Be smart when setting your thermostat
The U.S. Department of Energy recommends a summer thermostat setting of no lower than 78 degrees. For each degree the thermostat is raised for a sustained 8-hour period, you can cut 1 to 3% off cooling costs. Install a programmable thermostat to maximize your energy savings without the hassle of manually adjusting the temperature throughout the day. Read More


Seal air leaks
If you live in an older house that has not been weatherized, between 20% and 50% of your heating and cooling bill can be attributed to air leakage alone. Caulking and weather stripping are two easy, low-cost ways to reduce air leakage in your home. Read More

Video Resources
How To: Installing a Programmable Thermostat
Setting Your Programmable Thermostat
How To: Caulking
How To: Adding Weather Stripping

Reverse the direction of your ceiling fan. By changing the direction to counter-clockwise in the summer, the fan will circulate the cool air. With this cooling effect, you can raise the thermostat 3 to 4 degrees and feel just as comfortable.

Keep in mind that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms. If the room is unoccupied, turn off the ceiling fan to save energy.

Close your blinds or curtains to keep sunlight out. The sun's rays will warm your home and cause your air conditioner to work harder.

Regularly clean and/or replace your air conditioner filter to help your unit run at full efficiency and supply better air flow.

Clear leaves and other debris away from your air conditioner’s condensing unit on the outside of your home and hose off any accumulated dirt.

Minimize the use of major appliances that generate heat inside the home when used.

YOU SHOULD KNOW
Vectren seeking energy efficiency-oriented rate design

In Vectren’s current electric rate structure, our recovery of the costs needed to safely and reliably provide electricity is tied directly to our customers’ usage. In other words, our company’s need to recover costs and your need to use less energy and lower your bills are working against one another. Furthermore, when the summer temperatures are hot and your air conditioner is using more electricity, the amount of money Vectren recovers goes up - and the opposite is true when the summer temperatures are cooler than normal.

To provide greater stability to your bills and our cost recovery, we have proposed a new rate structure, known as decoupling, to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. This rate design would break the link between your electric usage and our ability to recover costs, thereby aligning our collective interests in using less energy and conserving natural resources. The impact of temperatures would be removed from your bill, and we would only recover costs granted in the last rate case. If the new rate design had been in effect this year, the higher earnings we recovered this summer as a result of the abnormally warm weather would have been returned to you through lower monthly bills. This type of rate design would also allow us to implement more energy efficiency initiatives to help customers use less given our ability to recover costs would no longer be directly tied to customers’ usage.

Although we are still awaiting a decision from state regulators on whether this rate design will be approved, we wanted you to be aware of our efforts to implement changes that foster energy efficiency. We already have a similar decoupled rate design for natural gas, and it has worked well in helping customers use less energy and ensuring the company can provide safe, reliable service. Vectren should know by early 2011 whether this rate structure is approved.