February 28, 2022 • 22 mins
Nick Seiner, from Southwest Electric Cooperative, helps us answer why your electric bill likely goes up in the winter. There are a few season specific factors that drive up energy costs, plus we discuss a few household tips that could also be affecting your bill.
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Episode Transcript
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Guest - Nick Seiner (00:03):
I'm definitely the energy nerd when
I go to my friend's house.
Host - Harrison Waters (00:06):
Yeah.
You're out there doing auditsfor'em right there.
Yeah.
Hello and welcome to seasonthree of the Power for Your Life
Podcast, where we talk aboutstaying safe around electricity,
how to save money, you usingenergy efficiency and the value
of your cooperative membership.
I'm your host Harrison Waters.
(00:26):
And we have started the seasonoff right with our guest, Nick
Seiner from Southwest electriccooperative.
He's here to tell us, uh, whyour electric bill is higher in
the winter and some tips on howto keep your heat in and the
nasty cold outside.
Take a listen.
All right, Nick, introduceyourself.
Tell us where you're from, whatco-op and, and kind of your job
(00:47):
role.
Guest - Nick Seiner (00:48):
Sure.
Uh, Nick Seiner, um, I work atSouthwest Electric Cooperative.
We're just north of Springfieldand we serve all the way from
basically Springfield to lake ofthe Ozarks.
Uh, my role there, uh, I've beenthere for a little over 12
years.
I handle our energy efficiency.
I handle a lot of ourcommunications to our members
(01:08):
and then, uh, also some economicdevelopment as well.
Host - Harrison Waters (01:11):
Okay.
So mixed bag of doing a littlebit of everything there.
That's it.
Awesome.
Okay.
Well today that, topic is energyefficiency.
Um, you know, we had justcompleted our winter hopefully.
Fingers crossed, knock on wood.
Um, you know, but I'm sure youget questions, people asking,
why does my bill go up in thewinter?
Why, do they pay more for it?
(01:31):
What's the quickest way to justsay, Absolutely.
Yeah"This is the reason why." Isthere any?
Guest - Nick Seiner (01:36):
You are right.
We get those questions often.
Um, and the kind of easiest wayto get your head or around it,
because a lot of people willsay, well, listen, I haven't
changed anything.
You know, I haven't changed myheating.
I haven't turned it way up whenit got cold.
I keep my house, the sametemperature, you know, year
round.
Um, the easiest way to, explainthat, um, is that obviously as
(02:00):
the temperature drops outside,you know, your house, uh, is
losing heat faster.
And so your heating system hasto work harder.
And so the more cold days youhave, the colder it gets, um,
you're going to see a rise inenergy.
And that, is across the board,whether you're heating with
electricity with, natural gas orpropane or wood, it's going to
(02:23):
use more of that energy.
And so, uh, you know, it'sacross the board, it's not just
like on your electric bill, ifthat makes sense.
Host - Harrison Waters (02:28):
Yeah.
And I think one of the biggestthings was recognizing that in
the summer, you know, it's 90degrees outside.
You want your house to be 70,there's a 20 degree difference.
Guest - Nick Seiner (02:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Host - Harrison Waters (02:39):
But it's zero degrees and you want it to
be 70.
How, how much work does yourHVAC have to do to make up for,
you know, zero degrees outside.
Guest - Nick Seiner (02:49):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That was, that's a great way toexplain it as well.
So, uh, you know, yeah.
I mean, your air conditioner isonly having to bring your house
down 20 degrees from what thetemperature is outside.
If it's 90 and you want it to be70, well then if it's zero
degrees outside, you're it hasto, you know, bring the
temperature in the house up 70degrees.
(03:10):
So in theory, I mean, that'smore than three times the amount
of work it has to do when youcontrast it to the air
conditioning side.
So, yeah.
Um, with that, as one, onequestion we get a lot to is just
not understanding why, you know,the heating bill is so much more
than the air conditioning billand that's, that's the best way
I know to describe that.
Host - Harrison Waters (03:29):
Yeah.
I think the other thing too, isI often get off work and I get
home.
It's already starting to getdark outside.
In the summer it's not the case.
I've got like two or three hoursto run around and play with my
kid.
So, you know, you get home,you're flipping on lights
earlier.
You are indoors more, cuz it'scold.
I mean, there's so many,especially now how many devices
are we, you know, I'm suremultiple people have extra
(03:51):
fridges in their garage and, youknow, a freezer out there and
they've got gaming consoles.
So I'm sure that doesn't help inthe wintertime does it?
Guest - Nick Seiner (03:59):
No.
Uh, you know what?
We see a lot when people willupgrade their old refrigerator
in their kitchen to a new energystar one, they take the old one
and put it in the garage and itcomes to their, you know, their
beer fridge or their extra foodfridge.
And so you're actually nothelping, you're actually adding,
uh, more energy usage when youdo that.
(04:20):
But, and you're right.
Everything we use today seems toneed to plug in or charge in
some way, shape or form.
And so, yeah, uh, overall we'rejust getting more and more
energy usage.
Host - Harrison Waters (04:31):
That's my favorite is that you said you
get this brand new energyefficient fridge.
You're bragging to your friends.
It just, it uses half theenergy, but the other one's
plugged in the garage to yourpoint.
It's, uh, it's probably, I thinkwhenever I go to friends' houses
and see the fridges out there,it's hard for me not to be like,
Hey, hold on, you shouldn't havethree fridges out here.
So
Guest - Nick Seiner (04:49):
Yeah, I'm definitely the energy nerd when
I go to my friend's house.
Host - Harrison Waters (04:53):
Yeah.
