Black Hills Corporation

Energy Savers Brochure

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Change or clean furnace filters at least four times a year to help combat inefficiencies in your furnace system.
Schedule a pre-winter furnace check-up. This will eliminate unexpected furnace problems and ensure that your furnace is operating at full efficiencies.
Add humidifier to your furnace or as a separate unit to your home. Moist air will keep you warmer and the dial in your thermostat lower.
Avoid vent-less heating systems. They are not efficient and are illegal to operate in homes. They are also a high fired hazard!

Have your thermostat checked during your furnace check-up. Make sure that it is operating with complete accuracy. A 1, 2 or even 3 degree inaccuracy in your thermostat control can
make a difference in your energy bill.
Set your thermostat five (5) degrees lower and cover up with a cozy blanket or sweater; drop temperature even more when you are away from home for several hours.
Lowering your thermostat 10% can save you up to 10% on your monthly heating bill.
Install programmable thermostat and adjust it to accurately control the use of your furnace throughout the week.

Keep furniture away from electric or gas baseboard heating systems. This will allow heat to radiate freely without being blocked.
Lower thermostat settings to a minimum in used rooms.
Don’t use your gas fireplace or cooking range to heat your home.
Use Wood burning fireplaces sparingly. A fireplace can waste up to 24,000 cubic feet of your home’s warm air per hour by sending it outside.

Keep your fireplace damper closed unless a fire is going: plug and seal chimney if fireplace is unused.

Check insulation levels in the attic, crawlspaces and/or basements; add insulation where needed.
Remember the higher the R-Value the better the insulation.
Insulate around heating/cooling vents and water pipes that are exposed to outdoors or under mobile or modular homes.

Perform an walk-through energy audit of your home before purchasing weatherization supplies.
Seal leaks around doors, windows, pipes and ducts with caulking and weather-stripping.
Use draperies, blinds or shutters on all windows to slow the loss of heat though glass. Keep window coverings open on sunny day to maximize the sun’s warmth.
Cover windows with plastic sheeting to retain heat in your home or consider double paned glass, storm or thermal windows/doors.
Rearrange furniture by placing it against inside walls— you’re less likely to feel cool drafts if you’re not sitting next to the outside walls.
Avoid blocking heating vents and air returns with furniture, draperies or carpet.

Turn the temperature down on your water heater. Lowering your temperature from to under 120 degrees can save you up to 10% on your water heater costs.
Install water-flow restrictors in showerheads and faucets can save up to 50% of hot water use.
Drain sediments from water heater annually. This will ensure proper heat exchange as well as extend the life of the water heater.
Use a water heater blanket if your unit is located in an un-heated room or area.
Cover water heater pipes if pipes are exposed to cold temperatures.
Avoid installing water heaters in un-heated storage rooms or garage areas.

This is a FREE Service for all residential and commercial customers.
Paid By Bank Plan automatically withdraws your monthly payment directly from your bank account on the day it is due.
You still receive your monthly bill, so you will know when and how much will be withdrawn.
You don’t have to write a check or stop by to make your monthly payment. Save on postage, driving and walking to our office and your time!

This is a FREE Service to all residential and most commercial customers.
With Levelized Billing you are billed an average of your twelve recent monthly bills and an adjustment factor that will Levelized each month’s bill.
There is no settlement to your bill.
Levelized Bill offers small changes to your gas and electric billing amount from month-to-month, no matter how much the outside temperatures changes or how much energy you may use each month.

Third Party Notice is designed to help avoid any hardship which could result from disconnection of service by alerting a third party to such action in advance.
The voluntary would most benefit customers who are ill or elderly and live alone.
Under the Third Party Notice program, if it would be necessary to disconnect service due to nonpayment of past bills, the customer as well as the designated third party would be notified prior to the disconnect date. The third party would then have the right to contact Cheyenne Light and declare the customer’s inability to pay and enter into payment arrangements fro the customer.
A Third Party can be a friend, relative, church or community agency.
The designated third party will have the right to receive and provide information regarding the customer’s personal circumstances.

If time is a concern — Tel-Pay is the option for you. This payment option lets you quickly and securely transfer your payment directly to us from your bank account.
This is a FREE Service.