Energy Efficiency
From leaks to inattentive usage, your home could be wasting a lot of energy. So take a little advice from OG&E and our friends. Learn to stop losing energy and start saving money.
Watch the Oklahoma City Thunder's very own Rumble the Bison, with energy-efficiency tips to help you save big.
Combine your energy-efficiency and SmartHours savings—and bank BIG BUCKS!
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In-Depth
Our detailed video offers vital information on how you're using energy, your costs, and ways to end waste—of energy and money.
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Qualify for Weatherization
Hundreds of dollars worth of improvements for qualified customers, free.
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Sign up for HEEP
Our Home Energy Efficiency Program offers a free A/C tune up and money-saving rebates.
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myOGEpower
Know your power, to be more efficient: myOGEpower. Click here to activate your free, password-protected account.
Save the Dates
Each season offers big savings. Use these handy tips each month to raise your energy savings and lower your energy costs. Here's your first bonus tip: Clean or change the filter in your heat and air system every two to three months.
- After cooking in your oven, leave the door partly open; the left-over heat can help warm your home.
- Ring in the New Year by lowering the temperature of your water heater. A 10° reduction can save about 13% of your water heating costs this year.
- During the day, open curtains and blinds on your south-facing windows to allow sunlight to warm your home. Be sure to close them at night to reduce the chill.
- Sealing air duct leaks in your attic can reduce heating costs by up to 20%.
- Don't let heat go up the chimney. Make sure your fireplace damper is closed when you’re not using it.
- Love is in Valentine's Day air. Remember, heat rises, so reversing the direction of your ceiling fan blades will pull warm air down from the ceiling and spread the heat evenly throughout your home.
- Turn off the oven or stovetop a minute or two before cooking time has elapsed. It will still retain enough heat to finish the cooking.
- When you are asleep or away from home, turn your thermostat back 10° for eight hours. Do this consistently and you’ll save around 10% a year on your heating bills.
- Insulate hot water pipes and ducts wherever they run through unheated areas in your home.
- As often as possible, wash your clothes in cold water. Modern detergents wash just as well in cold as in hot water, but without the cost to heat the water.
- Daylight Savings Time is all about the “lights.” When possible, use one lightbulb instead of multiple bulbs. A single 100-watt incandescent bulb produces the same amount of light as two 60-watt bulbs but uses 20% less energy for extra savings. And compact fluorescent lightbulbs save even more.
- A faucet that leaks one drip per second can waste 400 gallons of water a year.
- Never write or mail a check again. Sign up for EZ Pay from OG&E and pay your bill automatically from your checking or savings account. Sign up.
- Spring is a great time to check your cooling system and proper sealing of all air ducts. It’s the best way to improve the energy efficiency and overall performance of your system.
- Clean or change air filters every two to three months. The free flow of air is the key to cooling, so don’t make your system work harder and use more energy than necessary.
- In as little as an hour, exhaust fans in your kitchen or bathroom can deplete a house of warm or cool air. Turn fans off as soon as they have finished their jobs.
- In honor of Earth Day, plant leafy trees on the south and west sides of your home to block the summer sun’s heat while letting heat in during winter. For continuous shade or to block heavy winds, use dense evergreen trees or shrubs.
- When using your dishwasher and washing machine, wash full loads to save time, detergent and energy. Your dishwasher uses the same amount of hot water for both small and full loads.
- Every time you open the oven door, the temperature drops 25 degrees or more and it works harder and uses more energy to sustain temperature settings.
- Done wrapping the May pole? Wrap your hot water tank, which can save on energy costs.
- CFL and LED bulbs use much less energy and last longer.
- When cooking, use the smallest pan that will do for the job. It takes less time and energy to heat a smaller volume.
- Replacing older shower heads with low flow units could save a family of four as much as 15,000 gallons of water per year, and significantly reduce your water heating costs.
- If your oven has a self-cleaning cycle, start it while your oven is still warm from prior cooking.
- Clean the lint filter on your dryer after every load. Lint on the filter reduces air flow and makes your dryer use more energy.
- Father knows best! Celebrate dad’s day by caulking windows and doors. This prevents drafts from coming into your home and keeps conditioned air from escaping out of your house. Also, see if you qualify for OG&E's Weatherization program, offering hundreds in home improvements, from caulking and insulation to CFL bulbs and more.
- Keep your thermostat at a constant, comfortable level (75-78 degrees). Lowering the thermostat setting too far will not cool your home faster.
- Declare your independence from wasteful energy. A microwave oven cooks up to 75% faster and saves up to 70% of the energy used by a conventional oven.
- At the start of the cooling season, replace the air conditioner filter and check its condition monthly.
- To reduce heat and moisture, run appliances such as ovens, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers in the early morning or evening hours when it’s generally cooler outside.
- Keep shades, blinds and curtains closed. About 40% of unwanted heat comes through windows. Simply drawing blinds and curtains, which act as a layer of insulation, can reduce heat.
- August is National Literacy Month. Show your energy literacy by not preheating your oven, except when required. If you must preheat, most ovens only take 10 minutes or less.
- Use fans to circulate air. This will evenly distribute cool air and can reduce the "on" time of your air conditioner. A ceiling fan uses only about as much electricity as a lightbulb.
- Don’t place lamps or televisions near your air conditioning thermostat. The heat from these appliances will cause the A/C to run longer.
- If your heating system has a pilot light, turn it off during the summer. A pilot light costs $3 to $5 a month to keep lit.
