Are Candles Cheaper Then Electricity?

I would be too nervous about using candles all the time because of the fire hazard. It's so easy to start a fire!!
Please be careful!

Just because an applience is off doesn't mean it's not using electricity, use power strips for the appliences that don't need to be on all the time and flip that switch.

I think using candles isn't a good idea. It would be very dangerous since you have kids. From what I know, the fridge is to be blame for a costly electricity bill.

Well I have not seen a utility bill under $200 in at least 10 years. Three different houses, too. Of course I live in upstate NY with three teenage technogeeks.

You do what you can, but you gotta live your life.

:)

Only at dinner? No, candles will not make much (if any) difference. Not to mention that they put off heat which is a bad thing come summer time if your trying not to use the air conditioner. $200 seems high to me if you aren't using the heat or a/c and turning things off when not in use. I would suggest starting by scheduling an energy audit through your electric company. They can give you advice on areas where you can make improvements to your bill and explain it all.

No candles are not cheaper.

I replaced our windows and doors, that was the biggest saver.

Divorcing my ex cut about a hundred off the monthly bill. :p Seriously that man had to have it at 60 in the summer and 80 in the winter. I looked like I had seriously bi polar closets. :(

Smaller specific lights work better for lighting than an all room light. We use our overhead lights to find the lights in a room and then shut them off. I use clip on lights for reading.

I have to say, I'm shocked at the electric bills everyone in here receives. I live in a 1700sf home and my bill is never ever over $200. Usually 130's. We don't do many things special...energy efficient light bulbs, unscrew every other light bulb in our dining rm chandelier and in the ceiling fans in the bedrooms, ummm....that's about it. All of our appliances are
15 years old (that's how old the entire house is) and we would've bought energy efficient at the time.

I just want to add one thing though, as an FYI to everyone unplugging everything...don't waste your time. My husband is an electrical engineer and he rolled his eyes at unplugging things not in use. He sat on the couch next to me and calculated in his head what it would cost to leave the TV plugged in and he said at absolute max it'd be .50 for an entire month. He said something like a coffee maker WITH a clock will drain a tiny amount of electricity, but nothing that's going to make even a teeny tiny difference in your bill....and unplugging cords that's don't have a clock (coffee makers w/o clocks, toaster ovens, toasters, cell phone chargers) will do nothing. We leave everything plugged in at all times.

Hmmm...I take that back. Our bill might reach $200 once in a while during July or August when we need 2 window unit a/c's running. Do I live in a smaller house than most of you? I've never given too much thought to my bill before, now I'm grateful! I really hope the tips you've gotten here help out!

No, the cost of a candle divided by how many hours it lasts is much higher than the cost of having a light bulb on per hour.
I'd be looking into the energy efficiency of your major appliances if I were you.

200 is a great electric bill in our house. We see almost 400 at times. We are a family of 6 though and i am assuming each area is different. We have the energy saver bulbs and got new windows. I think new doors also helps (hoping to do that soon).

I would not go as far as candles at dinner. Save that for a romantic night with your husband :) Dinner with the family is more fun in bright light. My opinion anyway....

Do you have a choice in service providers? We use Stream Energy. It is not available in FL, but there should be some alternative. Select the one that offers the lowest charge per kilowatt hour. Then lock into a price guarantee.

Fluorescent are a good start. You can also limit using appliances during the peak times of day- usually during normal "business" hours- 8-5. Do your washing, drying, dishwasher use, etc, to early morning or the evening/night. Call your electric company to find out when their peak hours are. Also, make sure your windows aren't letting heat/air in by weather stripping. It helps to get those thermal curtains that help with energy loss. Finally, as appliances need to be replaced, consider getting energy star appliances. They may cost a little more now, but the savings pays itself back in no time.
I don't know about the candles. lol With my little ones, it would be more of a fire hazard. A burning candle would be knocked over in no time...

No. Candles are NOT cheaper.

You can unplug things you are not using. If you are not using your cell phone charger - unplug it. It's still draining electricity.

If you aren't using your computer - shut it off.

Replace appliances with energy efficient ones.
Replace your windows and doors - you can walk around the house with a candle lit and you can see how much the flame flickers around the windows and doors to find out just how much heat/cool air you are losing through your windows.

Turn lights off behind you.
If you can - switch to gas water heater instead of electric. I think - don't know for a fact - but the instant heaters are supposed to be more efficient.

I could probably write more - but I've not read your other responses so it might be a repeat post!

Look into your service provider. powertochoose.org is a site where you can compare rates, contracts, etc. We pay 8.6 right now with Champion on a 1 yr contract.

