11 Ways Florida Seniors Can Cut Their Summer Electric Bill

There are two seasons in Florida: Warm, and the kind of heat that sends your electric bill through the roof.

From June through September, air conditioners across the state barely get a break, and cooling can eat up close to half of what you pay the power company.

The good news is you can shave that bill down without sweating through the summer.

Here’s how to keep more money in your pocket and stay cool doing it.

Find Your Thermostat’s Sweet Spot

The single biggest lever on your summer bill is the thermostat, and small moves add up fast.

Tampa Electric says every degree you set below 78 can add 6 to 8 percent to your cooling costs.

Nudging the dial from 72 up toward 78 can save real money each month.

Here’s the safe way to do it: Set it to the warmest setting that still feels comfortable to you, and let a programmable or smart thermostat ease it up a few degrees while you’re out running errands or at church, then cool the house back down before you walk in.

One thing to never do is bake yourself to save a few bucks.

Florida’s heat is dangerous as we age, so your comfort and health come first, always.

Let the Ceiling Fans Do the Work

A ceiling fan cools you, not the room.

It works by moving air across your skin like a breeze off the Gulf.

That breeze means you can raise the thermostat a few degrees and feel the same comfort. Duke Energy says running a fan lets you bump the setting up about 4 degrees with no loss in comfort.

Make sure your fans spin counterclockwise in summer, which pushes the cool air down.

Since fans cool people and not rooms, turn them off when you leave.

A fan whirring in an empty room is money out the window.

Change That Filter Every Month

Your air conditioner runs nearly nonstop in a Florida summer, and all that air passes through one cheap filter.

When the filter clogs with dust, the system has to strain to pull air through it.

Duke Energy says a dirty filter can drive your AC’s energy use up by 5 to 15 percent.

Swap it for a fresh one every month during cooling season. It takes two minutes, and the filters cost a few dollars.

While you’re at it, have a technician give the unit a once-over before the worst of the heat.

Close the blinds and curtains on the sunny side of the house, especially the west-facing windows that catch the brutal afternoon sun.

Solar shades, reflective window film, and blackout curtains take it a step further for not much money.

A few well-placed shade trees or an awning over the lanai help too.

Keep the sun out, and your air conditioner gets to coast instead of sprint.

Plug the Leaks and Seal the Ducts

Every bit of cool air that sneaks out of your house is air you paid to chill.

Caulk and weatherstrip around doors and windows where you feel a draft. Duke Energy says sealing those leaks can cut cooling costs by 10 to 20 percent.

Then look at your ductwork, because this one’s a Florida budget-killer.

Leaky ducts let a fifth to nearly a third of your cooled air escape into the attic before it ever reaches you.

Having a pro seal the ducts can pay for itself fast.

You’re already making that cold air. Make sure it reaches your living room.

Wring the Humidity Out of the Air

Florida’s humidity is what makes a warm day feel like a sauna, and it works against your AC too.

When the air in your home is damp, 78 degrees feels stickier and hotter than it should, so you crank the AC lower to compensate.

Pull that moisture out, and a higher thermostat setting feels perfectly comfortable.

Run your AC’s dry or fan mode, use the exhaust fans when you cook or shower, and consider a dehumidifier for the damp rooms.

Drier air feels cooler at the same temperature, and that lets you save without noticing.

Cook and Wash in the Cool Hours

Your oven and your clothes dryer are little furnaces, and running them in the afternoon makes your AC work double.

Save the baking, the dishwasher, and the laundry for early morning or after the sun goes down.

Better yet, cook outside on the grill, or lean on the microwave, the air fryer, and the slow cooker when the heat is on.

They barely warm the kitchen.

Wash your clothes in cold water, which Duke says can cut a load’s energy use in half, and hang them out back.

That Florida sun will dry them for free.

Rein In the Pool Pump

If you’ve got a pool, the pump that keeps it clean is one of the hungriest machines in your whole home.

You probably don’t need to run it as many hours as you think.

Trim the daily run time and shift it to off-peak hours if your utility offers a time-of-use rate.

The bigger win is the pump itself.

An ENERGY STAR variable-speed pump uses around 70 percent less energy than the old single-speed kind, and Tampa Electric offers a $350 rebate toward one.

Fewer hours and a smarter pump can take a real bite out of your bill.

Turn Down the Water Heater

Your water heater runs around the clock, and odds are it’s set hotter than you need.

They often come cranked up from the factory.

Dialing it down to around 120 degrees still gives you plenty of hot water while trimming the energy it burns.

Wrap an older tank and the first few feet of pipe with insulation, and fix any drips, since a leaky hot water line wastes both water and power.

If yours is on its last legs, a heat-pump water heater is far more efficient, and Duke offers up to $800 toward one.

It’s the energy hog folks never think to check.

Get Paid to Cycle Your AC

Your utility will hand you a bill credit for a little flexibility, and the comfort hit is tiny.

The FPL On Call program lets the company briefly cycle your air conditioner during times of peak demand, in short spells of about 15 minutes.

In exchange, you pocket around $90 a year in credits, and signing up is free.

Duke Energy Florida runs a similar program called EnergyWise Home that pays up to $141 a year.

You’ll barely notice the cycling, but you’ll notice the credit on your bill.

Call your utility and ask which program fits your home.

Let Your Utility Do the Rest

Your power company offers more help than people ever claim, so put it to work.

Start with a free home energy audit. FPL’s Home Energy Assessment and Duke’s Home Energy Check will walk your house, point out where you’re losing money, and often hand you free items like LED bulbs on the way out.

Ask about rebates too, on smart thermostats, high-efficiency AC units, and more.