You're out there doing auditsfor'em right there.
Um, speaking of that, like howare some ways, what should, what
should, uh, our members look forin regard arts to, you know,
quicker, simple ways to findways to reduce their bill in the
winter?
Guest - Nick Seiner (05:06):
So, yeah.
Um, the easiest way, really,especially for someone that, you
know, you just don't know a lotabout this.
You don't know a lot aboutsaving energy or energy
efficiency and you don't want totake all this time to go online
and try to research it allyourself.
Easiest way I know, and the,just the simplest way for our
members, uh, to start figuringout what they need to do to make
(05:26):
their house as energy efficientas possible is to have a home
energy audit done.
And, um, most of, if not all ofthe electric cooperatives in the
associated system, do the homeenergy audit program, um, that
is an awesome program.
Uh, it, uh, first of all, on theupfront cost, uh, we do a cost
(05:46):
share with our members, um, andmost, uh, electric cooperatives
offer it for a reduced price.
So that's a great upfrontadvantage of having it done.
And then we contract those outwith, uh, certified energy
auditors.
They're certified with the stateof Missouri.
They'll come out on site, do afull inspection of the house,
(06:06):
kind of a head to toeinspection, if you will.
Get up in the attic, check itall out, obviously check out the
main levels of the house.
Uh, if you have a crawl space,make it down in there, check all
your duct work, check for anyenergy efficiency opportunities
in there and check your heatingand cooling system.
Your duct work again, uh, forhow leaky it is.
Um, look for, uh, attic, uh,insulation levels in your attic.
(06:30):
Uh, same thing in your crawlspace, if applicable, or
basement.
You'd be surprised how manybasements don't have any
insulation as well, but it, um,so once they've completed the
audit, they also, uh, they also,when they're on site, they do,
what's called a blower doortest.
And this is how they measure howleaky the home is.
In other words, by leaky, howmuch air flow is it just freely
(06:53):
flowing through it.
And that is air that you've paidto heat or cool.
And it's just leaving the house.
And so, um, they're gonna try tolocate all those places of air
leakage for you.
And then once they've completedthe audit, they will provide you
with a full list of recommendedmeasures to do to your house.
Um, thing I like about how theystructure that list is it's in
(07:15):
order of the most cost effectivething.
So the first item is gonna payyou back the quickest.
The second would, you know, anddown the line.
Um, so it's been a greatprogram.
We've done it for many, manyyears.
Uh we've had a lot of memberstake advantage of that.
Um, but the really cool thingabout it is we will, electric
(07:36):
cooperatives will provide youwith a rebate for completing the
measures that the auditorrecommended.
Um, it's like, so it's 50% ofthe cost of the measures you've
done.
Of course it's capped at amaximum rebate, but still you're
gonna get a big chunk back fromus for actually completing
those.
And then really the true paybackis when, for the life of your
(07:58):
home.
From that point on your house isgonna be basically as efficient
as you can get.
And so to kind of wrap it all upagain, that is gonna be like the
easiest way for our members tonot have to do all this work,
try to figure out all this stuffon your own to have this
basically handed to you,"Hey,here is exactly you what you
(08:20):
need to do.
And, uh, that'll make your houseabout as efficient as you can
get it." Um, in addition tothat, of course, um, contact
your local electric cooperative.
Uh, they're gonna have peoplejust like me on staff.
That's gonna help walk youthrough all those recommended
measures or just, if you, forsome reason, do not want to have
an energy audit done.
We're gonna be able to help talkyou through some of the things
(08:41):
you can do.
Host - Harrison Waters (08:42):
And I will say, so I'm an Ozark
electric member.
And I had my house, uh, I gotthe home energy audit and I
tagged along cuz I'm, I likeenergy efficiency as well.
And, uh, he did the blower doortest on my, on my home and
quickly you hear like a whistlesound coming out of like my
master bathroom area.
(09:02):
And I go like, go down thehallway and hear it and it's
whistling.
I mean, it sounds, you know,pretty evident.
And I look down there and wherethe jacuzzi tub was put in,
there was a softball size holeof where they cut for the pipes,
but the two pipes didn't fill upvery much space at all.
And so I realized, I, you know,even in zero degrees winters, I
was just cooling my bathroom andthat was a dead giveaway there.
(09:26):
So I actually, because of thataudit, discovered that gap which
it, you know, air's gonna findits way.
So I, instead of having 70 plusdegree temperatures to my
bathroom, I was letting in zerodegrees.
So yeah, that was an enormous,enormous eye opener for that.
So,
Guest - Nick Seiner (09:41):
Um, yeah that's a very, very common thing
that is found on these energyaudits.
Um, and it's understandable.
Uh, it's just much easier toinstall the plumbing for your
tubs, uh, when they just cut abig hole in the floor and can
run those pipes through therereal easily.
The problem is, that's okay todo that, but the problem is
(10:02):
usually it is not sealed backup.
And so, yeah, you just got thatair just free flowing through
that.
And in addition to, uh, losing,uh, you know, the heat in your
house, you lose heat in your tubwhen you're taking a bath, you
know?
So, um, you got cold air comingright underneath the tub.
So anyway,
Host - Harrison Waters (10:18):
Is there any other- I know, like for me,
you know, I have space heatersin the home and of course I like
try and pay attention to likehow much we're using'em it's
like, okay, I can quickly heatup this room for an hour or
something like that.
But what I found was, you know,like electric blankets, they're
pretty efficient.
Like when you look at the watageof using that space heaters,
like get that warmth right onyou.
(10:39):
And it, it can, it can make youtoasty pretty quick.
