Cut the Bill:
Saving Power When Prices Spike
A no-hype, math-first guide to a smaller electric bill: read your bill like an electrician reads a panel, find the loads that actually matter, and spend money (or don't) in the order that pays back.
Get the full guide — $11How your bill is built: kWh, delivery vs. supply & PA's supply choice
Most people argue with their electric bill without ever having read it. That's backwards — your bill is the map, and this chapter teaches you to read it in five minutes.
The unit: you buy electricity by the kilowatt-hour (kWh) — one kilowatt of power running for one hour. The arithmetic for everything in this guide is one line: (watts × hours used) ÷ 1,000 = kWh. At an example rate of 15¢ per kWh, a 1,500-watt space heater running 8 hours costs 12 kWh × $0.15 = $1.80 per day. (15¢ is an example rate used throughout this guide. Your actual rate is on your bill — substitute yours into every formula.)
The two halves of your bill:
- Delivery (distribution): the poles, wires, transformers, meter, and billing — paid to your local distribution utility. In the Pittsburgh area that's typically Duquesne Light or West Penn Power. This half is regulated and not shoppable; the same utility still repairs your outages no matter what you do with the other half. There's usually also a flat monthly customer charge — you pay it even if you use zero kWh, which is why usage cuts shrink the variable part of your bill, never all of it.
- Supply (generation): the actual energy. This is the half Pennsylvania lets you shop. If you've never chosen a supplier, you're on your utility's default supply at its Price to Compare — a per-kWh number printed right on your bill for exactly this purpose.
Shopping, accurately: Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission runs PAPowerSwitch.com, the official comparison site. It lists licensed competitive suppliers and their offers — fixed vs. variable rates, contract length, cancellation fees. Rule one: compare any offer against your bill's Price to Compare, in writing, before signing. Rule two: read Chapter 6 first — the teaser-rate trap lives there.
Reading the pattern: your bill (or online account) usually shows 12 months of usage history. Compare this month to the same month last year, not last month — weather drives the difference, and your utility may even print a heating/cooling degree-day note. A usage jump without a weather explanation is Chapter 2's job: something in your house changed.
Your all-in cost per kWh (total bill ÷ total kWh — that's the honest number for ranking savings) and your household's average daily kWh (monthly kWh ÷ days). Every "this will save you money" claim you ever hear — including mine — gets judged against those two numbers.
The other 8 chapters are yours for $11
Chapter 1 is free above. The rest — measuring your real loads, heating & cooling math, water heating, the payback-ranked cheap wins, rate plans & supply shopping, honest solar math, appliance-replacement timing, and the 30-day action checklist — unlocks when you order.
- 🔒 Chapter 2: Find the hogs: measure before you guess
- 🔒 Chapter 3: Heating & cooling math: setpoints, heat pumps & the aux-heat trap
- 🔒 Chapter 4: Water heating: the quiet second load
- 🔒 Chapter 5: Cheap wins ranked by payback
- 🔒 Chapter 6: Rate plans, time-of-use & shopping your supply rate
- 🔒 Chapter 7: Solar & batteries: honest math, no hype
- 🔒 Chapter 8: When replacing an appliance actually pays
- 🔒 Chapter 9: The 30-day action checklist
The complete 9-chapter bill-cutting guide, printable, written from 20+ years in the trade. Secure online checkout — instant access after payment.
Buy now — $11Jason answers directly · Licensed PA HIC #PA166735
Need an electrician? Call JS Power LLC.
I'm Jason Mohoska, owner-operator of JS Power LLC (Licensed · PA HIC #PA166735), serving Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. 20+ years in the trade. When you call, you deal directly with me: I quote the job, I do the work, and it's done to code.
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powerjsllc.com · powerjsllc@gmail.com
Licensed Pennsylvania Home Improvement Contractor · PA HIC #PA166735
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