EASING ENERGY BILL ANXIETY

What we learned from shadowing three home energy assessments

If I could sleep in an ice box, piled under blankets, I would. This winter, that preference made for low electric bills. But since I moved into my apartment last September, I have no idea what it’ll cost to keep me cool during the dog days of summer.

In the hopes of not seeing sky-high bills, I scheduled a PECO energy assessment, a one- to two-hour walk-through with an adviser who points out ways your home is wasting energy.

Philadelphians live in a variety of residences, so I also enlisted some colleagues — Jake Blumgart, who lives in a rowhouse in Philly, and EJ Smith, who lives in a single-family home in the suburbs — to let me observe audits of their homes, too.

After seeing assessments of three different kinds of homes, I’ve learned a lot about how you can decrease your bill.

A Philly apartment

Before my own audit, I thought I was going to get scolded for not having living-room curtains. Turns out that being too lazy to hang curtains is not too costly if you have an east-facing view, partially obstructed by city buildings, like I do. If I were facing west, adviser James Marra told me, he’d prioritize window coverings, because the sun would hit my living room directly for a longer period of time each afternoon.

Phew.

Overall, my apartment, which was built in the past five years, fared well. My average electric bill is $61.

Marra praised my apartment’s LED lights, which are 75% more energy efficient than incandescents. My kitchen appliances are efficient, too.

But there was still room for improvement.

He recommended cooking on the stovetop instead of the oven, a “monster” heat producer. A toaster oven would be even better.

Any item without an on/off switch — like string lights and phone chargers — is using some small amount of energy when plugged in. So are items like my coffee maker, which has a lighted display screen.

Toasters and lamps that click on and off can stay plugged in, and newer TVs actually don’t use much energy when off.

“Consumer electronics. Everyone thinks they’re a big thing. They’re not,” he said. “Maybe 10% of your bill.”

My freezer was full, which Marra said helps the appliance use less energy to maintain its temperature. My fridge, meanwhile, had lots of empty space. He recommended filling it with literally anything, even stacks of books.

After telling him that I hardly run the dishwasher, feeling like it’s a waste for one person to run a half-full machine, he told me that efficient dishwashers usually use less water than washing dishes by hand. Since then, I’ve changed my habit.

• According to my bill, laundry days are often my highest for energy use, even though I wash my clothes in cold water and hang some to dry. Marra offered a trick: Throw a dry towel in with your clothes to cut drying time by up to half. My clothes do seem to be drying faster this way.

• The shower is a big energy user, especially if you like scalding hot ones like I do. Marra suggested shorter showers, of course, and offered me a low-flow shower head. But he predicted I’d want to swap it out within a day, because it’s not very powerful.

When my air conditioning is on, he recommended running the fan in the bathroom post-shower, because my thermostat is outside my bathroom door. When the door opens and steam pours out, the air conditioner will start working harder to maintain its temperature.

A Philly rowhouse

At Jake Blumgart’s rowhouse, built sometime in the 1920s and heated with gas, his electric bill fluctuates — it’s $35 in the fall but hits a peak of $90 in the summer.

Energy adviser Rich Kinback began his visit in the basement, where he assessed the water heater, noting upgrades that could be made when the time for a new one comes in a few years.

With a thermal imaging device connected to Kinback’s phone, we saw patches of cool air along the edges of the basement ceiling, as well as on the edges of the living room and kitchen floors.

Kinback suggested that Blumgart get the rim joists along the basement ceiling spray-foamed. The shared buffer walls in a rowhouse can be tough, he said, because residents have no idea what the insulation is like on the other side.

Kinback recommended getting a contractor to do the spray-foaming: “You can DIY anything you want, but this might be more complicated than it looks.” He predicted a five-year return on the investment.

On the first floor, Kinback looked at the kitchen appliances, recommending that Blumgart upgrade to an Energy Star fridge.

At the back door, light was visible underneath.

“I think you already know there’s leakage around that door. You can see it,” said Kinback, noting that any crack you see or think that a piece of paper could fit through is a sign of leaking.

He recommended a low-cost fix: Replacing the worn door shoe.

Although the kitchen window was letting air pour in, Kinback said he couldn’t recommend replacing it: “Is it cost effective? Probably not.”

Window replacements are seldom worth it, he said, unless it’s a major comfort or home-improvement issue. Instead, he recommends that homeowners ensure the windows are well-caulked and closed and locked at all times.

And while the air conditioning hadn’t been turned on yet, Blumgart’s wall unit got higher marks than a window air conditioner, which is the most inefficient and costly type of A/C.

Blumgart mentioned that his upstairs rooms get much warmer in the summer.

“If HVAC is running properly, and a house is properly weatherized, the first and second floor should be the same temperature,” Kinback said. But the amount of work it would take to make that happen in an older rowhouse likely isn’t worth the savings.

Before he left, Kinback replaced a few incandescent lightbulbs with LEDs and installed a smart power strip, which has a timer that prevents accidentally leaving the TV on for hours.

As Kinback pointed out, little things like weather sealing and storm windows add up.