I've, I've told, you know,people, if you could come across
something like that versusheating a whole room, and I'm
sure people misuse space heatersfor 15 hours or something like
that.
Um, but I'm just trying to thinkof other quick tips.
Certainly the, the home energyaudit, will you uncover all
those other areas?
What about just, I don't know,staying warm in the winter,
(11:01):
what's the fastest ways or, youknow, some easy ways to, to do
that.
Guest - Nick Seiner (11:05):
Absolutely.
Um, so there's, there's quite afew things, uh, but some of the
most common one is, uh, first ofall, quit running around the
house with shorts and cut offt-shirt and no socks on.
Um, yeah.
I tell my kids all the time,just put on some socks, you
know?
Um, so that's really, that's afreeway to warm yourself up, you
(11:26):
know, put some sweats on.
Uh, but I would like to touch onthe space heater, um, you know,
electric space heater, uh, dealthat you had brought up, um, you
know, yeah.
That's, they are intended to bemore of a quick supplemental
heat for, um, a room that you'rejust gonna be in for a little
bit.
Um, they're definitely notintended to be your full-time
(11:46):
heat source for the house.
They, um, can cost you basicallyanywhere, depending upon, you
know, your, uh, your rate thatyou're paying.
You're gonna be looking atbetween, uh, 90 to, uh, more
than a hundred dollars a monthif it was running, you know, 24
hours a day for an entire month,uh, for one, uh, electric space
heater.
So, uh, yeah.
(12:07):
So if, if you're running yourmain system that whole time, and
you're still running electricspace heaters, you can see how
quickly they can add up to yournormal bill.
So yeah, I would definitelyrecommend that, that you try to
find something else for yourfull-time main heating source
other than, uh, electric spaceheaters.
But going back to the example,you, you know, those electric
(12:29):
blankets are great, uh, becauseit's gonna warm you up, but
you're not way wasting a much ofenergy trying to warm up an
entire room when really whatwe're trying to do is warm
ourselves.
Yeah.
Um, so that was a great point.
Um, the other thing, uh, is tolook for, um, honestly, it's, uh
, it's, it's not thought of verymuch, but, uh, windows just
(12:49):
simply making sure that they'reall closed and locked.
Uh, a lot of time we just forgetto lock'em.
And so with, uh, the temperaturedifferences, expansion and
contraction, and the just normalvibrations throughout a house,
those windows can kind of jarloose.
And before, you know, it, you'vegot a, a little gap that you
don't even know about could bein a room that you seldomly go
in and it's just letting youknow, heat out of the house, um,
(13:12):
24 hours a day.
Right.
Host - Harrison Waters (13:13):
Yeah.
And that lock seals it reallywell because I've noticed a few
of mine, like, without itlocked, it, it looks like it's,
you know, it's, it's certainlyclosed, but when you push that
lock down, it clamps down onthere.
And just any of those air gapsthat, like I said, that outside,
air's gonna find its way.
It's gonna cool down your house.
I've I have dealt with that forsure.
(13:34):
And then my favorite to pointabout my kids, you know, he runs
around wearing, you know, shortsand a t-shirt it's like put some
sweatpants on you, like put somesocks on, we have hardwood
floors.
So it's, it's pretty cold onthose floors, you know?
So you bet I I've told him that.
Um, you know, I know that, uh,when it's winter, there's,
there's a lot of small tips in,in regards to, you know, when
(13:57):
using your washer and dryer and,you know, cooking, cooking a
larger meal all at once versus,you know, spreading, spreading
that out.
Um, I'm just trying to think ofanything else that people might
be curious about, about theirbill, kind of another reason
why, why it's going up, um,
Guest - Nick Seiner (14:14):
Yeah, with, uh, the, the, what I would
consider the major appliances,that's gonna be your, uh, an
electric oven, uh, electricclothes, uh, dryer, uh,
dishwasher, um, with thedishwashers, uh, really where
they use the vast majority ofthe energy that they use is in
the heated, uh, drying cycle.
(14:36):
Um, if you, you know, if you'reokay with it, click that, click
that off.
There's, there's always anoption for that.
It's probably gonna be just adefault to on, but it uses a lot
of energy when it's drying thedishes.
Um, so, you know, give that atry.
Um, you know, you, you might, ifyou, if you can think of it,
(14:58):
just pull the dishes out and dry'em off, but if not, they will,
they will dry naturally.
It just takes'em longer, um, ona closed dryer.
Yeah, absolutely.
You want to make sure thatyou've got, um, you know, a full
load in there.
You don't, uh, running a fullcycle for just a few pieces.
You know, you're gonna use a lotof energy and drying just a few
pieces where if you make sureyou wait until you got a full
(15:19):
load, uh, which is no problem atmy house, we always have full
loads of laundry, but, um, yeah,that definitely would maximize
that energy usage.
And then, um, on your, when yourcookie food, you know, in the,
in the oven, um, if possible,yeah, cook multiple dishes in
there, you know, if you've gotpotatoes and, uh, whatever a
green bean casserole say, well,if you can try to cook'em at the
(15:40):
same time, so you don't have toseparate that and run it for a
lot longer period of time.
Host - Harrison Waters (15:43):
So it's funny how in the summer, I'm the
quickest to close the oven backand be like, do not heat up the
house.
And in the winter, I'm theexact, I was like, open the,
that up.
We've already spent money onthat, that 350 degrees, let that
roll out of there.
That's it.
Where could members go to, youknow, learn about their, their
energy use and all that?
I know there's an app out therethat if you're really into this
(16:06):
or curious, you can see day today, how much if you're
cooperative is utilizing thatapp.
Correct?
