As soon as the scorching heat starts, the electricity consumption in every house starts increasing rapidly. Moreover, amid the deepening fuel and energy crisis globally (e.g. due to the Middle East crisis), saving electricity and fuel has become extremely important. Amidst the Prime Minister’s appeal to save fuel and the guidelines issued by various state governments regarding power conservation, we can make huge savings at our level as well. Often some electronic device keeps running in our homes throughout the day, which leads to huge electricity bills at the end of the month. But if we make a little improvement in some of our daily habits, we can reduce the electricity bill by up to 50 percent (half) without compromising on our comforts. Let us know about those 10 magical habits: 1. Use natural light (sunlight) during the day. The first and easiest rule to save electricity is not to switch on unnecessary lights during the day. Open the windows and doors of your house in the morning and afternoon, move heavy curtains aside. This will bring sufficient natural light to the house and there will be no need to light bulbs during the day. 2. Replace traditional bulbs with LED lights. If you still have old CFL or yellow bulbs installed in your house, then change them immediately. Use only LED bulbs in homes. These consume many times less electricity than traditional lights. For a normal room of 12-15 feet, only 5 to 7 watt LED bulb provides enough light. 3. Set the temperature of AC at 24-25 degrees. Air conditioner (AC) is the biggest reason for increasing electricity bill in summer. No matter how hot it is outside, the most suitable temperature for AC is 24 to 25 degrees Celsius. Lowering the temperature (like 16 or 18 degrees) does not cool the room quickly, rather the load on the compressor increases and the electricity consumption doubles. Also, avoid increasing or decreasing the temperature frequently, keep it at a constant mode. 4. Correct setting and cleaning of the refrigerator: The use of refrigerator increases a lot in summer. To make the refrigerator energy efficient, keep these things in mind: Always keep the refrigerator on ‘normal mode’. Needlessly running on ‘Ice Mode’ or ‘Summer Mode’ causes excess ice to accumulate in the freezer, which affects cooling and consumes more electricity. Avoid opening the refrigerator door frequently and keeping it open for a long time, because this causes the cold air inside to escape and the refrigerator has to draw more electricity to cool itself again. 5. Switch off unused devices from the main switch. We often turn off the TV, computer or mobile charger after using them with the remote or app, but leave the main switch on the wall. This is called ‘standby power’ or ‘phantom load’. Many devices continue to consume electricity when switched on. Therefore, when not in use, remove the plug from the socket or switch it off. 6. Say goodbye to geysers in summer. Do not make the mistake of turning on a big geyser to heat water during summer, because geysers draw a huge amount of electricity. If for some reason you need lukewarm water, then use an electronic kettle instead of a geyser. It is wise to keep the geyser switched off throughout the summer season. 7. Replace old technology fans with BLDC fans. Old ceiling fans installed in our rooms also secretly cause huge bills. If possible, upgrade your old fans to new technology BLDC fans. These advanced fans consume about 60 percent less power than normal fans and also last longer on inverter. 8. Proper use of washing machine. Running the washing machine for a few clothes every day not only wastes water but also makes the electricity meter run faster. Make it a habit to run the washing machine only when a week’s worth of clothes have been collected. Running the machine at full load saves huge amount of electricity. 9. Use ‘Auto Mode’ in AC. If the right mode is selected according to the season in your AC, it can provide great relief. Instead of running the AC continuously on ‘Cool’ or ‘Dry’ mode, run it on ‘Auto Mode’. After coming on auto mode, the fan and compressor of the AC adjust automatically as the room cools down, which reduces the electricity consumption significantly. 10. Adopt new electronics with star rating. Old-fashioned fridges, TVs, coolers and ACs used to draw a lot of electricity. If an appliance in your home is 8-10 years old, it is time to upgrade it. Nowadays, low power smart appliances with 5-Star rating are available in the market, which may seem a bit expensive in the beginning, but in the long run, they recover its full cost by reducing your electricity bill to half.