Think there's nothing you can do about summer energy bills?

Think again. You can use several tools from Jackson EMC to analyze your energy use and find ways to reduce energy bills.

You can start with the Right Choice™ Home Analyzer Herehttp://www.jacksonemc.com/rightchoice/analyze.html. This online tool lets you input information about your home, including size, number of windows and types of appliances, to get detailed, personalized information about how your home uses energy and the best ways to reduce your energy bills.

Do-It-Yourself Energy Audit CD featuring Pat Simpson. Jackson EMC also offers the Right Choice Energy Audit Kit, designed to help you look over your home for potential areas for improvement. The audit kit's DVD shows both big and small things you can do to analyze your home's energy efficiency and make improvements that can make your home more efficient and comfortable.

The Do-It-Yourself Energy Audit tells you how to recognize potential heating and air conditioning problems and about the advantages of high-efficiency heat pumps in Georgia's climate. It helps you look at the efficiency of your heating and air conditioning; major appliances; windows and doors; and insulation. The Do-It-Yourself Energy Audit gives tips on choosing the right heating and air conditioning contractor and talks about factors that can make rooms uncomfortable.

The Do-It-Yourself Energy Audit DVD also shows things you can do yourself to increase efficiency.

These include:

• Changing the filters on your heating and air conditioning system regularly. Most standard filters should be changed — or at least checked — monthly.
• Making sure vents are not blocked by furniture.
• Checking for leaking ducts.
• Reducing the temperature on your water heater. Setting a water heater at 120 degrees not only saves money, but also helps prevent small children from being accidentally burned.
• Checking and adding insulation.
• Caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows.

If doing it yourself doesn't do the trick, get professional help. Request a Right Choice™ In-Home Energy Audit. Residential representatives have the expertise to locate problems that you may have overlooked on the online Analyzer or with your audit kit. You can request an in-home audit by sending an e-mail to info@jacksonemc.com or by calling your district office.

For more in-depth analysis of your heating and cooling system, schedule a Right Choice™ High Tech Audit. There is a charge for this audit, but Jackson EMC members can receive rebates that offset a portion of the cost. The testing process includes a list of recommendations that a contractor can perform to make your home energy efficient, comfortable and healthy.

Ways to Save Energy

The way you use energy every day can also help reduce your energy bill. Developing energy conservation habits such as turning off lights that aren't being used is easy and inexpensive.

In the summer, set your thermostat to 78 degrees. Increasing your temperature setpoint helps save energy. Each degree lower could increase your energy cost from 3 to 5 percent.

Replace conventional light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. These are now shaped to fit almost any fixture and use a third of the energy while lasting 10 times longer.

When you buy any new appliance, choose the most efficient model possible. The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Star® program identifies the most energy-efficient products.