In honor of Energy Awareness Month, America's electric companies encourage you to find simple ways to use electricity more efficiently every day. By taking easy steps to make your home more efficient, you'll get more value from your electricity dollar and help protect the environment too.
It's easy to get started. Use this site and visit your electric company's Web site to find energy-saving tips and ideas to help you make your home more efficient. You may be surprised to learn how easy it is to use energy more wisely. For example, did you know that you can reduce your heating bill by 3 percent by lowering your thermostat only 1 degree?

The nation's electric companies are doing their part too. The industry's energy-efficiency programs for homes and businesses have saved more than 1 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity over the past 20 years. That's enough electricity to power nearly 100 million homes for one year.

And, the industry is using advanced technologies to help their customers get more value from their electricity dollar. For example, electric companies are installing digital smart meters to help customers better manage their electricity usage and to enable faster service restoration following outages.

Electric companies also are providing a new transportation fuel for electric cars and plug-in electric vehicles. Electrifying our transportation system will help our country to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and create new, high-quality American jobs.

To learn even more ways to make your home energy efficient, take our fun efficiency quiz!