Energy Savings
There are a number of factors that cause differences in energy bills, so comparing your bill to someone else's is like comparing apples to oranges. The age of major appliances, especially refrigerators and air conditioners, can make a dramatic difference in your bill. In addition, if your house leaks air like a sieve while your neighbor's house was just weatherized and insulated, you will have much higher utility bills. Other factors that can result in significant differences in bills are the number and kinds of lighting fixtures, thermostat settings, number of loads of laundry, old refrigerator, and hobbies which result in electricity use.
There are many ways to conserve energy, several include:
Weatherization
Lighting
High-efficiency Heating and Cooling units
EnergyStar Appliances
Programmable thermostat
And much more!
Here is an example of a low-cost way to conserve energy:
Programmable thermostats can reduce the energy used for air conditioning or heating by 5-30%. Programmable thermostats (while not always digital) save money by turning the air conditioner to a higher setting (or heater to a lower setting) when no one is present in the house or in the evenings when it is cooler. You can achieve the same savings without the programmable thermostat, but you would have to remember to change your thermostat every day when you leave the house, and turn it down every night when you go to bed. In addition, if you are using the thermostat to regulate your heater, you would wake to a cold house. The programmable thermostat does all of the remembering for you once it is set.
A sample of a heating schedule you might program into a thermostat is:
Wake up 6:00 am - 9:00 am 68°F
Leave 9:00 am - 5:30 pm 60°F
Evenings 5:30 pm - 11:00 pm 68°F
Sleep 11:00 pm - 6:00 am 60°F
This way your house is always comfortable and you can save money on heating. You can make a similar schedule for air conditioning.
Wake up 6:00 am - 9:00 am 75°F
Leave 9:00 am - 5:30 pm 80°F
Evenings 5:30 pm - 11:00 pm 75°F
Sleep 11:00 pm - 6:00 am 78°F or off
Source: http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/answerdesk.html