Guest - Nick Seiner (16:12):
Yeah.
Uh, most of the electriccooperatives, um, in, in the
associated system have some typeof, of mobile app, a smart app
or smart hub.
There's different terms, butcheck with your local
cooperative on that.
Um, so at Southwest, we do havea mobile app.
You can get on there every day,check your usage, or even
better.
You can just sign up for text oremail alerts where every day we
(16:36):
will just send you what you'veused the previous day
automatically.
Um, so you can kind of, it just,it just keeps it a little more
top of mind where you'reactually a little more aware of
what you're using you, you willbe surprised at just simply
being more, uh, more aware howover time, you're just gonna
probably start use a little bitless energy.
Um, so those are great tools.
(16:57):
Uh, but, um, you know, so wekind of went over some of the
quick tips and then I think, youknow, if you're looking for a
true long term solution overtime is to really the best place
to start in my opinion is to getthe energy audit done to your
home.
It's so it's, you know, you'renot spending thousands of
dollars to have this done.
Um, most co-ops charge anywherefrom about a hundred dollars,
(17:18):
maybe a little more, 150,somewhere around in there.
Um, so great value up frontbefore you go out and you spend,
you know, a thousand dollars oninsulation or, uh, actually this
just came from one of, one ofthe things that's very
misunderstood is, uh, you know,I've got some old windows, I
just wanna replace all thewindows in my house, you know,
(17:40):
because they're, they kind offeel a little leaky, um, that is
actually cost us to be one ofthe worst investments for energy
efficiency, because of theextreme, upfront costs now of
windows.
They just cost so much.
And it really, the savings youget back is just, you would
(18:01):
basically never pay for thewindows if you're doing it
solely for energy efficiency.
So, uh, that's one thing thatwe've learned through the energy
audits, um, cuz they, again,they cost test all of the
measures that they, that theyrecommend their software is, is
awesome at doing that.
And so, uh, that's, that's oneof the surprises that a lot of
people think, you know, I know Ineed new windows, so I'll have
(18:22):
this energy audit done to try toget the help with, uh, the, the
rebate whenever I replace'em andit's cell of them if ever
recommended.
Host - Harrison Waters (18:31):
Yeah.
That makes sense.
You're if you're only, you know,trying to seal those air gaps
there and there, but yet you'vegot a softball size hole
somewhere else that can nevereven compete with a$10 fix to be
thousands of dollars forwindows, cuz yeah.
To your point windows, I willsay speaking from experience the
home energy audit, it highlyrecommended if you are into
(18:52):
this.
I mean they are gonna come upwith things that are quick
savings that at the top of mylist was the amount of work to
insulate the pipe outta my waterheater that would save$20 a
year, took five minutes.
And so you look at that and say,wow, how you know, how is, how
did I miss this?
Or, you know, you just don'tknow unless you do this for a
job and you're always lookingfor those, those inefficiencies,
(19:15):
I guess.
Um, it, it's great to have anexpert come out and that is
absolutely one of the benefitsof the cooperative system is
having that at, you know, uh,available to us to, to utilize
so well, Nick, I tell you what Ireally pretty shade it, you
coming in and, and giving thesethese tips.
Is there anything else that yourecommend for anybody you wanna
say?
Guest - Nick Seiner (19:35):
Yeah, like I said, so we kinda went over
some of the quick tips and thena little more of the long term
outlook if you have the, thehome energy audit and also don't
forget, um, that, uh, most, ifnot all the electric
cooperatives are gonna offer, uh, other rebates in addition to
the energy of the, uh, homeenergy audit, uh, gonna have a
lot of, uh, rebates for heatingand cooling systems.
(19:58):
Uh, a lot of us offer waterheater or uh, heat pump, water
heaters, uh, rebates.
So there's, there's a lot oflong term solutions out there as
well.
Um, that I would encourage folksto check into
Host - Harrison Waters (20:10):
Good deal.
And when it gets one warm, alittle bit warmer out, maybe
it'll be the best time to go outand get those changes.
Cause I know you don't wanna dothat blower, uh, door test when
it's cold outside, otherwiseyou'll be shooting some of your
warm air out.
So, uh, I made sure to do thatwhen it was pretty close to
like, you know, 70 degrees Ithink.
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:26):
Yeah.
Uh it's you know?
Yeah.
To your point, I mean, it's, uh,you're, you may waste a little
bit of energy doing the blowdoor when, if it's cold out, but
you know, there's no time likethe present.
Um, and so just to, yeah, if, ifat all, if you think that's, uh,
sounds like something you wannado, I strongly encourage you to
do it.
Host - Harrison Wat (20:43):
Absolutely.
So contact your cooperative tolearn some more information.
They're always there to helptrying to find the best ways to
help you lower your bill and tostay warm during the winter
months that are hopefully overwith
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:56):
Ha yeah.
Cross our fingers, man.
Host - Harrison Waters (20:58):
All right.
Thanks Nick.
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:59):
You're welcome.
Host - Harrison Waters (21:02):
Well, that's our show.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
As we kick off season three,keep in mind every cooperative
does things a littledifferently.
So reach out to yours to findout how much a home energy audit
would cost.
You also don't put offscheduling your home energy
audit.
It turns out a lot of homeenergy auditors like to perform
lower door tests in hotter orcolder temperatures in order to
(21:23):
determine where that air loss ismany auditors use thermal
cameras, a along with their blowdoor test to take INFR images
that show the cold or hot airinfiltration that helps people
see the issues they're having.
Once again, a big thanks to NickSeiner in Southwest Electric
Cooperative.
And if you have a great idea fora podcast or someone you'd like
to hear on an episode, reach outto us@membersfirstataeci.org.
