Being in a rural setting where power failures from storms etc occur, it is prudent to build your own backup system. For under $2000.00 you can set up a wind/solar battery backup that you can use to reduce about 100kwh a month usage plus have peace of mind of a large enough backup system for the unexpected. Just using standard suppliers you can put together a 200watt solar with 500 watt wind turbine and 800 amp hours of battery backup with 12 volt to 120 volt power invertors for up to 2000 watts for use by standard 120v household appliances/lights. The caveat is that during daytime or breezy days after the battery charge tops off you have up to 500 watts concurrent usage. I run small electronics up to 300 to 500 watts during these times saving up to 5% off the utility bill monthly. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up and the charging/usage equipment can be added to as I am able. The added security of a power outage failsafe provides great peace of mind. My wife is on oxygen and we always sweated outages for her oxygen equipment that we don't now. I used to rely on a 5000 watt generator, but at $3.00 a gallon for gas, the $15.00 cost for 6-7 hours backup is now only used for extended outages, and rarely used. Having to spend time getting the generator running in the middle of the night in subzero temps at my age was getting very hard to do when the solar/wind/battery backup just requires changing where 'just needed' items are plugged in. A poor mans fix, but it does give me monthly savings. I don't do grid-tie feeding excess to the utility, I prefer to use the output myself and don't envision adding to the system in excess of my power requirements. I found the purchasing and setup of the system very easy to do and was surprised at the simplicity of it.

Yeah, I've thought about looking into a similar setup.

at my house in addition to the blubs I already had. The old stuff was 60 yrs old and worn out. I down more than 20%.

I've been in my current house since 2005. This will be my lowest electrical usage year except for 2009.

Improvements we've made include switching to a high efficiency pool pump, replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent and LED bulbs, setting up our computers to hibernate, and switching from CRT and Plasma TVs to LED TVs. I also used a Kill-o-Watt to better understand how much each appliance was using and adjusted usage based on what I learned.

If you were concerned about energy company profits.

Point was more that small changes can add up.

but the reality is that no matter how much I try to reduce my energy usage it never seems to translate to a lower bill.

People are switching to natural gas. How did they miss the obvious?

I mean, with the exception of a limited number of applications; like dryers or stovetops-- natural gas isn't a viable substitute for most electrical uses.

It amounts to 60%+ of typical home electrical usage.

decline in energy use, however.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not aware of some massive increase in Natural Gas infrastructure over the past 10 years or so- don't get me wrong, I like natural gas, we use it for stovetop cooking, hot water, and we have a natural gas dryer... however, all those things are dependent upon, obviously, having the setup for it. Right?

We do know that energystar appliances, CFL and LED bulbs, etc have been put into wider use in that time period. I can track a definite reduction in electricity use that is tied to LED bulbs alone, in our house.

People are switching power sources because gas is cheap.

I'd be curious to see any data on actual usage rates gas v. electricity, but I haven't found it.

Doesn't mean I don't believe you.