We don't skimp on the electric bill though.. Right now we run air or heat (gas) as needed, I am not the best at turning lights out, ceiling fans are only turned off so I can clean the blades.

How old is your house? We buily this house in 2000 and our electric bills went as high as $700 for 3 summers so we gutted the AC/heating system, furnaces, some duct work and installed a higher quality more efficient units plus added a lot of insulation. Since we did that, our bills have not even hit $400 in the TX summers. Our house is 4000+ sq Ft so a $400 electric bill in the summer is fantastic to us.

We do use the newer lightbulbs. As far as energy use, I don't know. All I know is I was paying $6 per light for my kitchen and replacing them every other month. Since we went with the newer bulbs, we have not had to replace any of them in 3 yrs. Home Depot runs specials on those bulbs. Stock up.

If you start going with candles, be careful. You don't want a fire accident then you won't have a home at all.

Good luck

@sonomon2 imagine that everyone thought like your spouse and kept everything plugged in. This may only be an additional $6 a year but if you multiply that by the number of consumers in your area that’s a lot of money and wasted electricity
I would request the electric company do an energy analysis of the new house-not only is the service free most companies give out the new energy saving light bulbs for FREE!

Call your electricity provider and find out the average monthly bill for this home. Our's monthly elec. bill is well over $500 per month in the Summer but on the average it is about $275.

They can tell you how much it was each month for the last year or so. I often do that when I am thinking about moving.

Besides heating your house, the things that use the most electricity are your stove (heating) and your dryer (heating) and probably the dishwasher (heating water). If you use a hair dryer or kiln or anything else that requires heating that also will be a problem. Spend a month hanging up your clothes and cooking on the grill or on a camping stove and never ever baking/using the oven. Wash your dishes in a tub and don't let the hot water run. If you do this I guarantee you will see a difference. If you can use a wood stove or fireplace instead of your central heating that will also help. We had to do this for a month when we lived in Alaska. An avalanche took down the power lines from our hydro power plant to the town. For that month electricity was being run on back up diesel generators and it cost 5X the normal amount. So your $200 bill would be $1000. We basically unplugged everything, used no lights except candles or a camping lantern or flashlights. We checked the electric meter any time we used anything and we learned a lot. Did you know if your cell phone or laptop or coffee maker or microwave or stove are left plugged in that they are slowly draining electricity? Lights don't use all that much, but every bit counts. What we learned are anything that heats (like the dryer) uses a TON of electricity. I hung up all our clothes for that month (in our house bc it's so wet there in the winter) and then kept doing it for the whole next year. Baking is a killer too. The next year we insulated our home, put in insulated doors and replaced the bad windows and that helped a TON with our heating bill. Most of our heat was just escaping out of the house.

Buy curtains that have thermal on them. It will help in summer and winter, espcecially the one that is closest to the thermostat. I have a few things on power strips that I turn off when not in use. I unplug coffee, toaster, phone chargers and have not seen a big difference in my bill (kind of like your reaction) but i still do it.

I'm not sure how much candles will help. What about your appliances? The one that uses the most electricity is the fridge--is yours Energy Star rated? Water heaters are next, I think, but other appliances can take energy even when they are not plugged in. Do you have a computer? Is it always on? Is your toaster always plugged in? Your television?

You might also consider replacing light bulbs with the new ones... they are just as bright, but use hardly ANY electricity. But candles can get pretty expensive, especially if used all the time. Some have metal in their wicks, too, making them not so healthy to burn all the time, and the ones that are guaranteed metal free are often far more expensive.

Hope this helps!

Are you on the budget plan...that you pay about the same amount each month and then have a "true up" every year. I would get off of that and be billed for what you actually consume.

Okay....I will tell you what an electrician told me. The meter on the outside of your house can only be opened by your electric company. Call them and have them come to your house and check your meter to insure that all the connections inside are tight. Like anything that can be tightened by a screwdriver. Also your panel in your house...same thing....make sure all the switches are tight and there is one screw that requires an entended screwdriver that goes inside the panel that goes to the main power switch. He told me the reason for this.....if the connections are not tight....it takes more energy for it to preform it's job. I had him check my panel....and so much of it was loose....and I called the power company and they told me something inside my meter took 3 turns of a screwdriver. So get it checked out. DOn't eat by candlelight....unscrew some of the bulbs in the dining room if you want...also a policeman told me it only costs cents a day to burn a bulb all day. So I don't think that is where your problem lies

I know when I have been shocked at an electric bill, it is because the meter didn't get read every month, but I was sent a bill based on average use from prior years. Then When the real meter reading was taken, we had to make up the differences. If for example there was a cold wave or something that skewed it. Other than that, I doubt you will see much difference in your bill over dinner lights.

