Why does your bill go up during the winter?

You sometimes probably wonder why your electricity bill goes up and down, and is higher at certain times of the year. If you’re paying close attention, you may have noticed that the spikes generally occur during the cold winter months and warm summer months. That’s because your heating and cooling system is working harder during these months to keep the inside of your home comfortable. Typically our highest energy use periods of the year will occur in January through March and then again June through September.

In the chart above, the blue line represents the low temperature and the red bar represents daily energy usage for a typical member. You will notice that as it gets colder and the low temperature goes down (drop in the blue line), energy use goes up (taller red bars). The same goes for when temperatures rise (climb in the blue line), energy use goes down (shorter red bars). When there is a larger difference between the outside air temperature and the temperature you have the inside of your home set at, you use more energy to maintain the comfortable setting you like.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions about your monthly bill or energy use. You can also visit our Winter Energy Efficiency page to learn more and for ways you can help save energy.