(21:46):
Once again, I'm your home hostHarrison Waters.
And until next time, thanks forlistening.
I'm definitely the energy nerd when
I go to my friend's house.
Host - Harrison Waters (00:06):
Yeah.
You're out there doing auditsfor'em right there.
Yeah.
Hello and welcome to seasonthree of the Power for Your Life
Podcast, where we talk aboutstaying safe around electricity,
how to save money, you usingenergy efficiency and the value
of your cooperative membership.
I'm your host Harrison Waters.
(00:26):
And we have started the seasonoff right with our guest, Nick
Seiner from Southwest electriccooperative.
He's here to tell us, uh, whyour electric bill is higher in
the winter and some tips on howto keep your heat in and the
nasty cold outside.
Take a listen.
All right, Nick, introduceyourself.
Tell us where you're from, whatco-op and, and kind of your job
(00:47):
role.
Guest - Nick Seiner (00:48):
Sure.
Uh, Nick Seiner, um, I work atSouthwest Electric Cooperative.
We're just north of Springfieldand we serve all the way from
basically Springfield to lake ofthe Ozarks.
Uh, my role there, uh, I've beenthere for a little over 12
years.
I handle our energy efficiency.
I handle a lot of ourcommunications to our members
(01:08):
and then, uh, also some economicdevelopment as well.
Host - Harrison Waters (01:11):
Okay.
So mixed bag of doing a littlebit of everything there.
That's it.
Awesome.
Okay.
Well today that, topic is energyefficiency.
Um, you know, we had justcompleted our winter hopefully.
Fingers crossed, knock on wood.
Um, you know, but I'm sure youget questions, people asking,
why does my bill go up in thewinter?
Why, do they pay more for it?
(01:31):
What's the quickest way to justsay, Absolutely.
Yeah"This is the reason why." Isthere any?
Guest - Nick Seiner (01:36):
You are right.
We get those questions often.
Um, and the kind of easiest wayto get your head or around it,
because a lot of people willsay, well, listen, I haven't
changed anything.
You know, I haven't changed myheating.
I haven't turned it way up whenit got cold.
I keep my house, the sametemperature, you know, year
round.
Um, the easiest way to, explainthat, um, is that obviously as
(02:00):
the temperature drops outside,you know, your house, uh, is
losing heat faster.
And so your heating system hasto work harder.
And so the more cold days youhave, the colder it gets, um,
you're going to see a rise inenergy.
And that, is across the board,whether you're heating with
electricity with, natural gas orpropane or wood, it's going to
(02:23):
use more of that energy.
And so, uh, you know, it'sacross the board, it's not just
like on your electric bill, ifthat makes sense.
Host - Harrison Waters (02:28):
Yeah.
And I think one of the biggestthings was recognizing that in
the summer, you know, it's 90degrees outside.
You want your house to be 70,there's a 20 degree difference.
Guest - Nick Seiner (02:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Host - Harrison Waters (02:39):
But it's zero degrees and you want it to
be 70.
How, how much work does yourHVAC have to do to make up for,
you know, zero degrees outside.
Guest - Nick Seiner (02:49):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That was, that's a great way toexplain it as well.
So, uh, you know, yeah.
I mean, your air conditioner isonly having to bring your house
down 20 degrees from what thetemperature is outside.
If it's 90 and you want it to be70, well then if it's zero
degrees outside, you're it hasto, you know, bring the
temperature in the house up 70degrees.
(03:10):
So in theory, I mean, that'smore than three times the amount
of work it has to do when youcontrast it to the air
conditioning side.
So, yeah.
Um, with that, as one, onequestion we get a lot to is just
not understanding why, you know,the heating bill is so much more
than the air conditioning billand that's, that's the best way
I know to describe that.
Host - Harrison Waters (03:29):
Yeah.
I think the other thing too, isI often get off work and I get
home.
It's already starting to getdark outside.
In the summer it's not the case.
I've got like two or three hoursto run around and play with my
kid.
So, you know, you get home,you're flipping on lights
earlier.
You are indoors more, cuz it'scold.
I mean, there's so many,especially now how many devices
are we, you know, I'm suremultiple people have extra
(03:51):
fridges in their garage and, youknow, a freezer out there and
they've got gaming consoles.
So I'm sure that doesn't help inthe wintertime does it?
Guest - Nick Seiner (03:59):
No.
Uh, you know what?
We see a lot when people willupgrade their old refrigerator
in their kitchen to a new energystar one, they take the old one
and put it in the garage and itcomes to their, you know, their
beer fridge or their extra foodfridge.
And so you're actually nothelping, you're actually adding,
uh, more energy usage when youdo that.
(04:20):
But, and you're right.
Everything we use today seems toneed to plug in or charge in
some way, shape or form.
And so, yeah, uh, overall we'rejust getting more and more
energy usage.
Host - Harrison Waters (04:31):
That's my favorite is that you said you
get this brand new energyefficient fridge.
You're bragging to your friends.
It just, it uses half theenergy, but the other one's
plugged in the garage to yourpoint.
It's, uh, it's probably, I thinkwhenever I go to friends' houses
and see the fridges out there,it's hard for me not to be like,
Hey, hold on, you shouldn't havethree fridges out here.
So
Guest - Nick Seiner (04:49):
Yeah, I'm definitely the energy nerd when
I go to my friend's house.
Host - Harrison Waters (04:53):
Yeah.
You're out there doing auditsfor'em right there.
Um, speaking of that, like howare some ways, what should, what
should, uh, our members look forin regard arts to, you know,
quicker, simple ways to findways to reduce their bill in the
winter?
