KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Experts say there are ways for people to lower their energy consumption and save money as hot weather moves in.
The Consumer Price Index for electricity increased by 6% in the last year, an indication people are spending more money on electricity bills.
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It’s been a year since the Missouri Public Service Commission mandated Evergy’s Missouri customers be on a time-based rate plan, a plan which is optional for Kansas residents.
There are four different options: a default time-based plan, a summer peak time plan, a nights and weekends plan and a nights and weekends max plan.
Courtney Lewis, Evergy’s spokesperson, says nearly 85% of the company's customers have the default time-based plan, but wants customers to be aware they have options.
“The great thing about this is, if you are on a plan, and you realize it’s not working for you, you can change anytime,” Lewis said. “You’re not locked into it.”
Lewis says peak usage takes place between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and people can expect their rates to be higher during this time of day.
It’s why Evergy encourages usage during the “off peak” hours outside of higher usage hours.
“You pay for energy usage based on when you’re using it,” Lewis said.
She says it’s a win-win for customers to be as energy efficient as possible.
“It really helps us as a region to take away some of the pressure on the grid as we move forward because we know that we’re just seeing more hot weather, and more extreme temperatures,” Lewis said.
There’s an Analyze My Usage tool residents like Kathleen Lally-Arena use daily.
“I’ve just got conservation on the brain. That’s just kind of the way I live,” Lally-Arena said.
She comes by it honestly.
Though she was born and raised in Kansas City, she spent time living in California.
“Living in California through the droughts, living through all the things that we had to do,” Lally-Arena said. “Water your lawn, short showers, seven minutes or less.”
When she returned to this area, she accomplished a years-long goal.
“I got the house of my dreams,” she said. “When I was a little girl, I used to drive by this house and I saw it and said, ‘I’m gonna live there someday.’”
Her 3,000 square-foot home is 99 years old and gobbled up lots of energy when she first moved in.
“When I first moved into the house, my bills were about a $1,000 a month for heating and cooling and electricity,” Lally-Arena said.
Now, the bills have dropped by hundreds of dollars.
“Here’s my bill for May through June, okay,” she said as she pulled up her most recent electricity bill for us. “And it’s 121 dollars.”
Lewis says this summer is the first high usage season that people will be able to see what their bill looks like now compared to last year when the time-based rates have kicked in.
“This time last year it was like $360 for the family that was here,” Lally-Arena said.
There are five adults — including Lally-Arena — living in her home.
She rents her home as an AirBNB to interns, which means a lot of rules.
Lally-Arena makes it easy by sticking them around her home.
“4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is when families are home and the house is being used to it’s max,” Lally-Arena said. “I have five adults living here. Everyone is home between that time, but if you knock out the dishwasher and knock out doing the laundry, it really keeps everything down.”
Lewis offered tips to decrease energy consumption: adjusting the air conditioner (even three to five degrees), changing out the HVAC filter every three months, using blackout curtains, washing laundry in cold water, keeping the shades drawn, keeping the oven off and using an air fryer instead of the oven.
Lally-Arena does all those things and more, like rolling up her carpet in her in-home dance studio or removing carpets in certain rooms.
Six years after moving into her dream home, her hard work has paid off.
“Right now, I think I’ve done a pretty good job,” she said. “I did reduce my bills by $700 a month, so it makes me very happy.”
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