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By Romana King on December 19, 2016
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Lower your utility bill with these updates

By Romana King on December 19, 2016
Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Keep an eye on energy and water hogs to save big

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Leaky toilet, old appliances, outdated fixtures. All culprits in wasting water and gobbling up energy. Kick the inefficient resource hogs to the curb, with these updates.

Low-flow fixtures

The typical Canadian spends about eight minutes in the shower and uses 9.1 L of water/minute. Install an energy-efficient showerhead and cut your water usage by 20% Save up to $60/year

When to buy appliances

DEC. 26 (Boxing week) OR JULY (Mid-summer) Stores are trying to move last year’s models to make room for new stock Save up to 50%

Do buy…don’t buy

DO BUY: Prevent rust and corrosion with a stainless steel or plastic dishwasher basin or washing machine tub DO BUY: Front-loading clothes washers use up to 85% less electricity and 75% less water than top-loader machines DON’T: Skip the steam settings, as they only slightly improve stain cleaning DON’T BUY: The cheapest appliance, as manufacturers usually cut costs by trimming performance, energy and water efficiency, and capacity

Don’t flush money down the drain

Toilet

Listening to your toilet consistently run is like flushing 5,585 bath-tubs of water down the drain. Fix it to: Save up to $1,755/year

Faucet

You only waste about 30 bath tubs of water or about $30/year, but the constant dripping quickly corrodes fixtures and pipes, leading to $$$ for replacements down the road. *Sources: EPA, Consumer Report, Manitoba Hydro, Halifax County Service Authority

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