Residential electricity service provided by your local power company or power companies is important. After all, we live in a world where electricity is essential in our lives. In fact, the Department of Energy gathered statistics that showed that more than 20% of all the electricity used in the United States alone was used for lighting purposes alone and that air conditioning systems generated up to 5% of the total energy used in a year.

But though residential electricity service is important, in fact, crucial, to the smooth running of our day to day lives, it is also a huge energy and money suck. The majority of American households spend nearly 3% of their total household income on their energy bill alone, and an average family in the United States could easily spend up to 2000 dollar or more a year just on utilities, which include electricity.

Fortunately, a wide array of energy solutions are becoming more and more prevalent in households across the United States to replace residential electricity service or even to complement it. Solar pv systems, for example, have grown in popularity in recent years. Not only are solar pv systems beneficial to your electricity bill, they are also good for the health of the planet. Not only will you save an estimated eighty dollars on your energy bill, but you can also reduce the carbon footprint of your household or your family by up to 35,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every single year. For those without the inclination or the funds to install solar panels, there are other ways to easily reduce your electric utility bill. Installing LED lights in place of traditional halogen bulbs is one example of a small change that has a considerable impact. LED lights, even though they produce over 80% more light than a halogen bulb, only use up around 15% of the energy that a halogen bulb does. They are also considered to be long lasting.

But perhaps the easiest change a typical household can make is that of turning off all electronics and unplugging them when they are not in use. In fact, you could lower your household energy bill by nearly 75% if you unplugged things like your TV and your computer when you are not using them.

Residential electricity service is essential for how we live our lives, but residential electricity service can be prohibitively expensive. While we rely on residential electricity service to some extent, there are ways that we can reduce our dependence on them and save energy, the planet, and money.