Energy Saving Suggestions

Be conservative about your thermostat setting. Set your thermostat at 68 degrees and lower if you will be away from home for a while. During the winter, you can save about 3 percent of your heating costs for every degree the thermostat is set below than 75 degrees.

Replace or clean furnace filters once a month. Dirty filters restrict airflow and increase energy use. Tune-up your furnace, keeping your furnace clean, lubricated and properly adjusted will reduce energy use.

Reduce hot water temperature. Set your water heater to the "normal" setting or 120º (unless the owner's manual for your dishwasher requires a higher setting). Insulate the first five feet of pipe coming out of the top of your water heater. Pipe insulation is available from any hardware store.

Seal up the leaks. Caulk leaks around windows and doors. Look for places where you have pipes, vents or electrical conduits that go through the wall, ceiling or floor. Check the bathroom, underneath the kitchen sink, pipes inside a closet, etc. If you find a gap at the point where the pipe or vents connects through the wall, seal it up.

Open shades and drapes. Use draperies, awnings, blinds or shutters on all windows to slow the loss of heat through the glass. In winter, keep window coverings open on sunny days to let the sun's warmth in and close them at night to insulate against cold, outside air. Use drapes, shutters, awnings, shade trees, glass with reflective film or solar screens to keep sunlight out in the summer.

Adjust vents. Keep specific rooms of your home at a desired temperature. Heat rises, so you may want to partially close upstairs vents. Check with your heating contractor to see if this will work well with your heating system design.

Install a programmable thermostat. If no one is home during the day, there's no need to keep your house toasty. Using a programmable thermostat, you can adjust the times you turn on the furnace or air-conditioner according to a pre-set schedule. Programmable thermostats can store and repeat multiple daily settings (six or more temperature settings a day) that you can manually override without affecting the rest of the daily or weekly program.

LDC encourages customers to not risk their health and to use their heating systems. If a customer is having difficulty paying their natural gas bill, please contact us to discuss payment arrangements.