When it comes to home budgeting, your electricity bill takes a big portion of your paycheck each month. Here are simple tasks that can lower your electricity bill while maintaining your home comfort.
How to Use an Energy Broker for Commercial Electricity
A commercial energy broker can help your business save money on energy costs, manage contract renewals, and find the best energy solution. They can also advise you on various energy plans and contract terms, saving you a significant amount of time.
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Texas Ancillary Services – What Are They? And Why Should You Care?
If you’re a business owner in Texas, you need to know that Ancillary Services could be passed through on your bill, depending on your contract language.
Ancillary Services are processes that help the ERCOT grid maintain a stable, efficient and safe operation. These processes and tools let ERCOT control voltage, frequency, flow and system recovery if there’s an emergency event. And new ancillary services charges in Texas could show up as line items in your business electricity bill.
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Developing a Sustainability Strategy for Your Small Business
A sustainability strategy for your small business can help you attract new employees and new clients, as well as contribute to a greener environment. And becoming a green business can have a big impact on your bottom line. Here’s how to develop a sustainability strategy for your business.
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How Much Does it Cost to Charge an EV at Home?
Electric vehicles, or EVs, are an increasingly popular choice for vehicle purchases. But before you buy an electric car, you may want to look at how much it will cost to charge. After all, how much will an EV add to your electricity bill? Here’s how to calculate the costs of charging your EV at home.
How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home? Use your car’s battery storage kWh and multiply that by your price per kWh. That’s a good estimate of how much it costs every time you fully charge your EV. For example, a 40 kWh battery, charged with power that costs 11.4¢ per kWh (the Texas average rate), will cost $4.56 to fully charge. That’s 40 * $0.114.
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Should I Install a Whole Home Generator?
Thinking about installing a whole house generator for your home on the Texas Gulf Coast? Good call. The Gulf Coast is prone to hurricanes, flooding and power outages.
A whole home generator can be a good value if it brings you peace of mind and convenience during power outages and emergencies. They can automatically activate when the power goes out, so you barely notice a power outage. But they can be expensive, costing $8,000-12,000 to install.
Here’s what you need to know about installing a whole house generator in Houston or elsewhere in Texas.
>Before purchasing a whole house generator, take a look at this article on portable generators for your home.
City Inspections & Permits for Texas Business Electricity
City inspections and permits may stand in the way of getting new electricity turned on for your business.
It’s pretty common. The business owner shows up on the day they expected to have lights. And there’s no electricity. And it’s all due to a required inspection that no one told them about.
If you are putting the lights in your business name, you’re scheduling a “move-in” and that typically triggers an inspection. Contact your city or county inspection office to find out if a inspection is required. The inspection certificate must be filed with your local utility before you can get the lights turned on with the retail electricity provider you selected.
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Understanding the Sales Tax Exemption in Texas for Cutting Energy Costs
You’ve heard about how Texas supports business growth. Among the many measures in place, certain businesses (as well as select residential communities) don’t have to pay the sales tax on their electricity bill. And any business that uses electricity in its production activities could qualify.
In this article, we’ll help you understand how to qualify for Texas’s sales tax exemption for commercial electricity.
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Load Factor and Commercial Demand Charges – How to Lower Your Business Electricity Bill
You shopped for the lowest rate per kWh for your business. So what’s this other charge on your bill?
Business customers often pay a commercial electricity demand charge in addition to the cost per kWh. A demand charge is a fee based on the highest amount of power a customer draws during any 15 minute interval. Demand charges are established annually, and can add 30% or more to your electricity bill.
Read on to find out what is a demand charge, how demand charges are set, typical load factor by type of business, how your load factor impacts your demand, and most importantly, how to reduce your demand charges.
12 Savings Tips for Winter Heating
The dreaded winter heating bill. Second only to the summer cooling bill in terms of electricity costs. That’s why we’ve created these tips on how to keep warm in the winter without busting your budget.