What’s the Average Electric Bill for Studio Apartment?

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What's the Average Electric Bill for Studio Apartment

The monthly average electric bill for a studio apartment can vary according to climate and location.

On average, you can expect around $120 by way of electricity bills.

Out of all the utilities, the cost of electricity should be the highest.

Around 40% of the electricity is spent on heating or cooling interiors while about 35% of electricity is consumed by lighting, electronics, and appliances.

Factors That Determine Electricity Consumption

There are also other factors at play that could determine your electricity costs. The weather in your area is an important one. Higher temperatures mean that you will be spending more on air-conditioning.

The total square footage of your rental unit also matters. One of the key benefits of studio apartments is that their heating and cooling requirements are less due to smaller space.

Hence, a studio apartment can help you save money on electricity and other utilities due to its layout.

The number of appliances that you are using is also vital. If you have more appliances that are heavy-duty in nature, then you can end up spending more on electricity.

The number of people living in your apartment could also make some difference.

The more people that are living together, the higher use of electronic items and appliances will raise electricity consumption.

If you use air-conditioning, then having extra people will increase the heat load since people exude heat as a natural consequence of metabolism.

Thus, with more people, your AC may have to work harder. This can raise your energy bills.

Here are steps that you could take to save electricity costs.

Energy Star

To save on your electricity and also positively impact the environment, you can think about using energy-star-rated appliances.

The prime advantage of such appliances is that they are not too costly compared to their regular counterparts.

You may be able to recover the small extra cost through savings on your energy bills. The savings over the long term are likely to be higher than the extra cost of energy-star-rated appliances.

Thus, you should consider buying these appliances for their cost-saving and environmental benefits.

Energy-efficient appliances will help you save more money on electricity since appliances account for around 35 to 40 percent of total electricity consumption.

Appliances now have an array of features for reducing electricity consumption. Smart home devices are available for monitoring electricity usage.

You can also install an energy-efficient curtain to minimize heat losses.

These curtains work by reducing heat losses to the environment during winter and by reducing the influx of heat from the environment to your apartment during summer.

Energy-efficient curtains are made from premium insulating materials and they also now come in all shapes and styles to suit your preferences.

Water Heater

In areas that encounter cold weather, the water heater can account for around 16% of energy usage. Thus, renters can save some money by turning down the temperature of their water heater.

There is almost no reason to keep the water heater temperature high because the water will then become scalding hot. Not only is this wasteful in terms of energy consumption, it can also cause burns.

Take the temperature down to a level where the water is slightly warm. The water should be warm enough so that it does not feel cold.

If you have a dishwasher then this could also help to reduce energy spent on heating water since these appliances often their own heating element that can efficiently heat water for washing dishes.

You can think about taking the water heater temperature down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. But before making any adjustment on your own make sure that you talk to your landlord.

Lighting

Lighting is responsible for around 12 percent of energy consumption in an apartment. To reduce the cost of lighting you should think about installing smart bulbs after talking to your landlord.

You can program smart bulbs to turn on and off only when there is a need for lighting. Motion detection is most useful as it can help the lights to turn on or off automatically.

Lights will turn on when someone is detected inside and lights will go off when there is no one in the room. Such technology is very convenient as well since you do not have to worry about switching off the lights when you leave.

Smart bulbs consume much less energy than incandescent bulbs since they work with LED technology which is much more efficient in converting electrical energy to light energy.

Smart bulbs running on LED technology can help you to save 75% of energy than incandescent bulbs normally consume.

Another major cost-saving benefit of smart LED bulbs is that they are very durable and last much longer than incandescent bulbs.

Thus you will have to spend less on smart LED lights since they need to be replaced less often.

Also read: Is a Studio Apartment Good for a Couple?

Use of Water and Appliances in the Kitchen

To further reduce electricity costs, you should try out a few tips and tricks for the kitchen. Energy consumed in the kitchen is even more important for studio apartments since it occupies a large part of the available space.

The first tip is to never wash dishes by hand. If you wash dishes manually then you might end up using more hot water than what a dishwasher will normally consume.

Instead of using the oven for heating food, try using the microwave. The oven can consume much more energy because it has to heat up a larger volume of space for reaching the required temperature.

Another benefit of using the oven less often is that the kitchen will remain cooler. Hence, your air conditioning expenses will go down.

Another tip is to keep your freezer full. A full freezer runs on less electricity than a partially full freezer. Hence, you should try to use as much freezer space as you can.

During the summer months, you can load it with your favorite ice creams.

You should implement these electricity-saving measures since not only will they lower your bill, they will also reduce carbon emissions.

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