Money-saving tips to winterproof your wallet during the freeze

Staying comfortably warm from winter cold snaps in the South may not require winning the Powerball to pay a power bill. But it won't be cheap either. 

"My power bill last winter was painful."  

Those words come from Avery Wilks, who, in front of his bosses at the state's group of nonprofit electric companies, spoke bluntly to invited members of the media at the Moncks Corner headquarters of Berkeley Electric Cooperative.  

Wilks said that, yes, you will pay more during the winter to heat your home. 

But he defended the utilities, saying it's not because electric companies are intentionally jacking up rates. 

"In reality, when it gets to high bill season, it's related to the weather," he said. 

Wilks said it's simple supply-and-demand economics: when temperatures drop overnight, more people collectively inch up their thermostats, putting a strain and drain on utility power during peak hours. 

As everyone's heater fires up at the same time, so do energy bills.  

During the media event, electric officials flashed slides indicating what dominates the bulk of a customer's bill: 

• Heating and cooling costs: about 50% 

• Water heaters: about 22% 

• Lights: about 5% 

Officials noted that increasing a thermostat during a cold winter night or decreasing it on a hot summer afternoon can add $10 per degree, per month, to a bill. Conversely, moving the thermostat in the opposite direction can save 3% to 4% monthly. 

Their solutions to save money? 

• Keep the thermostat steady: 68 degrees in winter, 78 degrees in summer 

• Drop the temperature on your water heater 

• Take shorter showers 

• Turn off the lights 

• Take advantage of off-peak hours and avoid high-demand times 

Tony Vincent, who is Berkeley Electric Cooperative's vice president of public relations for the nonprofit company, said there are also other ways to save, one of which is requesting an energy audit. 

"We have teams that want you to use less of the product we sell," Vincent said, "We want to do that for you. It doesn't help us to sell you more (energy.)" 

Most utility companies offer audit teams to pick apart what may be hogging a home's energy. 

Utility officials said mobile apps are also available to give customers data insights into their daily electric usage, help pinpoint the best off-peak hours, and identify appliances and lights in the home that may be automated to save money. 

As for Wilks and his soaring electric bill last year, he said he finally called in an energy audit team. 

"The culprit was bad insulation," he said. 

"There were three inches of insulation left. We put in 13 inches of insulation, and the problem was solved immediately."