If you heat your home with natural gas in the greater Philadelphia area, you’ve probably noticed your heating bill has gone up recently. You’re not imagining things. In fact, PECO’s rate increase went into effect on 1/1/23, and it’s estimated that the average residential customer would see an increase of about 9%. Doesn’t sound like much, but in light of inflationary creep elsewhere, every little bit adds up.
The good news is you can do more than just lowering your thermostat and wearing extra layers around the house. Local utilities like PECO and Delmarva Power offer home energy assessment options for your home for a nominal cost, although some homeowners may qualify for a free assessment.
We scheduled one a few weeks ago and were surprised at how easy some of the recommendations were. A simple tube of caulk around doors and windows, replacing some frayed or compressed weather stripping around exterior doors, outlet insulation pads, sealing joints in ductwork. It all adds up to make your home more energy efficient, and reduce heat loss.
It all goes to show that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to make your home more efficient. By the way, the assessor also replaced every one of our incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs for free, which are 90% more efficient than incandescent. So that certainly help offset the cost of the assessment itself. Check with PECO, Delmarva Power or your local utility to schedule your home assessment and start saving on those energy bills!
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