November 1st means....

Saturday, 8:37 pm

By Kate

Nov

01

2008

Today, being November 1st, is the day when my regional gas utility hikes our gas rates by nearly 40%. They call this the winter cost of doing business. I call it the Annual Winter Heist.

In honor of the occasion, today is the day that I turn the gas hot water heater down to luke warm temps. I have been a little more liberal with hot water this autumn, but now I’m back to pinching those pennies earmarked for the gas company until they scream for mercy. I don’t like paying the gas company, especially when they take advantage of cold weather by their opportunistic rate raising.

Some might find fiddling with the hot water heater’s dial a pain in the neck. But I learned last winter that doing so saves a lot of money. That wasn’t the goal of the 90% Project, but it surely was a welcome benefit. Obviously, the less gas I use, the less the gas company can charge me. Too bad for them.

In the morning, I turn up the water heater to a temperature that’s comfortable for a shower. After a shower, the water heater replenishes and then I turn it down to the vacation setting until the next morning. Most newer hot water heaters retain enough heat through the day and well into the evening for general use. Older hot water heaters can be easily wrapped with insulated covers to gain the same effect.

If your hot water is electric and you are paying through the nose for electricity, this will work just as well for you.

Think of it as making an appointment with your hot water. There are certain times of day when we use more hot water than others. It really doesn’t make sense to heat water when no one is around to use it. It’ll cool off and reheat again and again. By turning the water heater’s dial down a few notches, the heating unit won’t kick on until you are ready to replenish your supply.

It all depends on your schedule.

Might take a little while to get into the habit, but it’ll pay you nice dividends and help reduce our use of a finite resource.

Of course, there is also the issue of not permitting the utility company to rob us totally blind.