What are some things tenants can do to help keep their heating and electric bills lower in the winter?

Erie Pennsylvania has some nasty winters, large amounts of snow and very cold temperatures. What can you do when looking for or living in an apartment in Erie Pennsylvania?

The first thing is when looking for your new home ask questions about the energy efficiency of the new places that you are touring and interested in. Newer or newly remodeled apartments are typically going to be more energy efficient than older apartments. Does the unit have a newer or older furnace? Is the furnace high efficiency or just a standard 80 percent efficient furnace? Is the Hot water tank new or old?

Ask to see past utility bills if available. Does the unit have newer vinyl replacement windows, that are energy efficient? How are the walls and attic insulated? There are a lot of older buildings in and around Erie Pa that do not have any insulation in the walls and minimum insulation in the attic. What type of insulation was used and how old is the insulation. All of these different components of the thermal boundary make a big difference in whether you will have a high or low heating bill.

Here at BPM Housing we have spent a lot of time remodeling our units and making them as energy efficient as possible. While remodeling BPM typically reinsulates the walls and attics, we install new furnaces and hot water tanks. BPM also typically installs new energy efficient vinyl windows and new exterior doors. BPM takes pride in making our units the most energy efficient around.

Now from an operation point, BPM recommends to our tenants that window AC units are removed from all windows in mid October to help keep the cold air our. BPM then insists that windows are closed and locked so the window is sealed up to stop cold air from coming in. As far as where to set the inside temperature, BPM recommends keeping your settings at around 70 to 72 degrees. When vacating for the holidays BPM recommends that the temperature is kept at no less than 60 degrees.

Another recommendation when trying to keep your heating bills as low as possible is to share and apartment with others. When you can split the heating bill multiple ways it helps to keep one cost of heating down.

Take shorter showers, turn off unused electronic devises and make sure all things that use electricity are energy efficient and not some old electronic devise that was handed down that likes to eat electricity.

When signing up for gas and electric service make sure that the gas and electric company are providing you with the lowest price on the supply portion of your bill. There are third party supply provides that can offer a lower initial cost of your gas and electricity, but then greatly raise the rates after that.

We hope that the above recommendations will help you to live with utility expenses that are easy to stomach. No one likes to pay high utility charges. This is why BPM takes pride in the fact that we try and provide the most energy efficient housing units around Erie Pa and surrounding areas. We also provide the best maintenance staff in the business. We have our own full time maintenance staff during the days and an on call option in the evenings and nights. This way if you have a heating emergence we can respond in a timely manner.

BPM recommends asking about energy efficiency as well as all other charges like rent, because the cost of living is only low if the utility bills are not high.