Guest - Nick Seiner (05:06):
So, yeah.
Um, the easiest way, really,especially for someone that, you
know, you just don't know a lotabout this.
You don't know a lot aboutsaving energy or energy
efficiency and you don't want totake all this time to go online
and try to research it allyourself.
Easiest way I know, and the,just the simplest way for our
members, uh, to start figuringout what they need to do to make
(05:26):
their house as energy efficientas possible is to have a home
energy audit done.
And, um, most of, if not all ofthe electric cooperatives in the
associated system, do the homeenergy audit program, um, that
is an awesome program.
Uh, it, uh, first of all, on theupfront cost, uh, we do a cost
(05:46):
share with our members, um, andmost, uh, electric cooperatives
offer it for a reduced price.
So that's a great upfrontadvantage of having it done.
And then we contract those outwith, uh, certified energy
auditors.
They're certified with the stateof Missouri.
They'll come out on site, do afull inspection of the house,
(06:06):
kind of a head to toeinspection, if you will.
Get up in the attic, check itall out, obviously check out the
main levels of the house.
Uh, if you have a crawl space,make it down in there, check all
your duct work, check for anyenergy efficiency opportunities
in there and check your heatingand cooling system.
Your duct work again, uh, forhow leaky it is.
Um, look for, uh, attic, uh,insulation levels in your attic.
(06:30):
Uh, same thing in your crawlspace, if applicable, or
basement.
You'd be surprised how manybasements don't have any
insulation as well, but it, um,so once they've completed the
audit, they also, uh, they also,when they're on site, they do,
what's called a blower doortest.
And this is how they measure howleaky the home is.
In other words, by leaky, howmuch air flow is it just freely
(06:53):
flowing through it.
And that is air that you've paidto heat or cool.
And it's just leaving the house.
And so, um, they're gonna try tolocate all those places of air
leakage for you.
And then once they've completedthe audit, they will provide you
with a full list of recommendedmeasures to do to your house.
Um, thing I like about how theystructure that list is it's in
(07:15):
order of the most cost effectivething.
So the first item is gonna payyou back the quickest.
The second would, you know, anddown the line.
Um, so it's been a greatprogram.
We've done it for many, manyyears.
Uh we've had a lot of memberstake advantage of that.
Um, but the really cool thingabout it is we will, electric
(07:36):
cooperatives will provide youwith a rebate for completing the
measures that the auditorrecommended.
Um, it's like, so it's 50% ofthe cost of the measures you've
done.
Of course it's capped at amaximum rebate, but still you're
gonna get a big chunk back fromus for actually completing
those.
And then really the true paybackis when, for the life of your
(07:58):
home.
From that point on your house isgonna be basically as efficient
as you can get.
And so to kind of wrap it all upagain, that is gonna be like the
easiest way for our members tonot have to do all this work,
try to figure out all this stuffon your own to have this
basically handed to you,"Hey,here is exactly you what you
(08:20):
need to do.
And, uh, that'll make your houseabout as efficient as you can
get it." Um, in addition tothat, of course, um, contact
your local electric cooperative.
Uh, they're gonna have peoplejust like me on staff.
That's gonna help walk youthrough all those recommended
measures or just, if you, forsome reason, do not want to have
an energy audit done.
We're gonna be able to help talkyou through some of the things
(08:41):
you can do.
Host - Harrison Waters (08:42):
And I will say, so I'm an Ozark
electric member.
And I had my house, uh, I gotthe home energy audit and I
tagged along cuz I'm, I likeenergy efficiency as well.
And, uh, he did the blower doortest on my, on my home and
quickly you hear like a whistlesound coming out of like my
master bathroom area.
(09:02):
And I go like, go down thehallway and hear it and it's
whistling.
I mean, it sounds, you know,pretty evident.
And I look down there and wherethe jacuzzi tub was put in,
there was a softball size holeof where they cut for the pipes,
but the two pipes didn't fill upvery much space at all.
And so I realized, I, you know,even in zero degrees winters, I
was just cooling my bathroom andthat was a dead giveaway there.
(09:26):
So I actually, because of thataudit, discovered that gap which
it, you know, air's gonna findits way.
So I, instead of having 70 plusdegree temperatures to my
bathroom, I was letting in zerodegrees.
So yeah, that was an enormous,enormous eye opener for that.
So,
Guest - Nick Seiner (09:41):
Um, yeah that's a very, very common thing
that is found on these energyaudits.
Um, and it's understandable.
Uh, it's just much easier toinstall the plumbing for your
tubs, uh, when they just cut abig hole in the floor and can
run those pipes through therereal easily.
The problem is, that's okay todo that, but the problem is
(10:02):
usually it is not sealed backup.
And so, yeah, you just got thatair just free flowing through
that.
And in addition to, uh, losing,uh, you know, the heat in your
house, you lose heat in your tubwhen you're taking a bath, you
know?
So, um, you got cold air comingright underneath the tub.
So anyway,
Host - Harrison Waters (10:18):
Is there any other- I know, like for me,
you know, I have space heatersin the home and of course I like
try and pay attention to likehow much we're using'em it's
like, okay, I can quickly heatup this room for an hour or
something like that.
But what I found was, you know,like electric blankets, they're
pretty efficient.
Like when you look at the watageof using that space heaters,
like get that warmth right onyou.
(10:39):
And it, it can, it can make youtoasty pretty quick.
I've, I've told, you know,people, if you could come across
something like that versusheating a whole room, and I'm
sure people misuse space heatersfor 15 hours or something like
that.
Um, but I'm just trying to thinkof other quick tips.
