In Texas, summer means hot, humid weather -- including some triple-digit temperatures. In response, folks try to keep cool by cranking the AC. Energy use increases, and so do utility bills.
“A material share of our peak energy use during the summer months is residential air conditioning,” said Don Whaley, advisor to OhmConnect Energy. “It gets pretty hot down here. AC is turned on in June and it’s running until you turn it off in September.”
Texans can take steps to reduce their energy usage in summer and save on their electric bills at the same time. Here’s a rundown of energy-saving tips for Texas residents to cut down on electricity, save money and put less stress on the grid.
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Why it pays to reduce your energy use in Texas
Texans can save money by simply using less electricity. But there are a few other reasons it’s a good idea to be strategic about energy during summer.
Thanks to the state’s deregulated energy market, Texans can choose their energy supplier. Many of the energy plans available in the state include time-of-use rates, meaning that the electricity your home uses costs more during peak times, typically during mornings and a period from midafternoon through evening. Shifting your energy use to off-peak times means you’ll pay less for the same amount of electricity.
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Using less energy can also help prevent brownouts and blackouts. With more than 30 million residents, Texas is the second-most populous American state. When most everyone turns on their air conditioning during summer’s first heat wave, the state’s electrical infrastructure gets stressed. Cutting down on usage, especially during peak times, distributes that energy demand more evenly and helps protect the grid.
Texas energy saving tips
Texas residents can use these methods to cut down on their energy use and save money this summer.
Optimize your AC
“Roughly 60% of the electrical usage in summertime in Texas is your HVAC,” said Sergio Perez, owner of Airview AC in Van Alstyne, Texas, and an HVAC professional for nearly 20 years.
The Department of Energy recommends choosing a comfortable set temperature for while you’re at home, then setting the temperature four degrees warmer when you’re not home and seven or eight degrees warmer when you’re asleep. For example, a set point of 78 degrees Fahrenheit means you’d program your thermostat for 82 degrees while you’re at work and 85 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
It’s also important to keep up with HVAC maintenance year-round.
“The cleaner your system is, the more efficient it is,” Perez said. “The more we can do to service units and replace older, inefficient units with more efficient models can help to keep a cooler home and put less stress on the energy sector.”
That means cleaning or replacing your system’s filters regularly and scheduling annual maintenance to ensure it’s in good working order. Keeping outdoor compressors or heat pumps clean and free of debris can also help your system operate at top efficiency and reduce the likelihood of major issues down the road.
If your air conditioner is getting on in years, now might be the right time to upgrade. The average central air conditioning unit’s lifespan is 15 to 20 years, but the unit will lose efficiency as it ages. The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax rebates for energy-efficient upgrades like heat pumps, which can both cool your home in summer and heat it in winter.
Energy-saving window treatments
One of the simplest ways for Texans to save on energy in summer is by blocking one of the biggest sources of heat gain in the home.
“A bright, sunny day outside is a convection oven in your home,” Whaley said. “Limiting or reducing the outside light flowing is a good idea, because that outside light brings heat.”
Even a basic set of opaque curtains can help your home stay cooler if you close them during the sunniest parts of the day. More sophisticated, energy-efficient window treatments like insulated cellular shades, thermal curtains and solar screens or window films can cut your energy use by up to 20%.
Zonal cooling
Why cool your entire house if you spend most of your time in one or two rooms? Texas residents with “zoned” HVAC systems can save by only cooling certain parts of their homes. For example, your home may have a thermostat upstairs and another downstairs, or you may have mini splits that allow you to control the temperature in different rooms.
“With zoning, you can cool only the part of the home that you're mostly using to a set temperature that keeps you comfortable,” Perez said. “You can bump up the temperature on the space you're not using four or five degrees and save quite a bit on your electrical usage.”
If your home isn’t zoned, you can still help direct that cool air only to the spaces you want by closing dampers and vents in unoccupied rooms.
Shift usage to off-peak times
Texans whose energy plans include time-of-use rates can avoid paying a higher price for the electricity they use by changing when they use energy in the home. Check your energy plan to find your utility’s peak and off-peak hours.
With time-of-use plans, “you pay one price for certain parts of the day and another price for other parts of the day,” said Whaley. “If you’re a consumer who can shift around their energy load, that can be very valuable.”
Your air conditioner might need to be on all day to keep your home comfortable, but consider shifting other activities away from peak times to cut down on demand from the grid and get a lower rate. Activities like doing laundry or running a pool pump can be done midday or overnight, for example.
There are a few tools and programs that can help you make the most of time-of-use savings. Smart thermostats can help you take advantage of off-peak rates by cooling your home before on-peak times begin. Enrolling in a virtual power plant program like OhmConnect or RenewHome can provide reminders and rewards for shifting energy use to off-peak hours.
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Make your home more energy efficient
A more energy-efficient home will let in less heat in the summer and lose less heat in the winter. Adding insulation, replacing leaky windows and sealing cracks in walls, floors and ceilings can all help keep your home cooler in summer without raising your energy bills.
One of the best ways to identify those trouble spots in your home is to get a home energy audit. You can hire an energy auditor and get a rebate of up to $150 on the cost thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Many Texas utilities also offer free or reduced-cost home energy audits or other energy-efficiency services, like air conditioner tune-ups, to their customers.
The appliances and electronics in your home -- not just your air conditioner -- also add to your home’s energy load. Perez recommends easy, electricity-saving changes like switching out incandescent light bulbs with LEDs, using Energy Star-certified appliances and running large appliances that contribute to heat gain, like dryers, dishwashers and ovens, during cooler, off-peak times of day if possible.
Bump up your thermostat
There’s one more easy way Texans can save on energy in summertime.
“Get used to being a little warmer,” Whaley said. “If you change the setpoint of your thermostat by two or three degrees and leave it there, you'll find over time that it doesn't feel warm anymore, and it'll show up as a reduction in consumption.”
