Saving Electricity home As seen in Newsweek, Forbes, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, CNET, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, and everywhere else. About  
Rebates & Tax Credits
for U.S. consumers

Incentives for installing insulation and for buying energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners are often available from local and state governments and utilities. You can see what's available at DSIRE, Energy.gov, and Energy Star.

Related sites:

Home Power Magazine. All about renewable energy for the home.

No-Impact Man. Blog about a family striving to have no net impact. (i.e., What little they use, they offset.) Inspirational.

Off-Grid. News and resources about living without being connected to a utility company.

Mr. Electricity in the news:

"Michael Bluejay runs the outstanding Saving Electricity site that I've mentioned many times before." —J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly

Deep Green (book) by Jenny Nazak, 2018
Small Steps, Big Strides: Building Sustainability Habits at Home (book), Lucinda F. Brown, 2016
How much money you'll save with these common energy-saving strategies, Lifehacker, Sep. 28, 2015
Radio interview about saving electricity, Newstalk 1010 (Toronto), April 21, 2015
How much does your PC cost in electricity?, PC Mech, Nov 21, 2013
How Much Electricity Do Your Gadgets Really Use?, Forbes, Sep. 7, 2013
Can my bicycle power my toaster?, Grist, June 10, 2013
Six summer debt traps and how to avoid them, Main St, June 5, 2013
To convert to gas or electric?, Marketplace Radio (NPR), July 20, 2012
8 Simple Ways to Reduce Household Waste, Living Green Magazine, June 29, 2012
Why is my electric bill so high?, New York Daily News, Mar. 27, 2012
Fight the Power, CTV (Canada's largest private broadcaster), Mar. 23, 2012
How to Cut Your Electric Bill, Business Insider, Mar. 20, 2012
Tips to save energy when using your computer, WPLG Channel 10 (Miami, FL), Feb. 23, 2012
How long will it take an energy-efficient washer/dryer to pay for itself?, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 29, 2011
10 Easy Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill, Forbes, August 23, 2011
18 ways to save on utility bills, AARP, July 9, 2011
How to Save $500 Worth of Energy This Summer, TIME magazine, June 28, 2011
Hot over the energy bill? Turn off the A/C, just chill, Chicago Tribune, June 24, 2011
Cool Site of the Day, Kim Komando (syndicated radio host), May 29, 2011
This calculator shows how much you spend washing clothes, Lifehacker, May 6, 2011
What you pay when you're away, WCPO Channel 9 (Cincinatti), May 5, 2011
Spotting energy gluttons in your home, Chicago Tribune (CA), Apr. 7, 2011
Walnut Creek author has tips for livng a thrifty life, Contra Costa Times (CA), Jan. 24, 2011
Do space heaters save money and energy?, Mother Jones, Jan. 10, 2011
Energy steps to take for a less pricey winter, Reuters, Nov. 10, 2010
Should you shut down your computer or put it to sleep?, Mother Jones, Nov. 1, 2010
Energy saving tips for fall, Chicago Tribune & Seattle Times Nov. 7, 2010
10 ways to save money on your utility bill, Yahoo! Finance, Oct. 2, 2010
Mr. Electricity Ranks Refrigerators & Electrical Wasters, Green Building Elements, Sep. 8, 2010
The case against long-distance relationships, Slate, Sep. 3, 2010
10 household items that are bleeding you dry, Times Daily (Florence, AL), July 27, 2010
Cold, hard cash, Kansas City Star, June 22, 10
Stretch your dollar, not your budget, Globe and Mail, May 18, 2010
Auto abstinence, onearth magazine, Winter 2010
2010 Frugal Living Guide, Bankrate.com
Energy-saving schemes yield €5.8m in savings, Times of Malta, Dec. 20, 09
Four ways to reduce your PC's carbon footprint, CNET, Dec 2, 09
The day I hit the brakes, onearth magazine, Fall 2009
How Much Do You Really Save By Air-Drying Your Clothes?, The Simple Dollar, 2010
Enjoy the mild weather, low electricity bills, Detroit Free Press, Jul 18, 09
The most energy-efficient way to heat a cup of water, Christian Science Monitor, Jun 16, 09
Ten ways to save energy, Times of Malta, Jan 3, 09
Measuring your green IT baseline, InfoWorld, Sep 4, 08
Bald Brothers Breakfast (MP3), ABC Adelaide, March 27, 2007
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
The Power Hungry Digital Lifestyle, PC Magazine, Sep 4, 07
Net Interest, Newsweek, Feb 12, 07
Answers to all your electricity questions, Treehugger, Jul 11, 08 Going Green, Monsters and Critics, Jan 6, 2007
A hunt for energy hogs, Wall Street Journal Online, Dec 18, 06

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How do SRECs work?

All about solar renewable energy credits

Last update: Dec. 2015

SRECs are credits that homeowners in a few northeastern states get from having a solar PV system that makes electricity, which they can then sell for cash.  You probably don't live in one of these states, so you probably don't qualify to get these credits, but you might be able to get rebates for installing solar from your utility, city, or state, and you might qualify for a federal tax credit.

Once you know how much you can get in credits or rebates, use my solar PV cost calculator to find out how much it will cost to have your system installed.  In most cases, it will be less than you're paying for grid electricity


How do I get my SRECs?

Thomas, a reader in Maryland, shared with us how he actually gets and sells the SRECs he earns from having rooftop solar:

  1. Every couple of months I log into my utility company's website.
  2. I enter the monthly production values for my solar photovoltaic system on the generation page.
  3. One month after I enter enough production to get to 1MWh [1000 kWh], I am issued an SREC which exists completely digitally.
  4. When I notice the certificate in my inbox I place a sale notice on an SREC exchange like flettexchange.com noting the quantity of SRECS, the sale price and the production state.  There are several exchanges all of which have different terms regarding fees and other details.  (Mine charges $2.50 for a sale.)  The SREC price floats with the market and varies by exchange and state.  Some exchanges offer the ability to purchase an annuity where you get paid a fixed price per SREC regardless of market fluctuations. 
  5. When the exchange has found a buyer I either get a check in the mail or an ACH deposit in my bank account for the sale price minus any exchange commissions.
The price of SRECs is trending downward, and that will continue.  They started at around 70¢/kWh, are about 15¢/kWh as I write this in Dec. 2015, are expected to go down to 5¢/kWh by 2023, and should keep going down after that.  That's because the supply of SRECs is going up (as solar becomes more popular), and demand is going down (as utilities, which are the buyers of the SRECs, can pay ever-decreasing penalties in lieu of buying the SRECs).


Why do we have SRECs?


We have SRECs because lawmakers wanted a market-based way to promote solar energy.  Here's how it works:  certain state legislatures told utilities that a minimum amount of electricity used by their customers has to come from solar.  The utilities have three ways to comply with that:
  1. Install their own solar photovoltaic systems, and/or
  2. Buy SRECs that their customers generate from rooftop solar, and/or
  3. Pay a fine ("ACP") if they didn't do enough of #1 and #2.  The price of these fines is set to go down year after year, making SRECs less valuable over time.
With or without SRECs, solar PV systems are now cheaper than grid energy in most cases.  See my solar price calculator for more.