{"id":6721,"date":"2021-02-13T17:48:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T09:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=6721"},"modified":"2021-02-13T17:48:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T09:48:24","slug":"tips-to-help-you-save-money-on-your-utility-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/tips-to-help-you-save-money-on-your-utility-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to help you save money on your utility bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>During cold weather, like we&#8217;ve experienced over the last several weeks, it is possible to use three to seven times more natural gas than in summer months as your home heater responds to your thermostat settings and your water heater works harder to keep water hot. Southern California Gas Co.\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.socalgas.com\/coronavirus\">SoCalGas<\/a>) offered energy savings tips and tools to help customers save money on their utility bills. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As the weather changes, so does our consumption of natural gas.&nbsp; In order to keep our homes warm, our heating systems are running more frequently resulting in an increased usage of natural gas.&nbsp; A few simple changes can help reduce energy bills,&#8221; said&nbsp;Brian Prusnek, SoCalGas&#8217; director of customer programs and assistance. &#8220;This is also the time to make sure all customers who are eligible for bill assistance and no-cost energy savings programs are aware of these resources which can further reduce natural gas bills.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Customers can take these steps to reduce their natural gas use and manage energy costs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Lowering your thermostat three to five degrees can save up to 10 percent on heating costs.<\/li><li>Install proper caulking and weather-stripping; this can save roughly 10 to 15 percent on heating and cooling costs.<\/li><li>Wash clothes in cold water to save up to 10 percent on water heating costs.<\/li><li>Clean or replace your furnace filters according to manufacturer recommendations.<\/li><li>Have your air ducts tested for leaks. Leaky ducts can increase heating costs by 10 to 30 percent.<\/li><li>Turn down the temperature on your water heater.<\/li><li>Take shorter showers to reduce your natural gas use.<\/li><li>Fix leaky faucets and pipes. Hot water leaks cause increased demand on the water heater, which increases natural gas use. One drop of water per second can waste 500 gallons of hot water per year.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Customers can take these steps to reduce their natural gas use and manage energy costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15],"tags":[1704,1775,1705,515],"class_list":["post-6721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","category-opinions","tag-energy-consumption","tag-energy-savings","tag-home-tips","tag-wind-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6723,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6721\/revisions\/6723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}