- Sometimes a summer breeze can be enough to keep you cool. Open doors and windows on opposite sides of your house for cross ventilation.
- Consider using a dehumidifier instead of turning on the air conditioning. You will be comfortable at higher temperatures if you reduce the humidity in your home.
- This Labor Day, reduce your air conditioner’s labor. Place window units on the north or shady side of your residence to avoid overworking the unit in the hot daytime sun.
- Use an attic fan to get rid of the heat build-up in your attic. Heat from your attic eventually finds its way into your home.
- Keep both indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures and lightbulbs clean. Dirty fixtures can absorb as much as 50% of the illumination.
- Save energy by air drying your dishes instead of using your dishwasher’s drying heater.
- Make a new discovery this Columbus Day and cut your heating bill by 1% to 3% with a 1° change in temperature. Many energy experts recommend setting your thermostat at 68° or less and several degrees cooler overnight.
- A programmable thermostat lets you set your home temperature by time of day. Set it to lower the thermostat when no one is home and overnight, and save up to 20% on heating costs. And get your free programmable SmartTemp Thermostat just for switching to SmartHours.
- Electric outlets can be specially insulated (available at a local building supply store), just remove the outlet covers and insert the insulation. Additionally, special insulation plugs can be installed on outlets not being used.
- Use a lighter wash cycle for lightly soiled dishes. Some dishwashers already have an Energy Saver setting for a light washes.
- Give "thanks" for electronic conveniences, but to save energy, shut off computers and other electronic appliances not in use. Many computer monitors have a sleep mode setting which greatly reduces energy consumption.
- Use a dimmer switch or three-way incandescent bulbs to control the amount of light you need in a room. Dimming your lights by one-half can cut energy consumption almost in half.
- Have your heating and cooling system tuned and inspected by a service professional. Losses from poorly maintained systems accumulate over time, wasting energy and costing more to operate. Why not consider OG&E's Home Energy Efficiency Program (HEEP), with free cooling system inspections, insulation rebates, tailored energy-saving proposals and more.
- Set refrigerator temperatures between 37° and 40°, and don’t forget to clean the coils. If possible, keep the refrigerator stocked, it takes more energy to cool an empty refrigerator.
- When using your clothes dryer, dry loads consecutively to take advantage of built-up heat in your dryer.
- Here's a warm way to greet the first day of winter: Try to minimize the number of times outside doors are opened and closed at home. Each time you open the door, it allows cold air to enter and makes your heater work harder.
- Use energy-saving products, like small electronic pans or toaster ovens, to cook small meals instead of heating your large stove or oven.
- Lighting accounts for about 15% of a typical residential utility bill. So turn off the lights when not in use.
Where does the energy in your home go?
Too much of it could escape. Take a look at your home energy costs and where efficiency can equal savings. And for a more detailed view, watch our Energy Efficiency video at the top of the page.
Homes can leak as much as 30% of their air, so caulking and weatherstripping doors and windows can reduce heat and A/C usage. You’ll find other major leakage areas, too, from plumbing utilities to wall outlets. Also, simply turn down the thermostat, even a couple of degrees, to save money comfortably.
Replacing your old A/C with a high-efficiency unit can save at least 25% on bills. Change your air filters at least twice a year, if not twice a month, when the A/C is in heavy use. And if it’s cool, let air inside. Even turn the A/C up a few degrees and use a fan to cool the room you’re in.
Keep your system properly maintained, while an inexpensive insulation kit can also prevent heat loss. And lowering your water heater temperature setting from 140° F to 120° can reduce your heating energy bill by more than 10%.
The easiest way to save on lighting is to turn lights off, but also use the right bulbs. CFL bulbs will give an incandescent bulb’s light, while using 75% less electricity. And now LED bulbs are more affordable and more efficient.
When buying appliances, find the Energy Star label for efficiency ratings and usage costs. And cook with your microwave when possible, they draw less than half the power of conventional ovens. When it comes to the laundry, cold water can get your clothes just as clean without paying to warm the water. Overall, dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand, and most new units have internal booster heaters.
Choose refrigerators just large enough for your family. And if you have a second refrigerator and can afford to unplug it, do it. Clean the condenser coils on older units; try vacuuming and cleaning the coils every three months or so.
Unplug electronic units to help eliminate standby power drain. It's easier to use a power strip too, so you can turn off more units at one time. And turn off your video game consoles, they can use as much energy in the "idle" mode.
Some experts say air leakage at an average home can be the equivalent of having a window open 24 hours a day. So as we said, caulking and weatherstripping your doors and window frames helps big time. Check air ducts for small leaks, too.
(and get your free home efficiency kit while you’re at it)
Your home is probably leaking air, taking your money with it. This short video details easy steps to make your home energy-efficient, for year-round savings.
Even better, switch to SmartHours and get a free SmartTemp™ Thermostat (a $300 value) plus a free Home Energy Efficiency Kit (a $50 value). It's packed with weatherstrip, caulk, an LED lightbulb and more, everything you need!
Cambie a HorasInteligentes y obtenga gratis un Termostato SmartTemp™ (con valor de $300) además de un Kit de Eficiencia Energética para el Hogar (con valor de $50). Está equipado con tiras selladoras, masilla, un foco LED y mucho más. ¡Todo lo que usted necesita! ¡Comience a ahorrar hoy mismo! O llame al: 877-898-3834 de 7 a.m. a 6 p.m.