Why is My Gas Bill So High in the Winter?
It’s winter time again, heat is highly needed. Many people are not keen with the cold during the winter time and they would love to have functioning heaters to warm them and their homes. Winter means high gas bills and still there are a lot of people wondering why gas bills increase during the winter.
Here are a few reasons why gas bills increase in the winter time.
- Warming Your Homes Using Natural Gas
If you want to go home to a cold home, then you don’t need space heating. But if you like to go home to a comfortable, cozy and warm home, then you need to use natural gas to warm your house. It is quite logical that when winter comes, everything becomes cold and for us to survive the cold, we need some heat. Heat uses gas and eventually will cause our gas bills to increase. But there are plenty of things you can do to control the sudden increase of your gas bill by weatherproofing your doors and windows to prevent leaks. Keep your furnace filters clean and get a low-voltage programmable thermostat. Use blankets and sweaters to warm you up instead of warming up the place.
- Use of Secondary Heating Source
Sometimes we like to be fancy and we use the fireplace to warm our homes. Fireplaces can contribute to the increase of gas bills. If you really want to use your fireplace, you can go old school and use firewood instead of natural gas. Also, don’t forget to close the flue after using the fireplace and run a gas fireplace if you are in the room.
- Hearty, Warm Foods in the Winter
During the winter season, we love to have hot or warm foods to warm us up. But cooking all the time can increase gas usage, hence, increase gas bills. Today, we have a lot of different means to cook and not only using a gas stovetop. If you have electric devices, use them to cook instead of gas. You can always have a hearty warm meal even without using gas.
- Hot Showers
Winter is cold and the cold can be bothersome especially when taking showers. No one wants a cold shower in cold weather. We would always choose to have a warm shower to warm us up especially during the winter. Using the warm shower can also cause an increase in gas bill. If you want to have a warm shower, limit your time taking a shower. If your regular shower lasts 30 minutes, cut in half during the warm shower days. Check your temperature setting and son;t set it too high. Also, a turned on overhead vent only eliminates the warmth from your warm shower. Turn it off and let the warm stay even after your shower.
- Increased Dryer Use
When washing the laundry, we always want it to dry faster so we use the dryer. Frequent use of the dryer can increase gas bills. If you can have your clothes dry naturally, have it done this way to save up some of the gas. When drying, just dry the right load because too much load only increases drying time that increases gas bill.
Gas bills during the winter months are expected to increase. Although they increase, you have the capability to control its increase to a reasonable degree. There are a lot of factors why your gas bill can increase, but there are also numerous ways to help you minimize your gas use. Warmth is needed during the winter months, but you don’t have to suffer a high gas bill if you can control it.