A suburban single-family home

A few days later, I headed out to Philly’s suburbs to observe EJ Smith’s energy audit at the single-family home he shares with his wife. Their most recent electric bill was $65, and the highest last summer was $135.

The Smiths opted for the energy assessment plus, which comes with thermal imaging and a blower door test, as well as a walk-through and free smart products.

The home was built in 2018, and assessor Rich Markoski was impressed with its efficiency.

Standing in the large unfinished basement, he raved about the “Cadillac of hot water heaters,” the efficient washer and dryer, and the well-insulated piping.

Markoski had only a couple of notes: Before the couple finishes the basement someday, he suggested spray-foaming the rim joist. “A lick of caulk” around a sliding glass door also wouldn’t hurt, he said.

In another corner of the basement, they might consider replacing flexible dryer-vent piping with rigid pipe.

Upstairs, their appliances got great reviews, and their windows and doors seemed well-insulated.

He did, however, point to a decorative wreath secured by a hook hung over the front door.

“That wreath hanger is compressing the weather stripping,” Markoski said, making the door more leaky.

On thermal imaging, he could also see cool air seeping around the edges of the floors, which could be fixed by spray-foaming.

Like Blumgart, Smith noted that it gets stiflingly hot on the second floor in the summertime. Markoski recommended more caulking on the windows, something most homeowners can do themselves with a $4 tube, and putting up sheer curtains in warm months (then thermal shades in winter).

Markoski also recommended bringing in a contractor to cut out part of the knee wall, a short vertical wall that supports the roof rafters, and ensuring that nothing behind the wall was obstructing air flow.

The final step of this assessment was the blower door test, which required Markoski to secure a red tarp to the open front door and place a large fan in a hole at the bottom of the tarp. When he switched on the device, the house quickly became depressurized, allowing him to assess how “tight” it was.

If a house isn’t “tight” enough, he explained, air is seeping in, which can lead to higher bills and more discomfort. But a home can also be too “tight,” without enough airflow, which can cause moisture and mold to build up.

“I want this house,” he said excitedly as he saw the reading on a handheld device, showing ideal airflow.

As the test was running, we felt around doors, windows, and outlets, where any previously minor drafts now felt like a 10-mph wind.

Markoski was right: There was hardly any breeze from the windows or doors, though air could be felt from some outlets. He recommended outlet insulation covers, a cheap fix.

For the Smiths, the assessment brought relief. And it left them with some projects to try, some larger improvement work to consider, and some habits to change.

How to sign up for your own energy audit

PECO customers can schedule an assessment online through their accounts or by calling 1-888-573-2672.

There are different types of assessments:

• Free energy checkups: for households below a certain income level: $0.

• Energy assessment: $49.

• Energy assessment plus: which comes with the blower door test and thermal imaging: $99. (Only customers who heat their homes with electricity are eligible.)

How to save on your energy bill, room by room

In the basement:

• If your basement is unfinished, make sure it is well-insulated before finishing it. Spray foam the rim joists (or pay a contractor to do it) to conserve energy and increase comfort.

• Look for cobwebbed corners, which indicate air is getting in, and insulate those spots.

• Insulate your water pipes.

• Consider a heat pump water heater. The upfront cost (usually at least $1,500) may be more than double that of a traditional water heater, but Forbes estimates you’ll pay off the difference in three years and then start saving hundreds of dollars a year on bills.

Heating and cooling:

• If you have central A/C, consider a smart thermostat, which typically costs between $60 to $300 and conserves energy.

• Try to keep the thermostat temperature a bit higher in the summer and a bit lower in the winter, since you save more than 4% on your bill for each degree.

In the kitchen:

• When you upgrade your appliances, invest in Energy Star ones, which may be eligible for rebates or discounts, and opt for drawer freezers over side-by-side refrigerator-freezers. Recycle your old unit through PECO and get a $75 rebate.

• Use the stovetop instead of the oven whenever possible; toaster ovens and air fryers are even more efficient.

Around the house:

• Make sure windows and doors are closed and properly locked if A/C or heat is on.

• Buy a tube of caulk for as little as $4, and insulate around all windows.

• Put sheer curtains on windows in the summer, then thermal shades in the winter.

• Install storm windows and doors.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with LEDs.

• If you’re guilty of falling asleep with the TV on, set a sleep timer at night, so it turns off after a set amount of time. Or invest in a smart power strip.

Upstairs:

• If your upstairs gets stiflingly hot in the summer, it may be worthwhile to hire a contractor to ensure there isn’t anything behind the wall blocking airflow.

• Use fans, especially ceiling fans, to circulate air.

• Make sure vents aren’t blocked by furniture.

• Consider closing vents on lower floors where it’s naturally cooler.

• If wall-to-wall carpeting is dirty around the edges, that means it’s likely acting as a filter for air coming from below, so seal gaps in the floor next time you replace the carpets.

In the bathroom:

• Take shorter showers. Before you get in, don’t run the water longer than you need to.

• If you don’t mind less water pressure, you can get a low-flow shower head for less than $20.