If you receive a bill that is higher than normal, the first thing to look for is how many days of service were in the billing period. Find the daily kwh usage shown on your bill, and compare it to your average daily usage over the past several months. If it's significantly different, stop to think if you have added a major appliance or altered your lifestyle in some way that would account for the change. Also compare the meter reading on your bill to the reading on the meter.

In Alaska, most people experience higher bills in the winter because of heating requirements. Other winter loads include engine heaters for cars, portable space heaters in the garage or basement, heat tape to keep pipes from freezing, roof eaves, de-icer cables, furnace fan motors, humidifiers and electric snow blowers. All these winter-related items can cause your bill to rise.

Oftentimes, baseboard heaters in entry ways, bedrooms, bathrooms and crawl spaces in homes converted from all-electric to natural gas heating are left connected even after a furnace conversion. The lowest setting on most thermostats is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so homeowners may not be aware that this electric heat is running during cold weather. The only way to assure all electric heat remains off, is to turn off the circuit breakers to the electric heat.

Furnaces have electric blower fans that operate when the furnace is on, and continue to run until the furnace cools to a preset level and then shuts off. During a cold month, the single highest contributor to your electric bill may be your gas furnace.

Christmas tree lights will cost 10 cents per day for a string of 100 miniature (1/2") bulbs, 30 cents per day for a string of 25 medium (1-1/2") bulbs, and 40 cents per day for a string of 25 large (2-1/2") bulbs.