A good example is a microwave oven which in terms of electricity usage uses 80% less electricity than your conventional oven. If you have a lot of time on your hands and really want to save money, go with the Sun Oven.

Tip #3 Learn! This tip is about taking a trip to your local library and learning all the ways in which you can do your own heating insulation. If you don’t have the will or the time to properly insulate the whole house then you want to focus in the rooms where you are using your heaters so that the heat generated by them is not lost. Make sure the windows are insulated properly.

Six months ago, I moved into a quaint, rustic little house. I wanted a house, with a nice big yard; I was sick of noisy, cramped apartment living. The house was a mess and the landlord had yet to fix the heating situation. My rent was to be lower than what I had been paying for my apartment; however, I would be making up the difference by paying my own utility bill.

The house utilizes gas for heating water and use of the stove. The rates for gas in my area have increased twice in the last few years, and with an active family, our utility bill is high enough. I was certainly concerned about the type of heating unit my landlord would ultimately install.

Though I would have little say so in the matter, I still did my homework. I wanted to be prepared, come what may. I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts and the information I uncovered on the pros and cons of gas vs. electricity for heating your home. In the end, my landlord installed electric wall units to heat our home, but I am still glad I looked into the matter.

Natural gas prices continue to rise. Like I mentioned before, where I live, the price has risen twice in the last five years alone; a 20% increase each time! That being said, while using gas to heat your home can be costly, it is probably not the most cost effective solution to switch to electricity altogether, unless your gas furnace or heating unit is already on its last legs.

Proper maintenance and an energy audit can help you to discover ways in which to cut your winter heating bill. In many areas, the utility company will provide an energy audit at no extra charge. While gas heating can be expensive, I can tell you that is sure is efficient! It heats things up fast and keeps the temperature nice and cozy for a while.

Electric heating is the cheaper route, for the most part. Of course, regardless of what type of electric heating unit you’re using, you do not want to leave it running on the highest setting at all times. You won’t save much money this way. You want to turn the heat on, get it to a cozy temperature, and lower the setting or use a built in thermostat to regulate the temperature and operation of the unit.

Electric units present even more of a fire hazard than gas heating units, so be sure that they are never left unattended and that all units are in good working condition. Older units can easily malfunction and create a safety hazard for you and your family.

Now, I prefer the cost savings of electric heating; however, keep in mind that electric units take a little bit of time to heat up. The house will stay a tad cold for a bit, if the unit(s) have been off for a while. However, once they get going, they can be just a cozy as gas heat. Still, nothing will ever replace the comfort and warmth created by the heat of an old fashioned fireplace…complete with the sound of crackling logs and a warm cup of cocoa… but that, my friends, is another story.

Whichever type of heating you choose to utilize, you an optimize your heating efforts and decrease your energy bill by ensuring that your home is winterized. Use caulking, weather stripping,, plastic, window kits, outlet seals, heavy drapes, etc. to block out any drafts and retain the heat inside your home.

Winterizing can save you hundreds of dollars or more on heating every year. It does not cost a lot to winterize; in fact, it costs more to heat a house back up than it does to maintain a comfortable temperature.

I don’t know about you – but I’ve always been tempted by the solar and wind systems that cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $40,000. But at that price, you could buy a small starter home in some cities nowadays. Who can afford to pay that for Solar Power nowadays? Well – innovation and reduction in solar panel prices are combining to bring exciting changes to the industry – and there’s a new product in town!

So if you’re always been wanting to “go green”, help the environment and save money on your electricity bill at the same time, there hasn’t really been a solution go off-grid. And nor will there be anytime soon. That was the bad news. Good news? Well, the good news is that innovative companies are coming up with a plug-and-play solar power system that could be just the think homeowners, renters, and small-business owners have been looking for. This new system is getting a lot of press coverage, with articles on CNN and the New York Times.

Clariant Technologies in California hopes to have a product on the market as early as next year – they’re supposed to go into production this fall I believe – and they will have a DIY Solar System that will cost around $600.  It just plugs into your socket and will work on slowing down your electricity meter – no at $600 you didn’t really expect it to power your whole house did you?

You see the average home energy consumption is around 920 watts – with the Clariant product (its called Sunfish), you will get about 30 watts per panel (you can accommodate up to 5 panels on that kit). That would give you a total of 150 watts.

The cool thing is that you can start with one panel, and continue adding another panel as you’re able to afford it. With 5 panels installed, the solar powered system would cover about 1/6 or 16% of the average home’s energy consumption.

The system should pay for itself in 4 years – now that’s not a bad investment. You’re looking at a 25% return on your money. One of the other cool things about a plug-and-play solar system is that if you’re renting you just unplug and take that solar system with you if and when you move to another location. Now that’s serious solar mobility.

You know those coupon packets you get in the mail that have offers for carpet cleaning, orange trees, and a myriad of unrelated things. Its interesting to go through them and see what you find. I was surprised to find two ads from the utility company that gave some ideas about saving money.

The first idea on how to save on electricity was to get rid of your 2nd fridge (no not the 1st one – you’ll need that).

So ComEd – came has an appliance recycling program that provided the following information:

*A typical 2nd refrigerator is usually an older version that use up to five times more electricity than newer models.

*You are probably paying $150 or more per year in utility bills for that refrigerator – so the question they ask is: “What’s in your Second Fridge?” – Is it worth the cost to Chill?

*If you’re refrigerator is in working condition, ComEd will pick it up FREE of charge, and give you $25 also. For more information check out www.comed.com/appliancerecycling

Another cool idea is the A/C Cycling Program. In a nutshell, you can save money on your summer electric bills by allowing them to install a control switch that allows them to cycle your a/c compressor off an on. They have 2 options, one will save you $20 and the other $40 on your entire bill from June to September. You can check that out at: www.comed.com/accycling

You open your energy bill month after month, each time another jaw-dropping experience. Rates keep rising and you feel like you’re going to go bankrupt just to keep the bills paid. It’s frustrating, but you grudgingly hand over the cash anyway to keep from being in the dark and without your much needed appliances.

Now, if you are out in the real world, paying your own bills, you have been around long enough to recognize the value of a dollar and the importance of savings. If that’s the case, well, you could not have possibly missed out on the push for green living and the importance of reducing energy consumption as well. Your monthly utility bill might be a cause for concern, but there is no reason why you can not combat your utility company’s prices by taking steps to reduce your own energy consumption and your energy bill.

There are lots of energy savings tips out there, which we will definitely be discussing. However, one very important step in determining and limiting your energy use is to have, at the very least, a rough idea of your appliance energy consumption.

The following information will give you a baseline of appliance energy consumption, but is not particular to any brand or model. For more specific brand/model information, consult your appliances. Keep in mind that the information listed here and on your appliances is going to be the minimum to maximum range, not the actual usage at any given time.

This table lists many common items in use in households across America, but is by no means a comprehensive list of every single energy using item one might own.

I hope this gives you a reasonable idea of appliance energy consumption and can help you to decide how to reduce your energy use as much as possibly for added savings and a healthier environment.