I agree with all the other tips...but wanted to add a simple one that you may have overlooked. Until you have the newer flourescent bulbs (always check prices at EVERY store ---I've bought the most inexpensive ones at the grocery store), you can simply unscrew a couple of the overhead bulbs so you are not using all 4 at one time. Yes, it will be less light, but it will be more light (and safer) than using candles. :)

Remember to turn your heat down when you go to bed and when you have the other heat producing appliances going (oven, dishwasher, dryer).

Wash in cold water. Why pay a bunch of money to heat water to wash your clothes in? Not needed. Turn your water heater down (for toddler's sake too --- if you haven't already).

Do you ever leave for a couple days at a time (we do!)? Turn everything off, turn down the heat, and turn down the water heater.

How efficient is your new house?

On your new bill, is there a deposit amount? Is it for BOTH gas and electric??? If so, that's really good.

Good luck, mama. You're doing great. :)

I suggest having fpl come by to check out your system. I have a friend that does that for a living.
There *IS* electricity wasted by leaving appliances plugged in when not used. I live in Australia and all outlets have little on off switches on them so you can click it to off when something isn't in use. I seriously doubt that someone's husband with electrical experience knows more than an entire country.

Also, air con and refrigerators use the most electricity. You may want to check if yours are efficient enough.

One thing you can do is for the fixtures that have multiple bulbs, use lower wattage bulbs..... for example, use 40 watt bulbs rather than 60 watt bulbs. As you said, buying the Compact Fluorescent bulbs (the spiral bulbs) will really help, but the initial investment is costly.

It would take a whole lot of candles! The price of candles varies as to size and composition, but even so, the lighting won't be what you all are used to. If you just want to candle-light the dining room, you'll want to have several candles on the table if your family members are fond of seeing what they're eating. Romantic lighting isn't always handled with good cheer when it's done every night. And the candles will need replacing regularly.

However, some people use kerosene lamps in their homes instead of electric lights. You might want to do a little homework on that.

One thing you want to do is to call your electric company. Those folks feel pretty secure that they won't be put out of business, so you can often get a lot of good energy-saving ideas. Ask if they do home energy inspections or surveys, and have someone come out if they do.

We try to keep our electric bill down by doing many of the things you do. Except for the television - my TV-holic husband wouldn't be able to handle the withdrawal pangs. I'd probably have to institutionalize him, and that would gobble up any savings.

Ask your neighbors and see if $200 is a high bill in your area this time of year. It may be not unreasonable. I don't know - I've never lived in a less-than-four-season area; I sure wouldn't be unhappy with $200 in the winter.

How old is your house?? Check the circuit box, is it newer, what is the AMP service? If your wiring is old or if it uses fuses, or too many wires on one circuit, will be a huge drain on the power. 24 years ago, when I bought my house, it had 60 amp service and a fuse box, the electric bill was "shocking", (ha!) and I have a small house.

NEW circuit box, 200 amp service and some new wiring dropped the bill tremendously and that was before all the electronics we have now.
Over the years, have added insulation in the attic and new windows, and some more energy efficient appliances, change furnace filter regularly, and even in summer with airconditioning, electric bill isn't $200.
The new circuit install and wiring was expensive at the onset, but in the long run, the savings in a smaller electric bill more than paid for itself in a matter of few months.

I have separate circuits for washer/dryer and basement, kitchen divided separate circuits for diswasher/sink disposal, overhead light, and different one for stove and refrigerator. Separate circuit for office and computer stuff, etc. on and on, that way when several things powered on at same time, no overload. Airconditioner has it's own circuit as does furnace.

I would have an electrician or someone from the power company go through and check it out.

I would suggest instead that you have your electric or gas company do an "energy audit" -- that will show where heat (and thus $$$) is leaking out of your home. And there are usually inexpensive or reasonable fixes you can do to help stop the energy leaks.

How does that compare to your neighbors house (one that is about the
same size)? How many people live in your house? I live in upstate NY
in an an 8 room colonial, 2500 square feet unplug nothing. Have three TVs,
computer, phone chargers etc. and my bill is tops $150.00! I do not know
how our rates compare to your rates. Being in Orlando, I cannot imagine
that you need your heat on. Maybe a few times during the winter but I would
think that would be it.

