An energy audit would be a great first step toward lowering your electricity bills. You’re right in that your air conditioner may be operating inefficiently, and you may want to replace it; however, there are likely a few other factors that are contributing to your expensive energy bills.

For example, if your San Antonio home is not properly sealed and insulated, all the air you’re paying a lot of money to cool may be escaping through your ceiling and exterior walls. Additionally, heat may be entering your home and displacing the cool air. This is going to make your system work hard and turn on more frequently to keep your home comfortable, which in turn will show up on your electricity bills. An energy auditor will tell you if and where you need to add insulation. By using a blower door, she or he will also find all the leaky areas around your windows, doors, etc. and seal them up.

An energy auditor will look at your home as a comprehensive system and identify other areas that are contributing to the energy bill problem. For example, if you have an electric water heater, that would also drive up your electricity bill because heating water accounts for 14 percent to 25 percent of a home’s energy consumption, according to energystar.gov. If you’d like to get an idea of what suggestions your auditor may have for you, as well as an estimate on how much you could save through energy efficiency upgrades, try out our online energy audit tool. It’s a free, easy and fast way to analyze your home, but you’ll still need an in-home energy audit to get the most accurate account of what’s going on.

Energy auditors in the San Antonio area charge around $300 for an energy audit, but some auditors will apply those costs toward the actual upgrade work they perform, which essentially allows you to recoup the upfront cost. The average energy bill savings from energy audits and upgrades is $2,700 over the course of three years. With that savings and the money you can save through rebates and tax credits, energy audits and energy efficiency upgrades are a smart choice for people looking to lower their electricity bills.