Certainly the, the home energyaudit, will you uncover all
those other areas?
What about just, I don't know,staying warm in the winter,
(11:01):
what's the fastest ways or, youknow, some easy ways to, to do
that.
Guest - Nick Seiner (11:05):
Absolutely.
Um, so there's, there's quite afew things, uh, but some of the
most common one is, uh, first ofall, quit running around the
house with shorts and cut offt-shirt and no socks on.
Um, yeah.
I tell my kids all the time,just put on some socks, you
know?
Um, so that's really, that's afreeway to warm yourself up, you
(11:26):
know, put some sweats on.
Uh, but I would like to touch onthe space heater, um, you know,
electric space heater, uh, dealthat you had brought up, um, you
know, yeah.
That's, they are intended to bemore of a quick supplemental
heat for, um, a room that you'rejust gonna be in for a little
bit.
Um, they're definitely notintended to be your full-time
(11:46):
heat source for the house.
They, um, can cost you basicallyanywhere, depending upon, you
know, your, uh, your rate thatyou're paying.
You're gonna be looking atbetween, uh, 90 to, uh, more
than a hundred dollars a monthif it was running, you know, 24
hours a day for an entire month,uh, for one, uh, electric space
heater.
So, uh, yeah.
(12:07):
So if, if you're running yourmain system that whole time, and
you're still running electricspace heaters, you can see how
quickly they can add up to yournormal bill.
So yeah, I would definitelyrecommend that, that you try to
find something else for yourfull-time main heating source
other than, uh, electric spaceheaters.
But going back to the example,you, you know, those electric
(12:29):
blankets are great, uh, becauseit's gonna warm you up, but
you're not way wasting a much ofenergy trying to warm up an
entire room when really whatwe're trying to do is warm
ourselves.
Yeah.
Um, so that was a great point.
Um, the other thing, uh, is tolook for, um, honestly, it's, uh
, it's, it's not thought of verymuch, but, uh, windows just
(12:49):
simply making sure that they'reall closed and locked.
Uh, a lot of time we just forgetto lock'em.
And so with, uh, the temperaturedifferences, expansion and
contraction, and the just normalvibrations throughout a house,
those windows can kind of jarloose.
And before, you know, it, you'vegot a, a little gap that you
don't even know about could bein a room that you seldomly go
in and it's just letting youknow, heat out of the house, um,
(13:12):
24 hours a day.
Right.
Host - Harrison Waters (13:13):
Yeah.
And that lock seals it reallywell because I've noticed a few
of mine, like, without itlocked, it, it looks like it's,
you know, it's, it's certainlyclosed, but when you push that
lock down, it clamps down onthere.
And just any of those air gapsthat, like I said, that outside,
air's gonna find its way.
It's gonna cool down your house.
I've I have dealt with that forsure.
(13:34):
And then my favorite to pointabout my kids, you know, he runs
around wearing, you know, shortsand a t-shirt it's like put some
sweatpants on you, like put somesocks on, we have hardwood
floors.
So it's, it's pretty cold onthose floors, you know?
So you bet I I've told him that.
Um, you know, I know that, uh,when it's winter, there's,
there's a lot of small tips in,in regards to, you know, when
(13:57):
using your washer and dryer and,you know, cooking, cooking a
larger meal all at once versus,you know, spreading, spreading
that out.
Um, I'm just trying to think ofanything else that people might
be curious about, about theirbill, kind of another reason
why, why it's going up, um,
Guest - Nick Seiner (14:14):
Yeah, with, uh, the, the, what I would
consider the major appliances,that's gonna be your, uh, an
electric oven, uh, electricclothes, uh, dryer, uh,
dishwasher, um, with thedishwashers, uh, really where
they use the vast majority ofthe energy that they use is in
the heated, uh, drying cycle.
(14:36):
Um, if you, you know, if you'reokay with it, click that, click
that off.
There's, there's always anoption for that.
It's probably gonna be just adefault to on, but it uses a lot
of energy when it's drying thedishes.
Um, so, you know, give that atry.
Um, you know, you, you might, ifyou, if you can think of it,
(14:58):
just pull the dishes out and dry'em off, but if not, they will,
they will dry naturally.
It just takes'em longer, um, ona closed dryer.
Yeah, absolutely.
You want to make sure thatyou've got, um, you know, a full
load in there.
You don't, uh, running a fullcycle for just a few pieces.
You know, you're gonna use a lotof energy and drying just a few
pieces where if you make sureyou wait until you got a full
(15:19):
load, uh, which is no problem atmy house, we always have full
loads of laundry, but, um, yeah,that definitely would maximize
that energy usage.
And then, um, on your, when yourcookie food, you know, in the,
in the oven, um, if possible,yeah, cook multiple dishes in
there, you know, if you've gotpotatoes and, uh, whatever a
green bean casserole say, well,if you can try to cook'em at the
(15:40):
same time, so you don't have toseparate that and run it for a
lot longer period of time.
Host - Harrison Waters (15:43):
So it's funny how in the summer, I'm the
quickest to close the oven backand be like, do not heat up the
house.
And in the winter, I'm theexact, I was like, open the,
that up.
We've already spent money onthat, that 350 degrees, let that
roll out of there.
That's it.
Where could members go to, youknow, learn about their, their
energy use and all that?
I know there's an app out therethat if you're really into this
(16:06):
or curious, you can see day today, how much if you're
cooperative is utilizing thatapp.
Correct?
Guest - Nick Seiner (16:12):
Yeah.
Uh, most of the electriccooperatives, um, in, in the
associated system have some typeof, of mobile app, a smart app
or smart hub.
