How I managed to save 30 to 40 percent on my electricity bill this month?

I was very frustrated a few months back because my electricity bill was ruining my life, as it was very high. The huge electricity bill, which comes every 56 days at my home, was disturbing the balance of my monthly household budget. I was very angry with this and finally contacted the electricity department in my area and told them that I am not using this much electricity and you have some problems in your system or the bill is wrongly calculated. Now, you might be wondering what they told me? They told me that our system is totally okay and error free and it may be possible that you are not taking the necessary steps to lower your electricity bill and might be waisting it. So, I requested them to give me some tips so that I can lower my electricity bill. A senior manager there then told me to take a piece of paper and write down some tips on saving electricity. I wrote down those tips on that bit of paper and started following them. Then what, it was a miracle for me. My electricity bill of August 2008 not only came down a little bit, but it came down to approximately 30% to 40%. I was so amazed with this. My family and me are so happy now that we are saving money on the electricity bill and the monthly budget is balanced.

Why I am sharing all this stuff with you?

When I was surfing hubpages yesterday, I found out a hub request "How to lower your electric bill? Mines is sky high!". Then, I decided why not share these tips, which have worked for me, with my fellow hubbers and the internet community, so that they can also save money on their high electricity bills.

I have elaborated these tips to make them easy to understand for you:

1. Use good wiring, as old wiring needs to be changed at least in 10 years.
2. Perfect earthing. If necessary, install a new copper earthing from meter to your house with zero leakage current. If there is a leakage of current, your meter is on for 24 hours. This is a good idea for saving power.
3. At night before sleeping, completely switch off TV, DVD, music systems, etc. and remember not to put them on idle mode, again, TURN THEM OFF COMPLETELY.
4. Use POT-type fan regulators instead of ROTARY-switch type.
5. Use power saver lamps or CFLs (compact tube lights) which can be placed into BULB holders.
6. Minimize use of microwaves, ovens, mixers, grinders, etc.
7. Do not use washing machines daily, collect clothes for two to three days and then use the washing machine. In this way, electricity will be used only once in three days for washing your clothes.
8. Switch off PC when not in use.
9. Switch off monitors of your PC when you know that you have to again log in the system after 10 minutes or so.
10. Clean the back of your refrigerator at least once in a month, this will reduce the dust on it, dissipating the heat generated by your refrigerator quite well, thereby increasing its efficiency and reducing your turning on your refrigerator's mode to coldest, thereby using less electricity, as turning coldest mode on consumes maximum energy whereas cold mode or the lowest mode is the energy saver mode.
11. Always use the energy saver mode for air-conditioners, as this will use less energy and the room temperature will also remain constant. At night in summer months when there is more heat outside, the temperate is very high and you need to sleep for around 6 to 8 hours, switch your ACs temperature to the lowest degree and set its auto timer to 1 or 2 hours as you like. Close all the doors and windows ensuring there is no excessive air leak from any corner of your room. This will help in reducing or lowering power consumption on your air‑conditioning of the room, as after one hour or so, the AC will switch off but then also you will be in sound sleep and the temperature of the room will remain intact for around 6 hours or more.
12. Instead of using vacuum cleaners twice or thrice in a month, use them only once in a month and vacuum clean all your furniture, like sofa upholstery, cots, beds, curtains, car seat covers, and chair fabrics once in a month.

How I managed to save more money on electricity bills?

In Delhi, it is a miracle that Electricity Providers have created a slab system and given the benefit of low bill system to the users who use or consume less electricity. My neighbors pay Rupees 2000 to 2500 INR per month whereas I pay Rupees 1000/1500 INR only. I am trying to bring my unit consumption further down, so that my electricity bill will be half only, i.e., Rupees 750 to 850 INR per month. People who are using less electricity are the only one who are benefited according to this slab system.

Hope the above tips will help you save money a bit more on your electricity bills.