Alabama Power dispels spooky energy efficiency myths to help customers save energy and money at Halloween and beyond

As the eerie chill of Halloween creeps in and the days grow shorter, Alabama Power is committed to helping customers stay warm without scaring their wallets. There are a lot of ghostly misconceptions about energy efficiency floating around, making it tricky to know the best practices to implement in your home to save energy and money. Some of them are real – such as energy vampires that stay plugged in all the time and suck electricity – but many are just myths.

That’s why Alabama Power wants to dispel a few spooky myths about energy efficiency and provide facts that might help customers better understand the cost of their monthly bills and save money when it comes to heating their homes during the bone-chilling months of fall and winter. When there’s something strange with your electricity bill, call up these Alabama Power Myth Busters!

• Spooky myth 1: Turning my heating unit off when I’m not home helps save energy and will lower my power bill.

The frightening facts: When heating your home, your system works to not only warm the air to the temperature set on your thermostat, it also has to warm the surfaces of everything in your home, including countertops, cabinets, furniture and even the exterior of appliances. Turning your heating unit completely off when you’re not at home does not help conserve energy. Instead, your unit will have to work twice as hard to heat the air and items in your home when it’s turned back on, increasing your energy use and adding extra cost to your power bill. Don’t mummify your unit because bringing it back to life is more challenging.   

• Spooky myth 2: Raising the thermostat will help heat my home quicker.

The supernatural facts: Your heat pump will only warm as fast as the system allows. Setting a higher initial temperature won’t make it heat any faster. As a matter of fact, this practice actually wastes energy and strains your system, which can shorten its lifespan. Trying to shock your system to life Frankenstein style won’t work, so avoid this ghastly mistake to keep your system running smoothly.

• Spooky myth 3: Closing the vents in rooms you don’t use can help heat my home better.

The chilling facts: The overall answer is no. Your heating system is designed to operate at its best when all vents are open. Partially closing vents to redirect warm air to other rooms but not closing them completely will ensure the airflow balance your system needs to operate most efficiently remains in place while also sending warm air to the spaces that need to stay warm in your home. Don’t treat empty rooms like they belong to the Invisible Man.

Alabama Power also empowers customers with tools and resources to monitor and manage energy usage, helping to ward off money-stealing ghouls and goblins.

• My Power Usage lets customers view and manage their daily energy usage, track and compare energy usage over time and set alerts when dollar amounts are reached.

Customers can enroll for free by signing into their account at AlabamaPower.com/MyPowerUsage or by downloading the Alabama Power mobile app.

• The Alabama Power mobile app is available for download in either the App Store on iPhone or Google Play for Android devices. With the mobile app, customers can manage their accounts on-the-go and set alerts, monitor their energy usage and access their accounts. Learn more at AlabamaPower.com/MobileApp.
• Home Energy Checkup – Alabama Power offers a free online energy checkup for residential customers. Through this checkup, which only takes about five minutes to complete, customers answer a series of questions tailored to their home that will help identify how they use energy in their home and provide suggestions about how to reduce energy use and save money. Visit AlabamaPower.com/EnergyCheckup to get started.

For more information on how to save energy and money during the spooky Halloween season and all year round, including tips and other helpful resources to help ward off high energy bills, visit Alabama Power’s website at AlabamaPower.com/Winterize and AlabamaPower.com/WinterBill. Also, check out this Alabama News Center article about strip heating to help slay the energy monsters hiding in your heat pump.