SAN ANGELO, Texas — Inflation is causing many to tighten their budgets more often. Still, clothes need to be washed and the air conditioning needs to keep running. Local experts have a few ways you at home could save money.
Reports say five percent of all the electricity produced in the U.S. is from residential air conditioning, which costs more than $11 billion to homeowners.
“It has been pretty good up here the past three or four weeks. Once we get over a hundred, we get pretty busy,” Wilco HVAC expert Clayton Wilson explained.
Wilson shared tips on how people can save money on their energy bills this summer.
“Stay on top of the maintenance. Filters need to be changed on a regular basis. Yearly maintenance would help prevent a lot of breakdowns. Anticipating that really goes a long way. Home systems are designed to hold a 100 degree day. So 75 to 76 degrees when you're not home it's good to kick it up a couple of degrees to help save a little bit on energy,” Wilson said.
The cost of washing and drying clothes is something almost everyone has regularly. Luckily, there are ways people can save before putting that load of laundry in the machine.
Energy saving expert Cyndi Bray created a device for dryers made to alleviate bed sheets from balling up, thus saving energy. She gave ways to cut costs when doing laundry.
“My advice is to turn the temperature in the washing machine down to cold. Most of the energy used to run the dryer goes to heating the air. So again, turn the temperature down to a low or even extra low. Even if you have to run the dryer for a longer period of time, you're going to save a lot of energy by running it on high,” Bray said.
Although inflation is on the rise, it's still possible to keep your utility bills low.