Put tv's and vcr's that show a clock when the are "off" on a power strip and shut off the strip when you are done watching tv. A lot of appliances suck energy when they are not really "on". Our electric company will come in and do an audit to tell you what is using the electricity and where you could save. Sometimes heat goes out the badly insulated walls or leaks around window casings, sometimes old water heaters are running continuously to keep water hot, hot water lines may not be insulated, more insulation in the attic would prevent loss, etc. We have a 2600 sq. foot colonial outside of Boston and our electric bill is about $200 every month in winter (with electric stove, fridge, water heater, washer/dryer, 2 tv's with set-top cable boxes, 2 computers on a lot, nightlights on at night as well as outside lamps sometimes). In winter the furnace that runs on oil but has an electric blower uses electricity and in summer the AC and the blower uses even more! Changing the thermostat by a few degrees can save some money - wear an extra sweater in winter and shorts in summer. But call your electric company and ask them - they have the know-how.

I would not use candles w/kids in the house. I no longer do.

I turn off every light in the house as we stay in one room.

We switched to those energy saving light bulbs.

I unplug all applicances, cell phone chargers we are not currently using: toaster, cell phone chargers etc. Don't keep these items plugged in around the clock. Plug them in as you need to use them.

I wear a sweatshirt, sweat pants & socks in the house during winter.
Now having said that, I make sure my home isn't cold by any means for my kids. Their warmth & comfort is a priority.
I just cut back on all unused appliances. When we leave the room to take a shower or go outside.....the tv immediately gets turned off etc.

Do you have dual pane windows? Helps to keep the heat in.

Edit: heavy drapes (light in color so as not to make the entire house "seem" dark) to hold in the warmth/stave off the cold trying to seep in through the windows.

I suggest taking a closer look at your bill. Where I live in California, about 40% of our bill is local and state taxes. So, no matter the amount of power I use, this will never change. Then, i suggest looking at your oldest appliances and water heater. These can be the biggest users of power in the house in comparison to light bulbs.

i would love a $200 bill .. lol ours is $500 during real hot or real cold months (heat and electric combined) ... sucks!

awee boooyi, if I could have a 200 dollar electric bill, think of the things I could BUY... Daydream bubble popped. Now on to the question at hand. I didnt have time to read through every response but I like what I hear so far. I do plastics on windows the kids cant poke holes in. Wearing more clothes in the winter and less heat helps. Getting decent insulation in the attic helps. Up front costs but will save ya in the long run. Ceiling fans in reverse mode helps distribute heat, and fans in normal helps with cold. No not significantly cheaper, to eat by. Dangerous yes, and what if you cant see what your eating LOL

I would call your electric company, and they will send out a person for free to assess what things in your house is using the majority of the electricity. You may be surprised at the answer, I was when they came to my house. Also, if you go to a True Value Hardware Store, I would get the plastic wrap for the windows (unless you have new windows that are double pane and not aluminum) and cover them on the inside. It is virtually invisible if you follow the directions and it will save a bundle when it comes time to run the a/c. Also, I found out that running fans when you are not in the room is useless. It doesn't circulate air only makes you cooler where you are actually in the room. Good Luck!

Call your electric company and see if the offer an energy savings program. We did it and a guy came out to our house for free and told us what our bill should be, offers tips and he replaced all of our light bulbs for the energy savings ones for free. Hope this helps. I can't remember the name of the program but if I figure it out I will let you know.

I UN PLUG things first of all, leaving the TV, Coffee Maker, Toaster, DVD Player etc plugged in sucks up energy and adds to your bill. I have as many things on a surge protector and I try to keep it handy to unplug when I leave the house (tv) am done with it (appliances) or go to bed. We have on as few lights as possible at any time, my son has no problems with it (some kids like light), we have the energy saver bulbs but know you can not just toss them in the trash when you are done with them. Keep the Freezer/Fridge full at all times, my MIL has gallons of water she puts in the freezer when it starts to empty and the fridge too - uses less energy if it's constantly full. I have a medium sized town home and a family of 3 plus 2 dogs and SAHM our highest has been 112 this winter - we were a touch sloppy! Oh and make sure you have energy saver drapes/curtains.

Contact your electic provider, they should have someone that can come out and give your home an energy audit for free. We just had one today and it was an eye opener. We decided to get this done after our Dec-Jan bill was $300, double the Nov-Dec bill. It turns out that our duct work in the attic is not done properly and there for is making our system work harder that it should. He also told us about rebates that were offered through our electic co for improvements we might make. He looked at our windows, doors ect and told us that we needed to have better weather stripping and suggested insulating our outlets and light switches. We are already relplacing our light bulbs as they burn out with the CFLs so that should help some too. If you don't have one already get a programable themostat for the AC. Like I said the audit was free and it gave us lots of things that we can do that are easy and inexpensive as well as some things to have done later on.

I switched to the new bulbs a while ago and they're great. Also, if you don't want to run four bulbs at dinner, unscrew a couple instead of using a fire hazard to light your way.