There's different terms, butcheck with your local
cooperative on that.
Um, so at Southwest, we do havea mobile app.
You can get on there every day,check your usage, or even
better.
You can just sign up for text oremail alerts where every day we
(16:36):
will just send you what you'veused the previous day
automatically.
Um, so you can kind of, it just,it just keeps it a little more
top of mind where you'reactually a little more aware of
what you're using you, you willbe surprised at just simply
being more, uh, more aware howover time, you're just gonna
probably start use a little bitless energy.
Um, so those are great tools.
(16:57):
Uh, but, um, you know, so wekind of went over some of the
quick tips and then I think, youknow, if you're looking for a
true long term solution overtime is to really the best place
to start in my opinion is to getthe energy audit done to your
home.
It's so it's, you know, you'renot spending thousands of
dollars to have this done.
Um, most co-ops charge anywherefrom about a hundred dollars,
(17:18):
maybe a little more, 150,somewhere around in there.
Um, so great value up frontbefore you go out and you spend,
you know, a thousand dollars oninsulation or, uh, actually this
just came from one of, one ofthe things that's very
misunderstood is, uh, you know,I've got some old windows, I
just wanna replace all thewindows in my house, you know,
(17:40):
because they're, they kind offeel a little leaky, um, that is
actually cost us to be one ofthe worst investments for energy
efficiency, because of theextreme, upfront costs now of
windows.
They just cost so much.
And it really, the savings youget back is just, you would
(18:01):
basically never pay for thewindows if you're doing it
solely for energy efficiency.
So, uh, that's one thing thatwe've learned through the energy
audits, um, cuz they, again,they cost test all of the
measures that they, that theyrecommend their software is, is
awesome at doing that.
And so, uh, that's, that's oneof the surprises that a lot of
people think, you know, I know Ineed new windows, so I'll have
(18:22):
this energy audit done to try toget the help with, uh, the, the
rebate whenever I replace'em andit's cell of them if ever
recommended.
Host - Harrison Waters (18:31):
Yeah.
That makes sense.
You're if you're only, you know,trying to seal those air gaps
there and there, but yet you'vegot a softball size hole
somewhere else that can nevereven compete with a$10 fix to be
thousands of dollars forwindows, cuz yeah.
To your point windows, I willsay speaking from experience the
home energy audit, it highlyrecommended if you are into
(18:52):
this.
I mean they are gonna come upwith things that are quick
savings that at the top of mylist was the amount of work to
insulate the pipe outta my waterheater that would save$20 a
year, took five minutes.
And so you look at that and say,wow, how you know, how is, how
did I miss this?
Or, you know, you just don'tknow unless you do this for a
job and you're always lookingfor those, those inefficiencies,
(19:15):
I guess.
Um, it, it's great to have anexpert come out and that is
absolutely one of the benefitsof the cooperative system is
having that at, you know, uh,available to us to, to utilize
so well, Nick, I tell you what Ireally pretty shade it, you
coming in and, and giving thesethese tips.
Is there anything else that yourecommend for anybody you wanna
say?
Guest - Nick Seiner (19:35):
Yeah, like I said, so we kinda went over
some of the quick tips and thena little more of the long term
outlook if you have the, thehome energy audit and also don't
forget, um, that, uh, most, ifnot all the electric
cooperatives are gonna offer, uh, other rebates in addition to
the energy of the, uh, homeenergy audit, uh, gonna have a
lot of, uh, rebates for heatingand cooling systems.
(19:58):
Uh, a lot of us offer waterheater or uh, heat pump, water
heaters, uh, rebates.
So there's, there's a lot oflong term solutions out there as
well.
Um, that I would encourage folksto check into
Host - Harrison Waters (20:10):
Good deal.
And when it gets one warm, alittle bit warmer out, maybe
it'll be the best time to go outand get those changes.
Cause I know you don't wanna dothat blower, uh, door test when
it's cold outside, otherwiseyou'll be shooting some of your
warm air out.
So, uh, I made sure to do thatwhen it was pretty close to
like, you know, 70 degrees Ithink.
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:26):
Yeah.
Uh it's you know?
Yeah.
To your point, I mean, it's, uh,you're, you may waste a little
bit of energy doing the blowdoor when, if it's cold out, but
you know, there's no time likethe present.
Um, and so just to, yeah, if, ifat all, if you think that's, uh,
sounds like something you wannado, I strongly encourage you to
do it.
Host - Harrison Wat (20:43):
Absolutely.
So contact your cooperative tolearn some more information.
They're always there to helptrying to find the best ways to
help you lower your bill and tostay warm during the winter
months that are hopefully overwith
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:56):
Ha yeah.
Cross our fingers, man.
Host - Harrison Waters (20:58):
All right.
Thanks Nick.
Guest - Nick Seiner (20:59):
You're welcome.
Host - Harrison Waters (21:02):
Well, that's our show.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
As we kick off season three,keep in mind every cooperative
does things a littledifferently.
So reach out to yours to findout how much a home energy audit
would cost.
You also don't put offscheduling your home energy
audit.
It turns out a lot of homeenergy auditors like to perform
lower door tests in hotter orcolder temperatures in order to
(21:23):
determine where that air loss ismany auditors use thermal
cameras, a along with their blowdoor test to take INFR images
that show the cold or hot airinfiltration that helps people
see the issues they're having.
Once again, a big thanks to NickSeiner in Southwest Electric
Cooperative.
And if you have a great idea fora podcast or someone you'd like
to hear on an episode, reach outto us@membersfirstataeci.org.
(21:46):
Once again, I'm your home hostHarrison Waters.
And until next time, thanks forlistening.
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