TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – With temperatures plunging this weekend, many people will be staying home and cranking up the heat.
While that’s good for staying warm, it might not be great for your electric bill.
Lori Pilz from Talquin Electric offered some tips on how to stay warm while saving money.
To cut costs, set your thermostat between 60 and 70 degrees when home and lower when asleep or away.
Limit space heater use and reverse ceiling fans to push warm air down.
For safety, keep space heaters clear of objects and never use ovens or grills for heat.
Pilz also said you can monitor your daily usage by signing in to your portal, and if you do need help with your bill, give them a call.
“If the bills do get calculated and there is usage and members are struggling to pay those, call us, please have a conversation with us and we can try to work out some kind of arrangement to pay the balance over a longer period of time,” Pilz said.
Talquin Electric said they’re confident their grid can handle the energy demand, but said to stay prepared just in case.
“Talquin is preparing and making sure that everything is fueled up in case we do need to enact any of our measures for conservation,” Pilz said. “We’re just preparing and being ready. And then, we also are preparing our crews just in case there are incidents where we need to restore power.”
More news out of the Big Bend:
James Barnes with City of Tallahassee said they suggest you keep your thermostat around 72 degrees.
But if those electric bills are higher than usual, Tallahassee Utilities is launching its Weather Relief Assistance Program (WRAP).
Eligible customers can pick a peak winter utility bill and spread the balance over the next four utility bills.
It applies to all bills from January 1 through February 28 this year and you can only do this once per account.
“If you want to defray that cost, you can actually forward that cost on to a later date and then pay 25% of that past due bill in addition to your bill over the next four months,” Barnes explained. “This will reduce the sticker shock as well and then put that bill out over time.”
Barnes said there are no concerns about the Tallahassee Utilities grid maxing out.
“We have built in resiliency and have lots of redundancy,” Barnes said. “All of our folks have prepared for this and will be on call to ensure our citizens will get all the support and energy that’s needed for this duration.”
Talquin Electric has payment assistance resources available on their website, or you can call 211 BIG BEND.
Tallahassee Utilities customers interested in the WRAP program can call 891-4968 or, self-assistance customers can go on the app or Telgov and sign up for assistance.
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