Ten energy saving tips to help lower your gas bills

• Have a professional contractor conduct a pre-season check of your heating system to ensure it is operating efficiently. 
• Seal cracks and openings around windows and doors.
• Install a programmable thermostat and set it to reduce the temperature at night and when you are away from home.
• Close off seldom-used and unused rooms.
• Wash clothes in cold water instead of warm or hot.
• Install low-flow showerheads and aerators on your faucets.
• Turn the temperature on your water heater down to 120 degrees.
• Close off your evaporative cooler. (See below.) 
• Seal unused fireplaces and flues.
• Change the filters on your heating system once a month, or as recommended by the manufacturer, to help improve efficiency.

Each fall, remember to close your evaporative (“swamp”) cooler damper. Popularly called a “cookie sheet” damper, it looks like a big square cookie sheet. Sliding it into place will stop cold air from coming indoors and keep warm air from escaping outside through the opening to your swamp cooler. Alternately, some swamp cooler models are designed to be covered for the winter.

For many more energy saving tips, you may download a copy of the booklet, Energy Savers — Tips on Saving Energy & Money at Home, from the U.S. Dept. of Energy  here.

Information on Energy Efficiency Assistance for income-qualified customers is available here.