We spend all year thinking about ways to effectively monitor and reduce our energy usage, but that becomes more difficult during the holidays. We’re often distracted with decorations and preparations, shopping, cooking and planning. It can be easy to let your guard down and start to see more excessive energy usage than you might have otherwise expected.

However you choose to celebrate this season, United Power has you covered with the most up-to-date energy efficiency tips and tricks to prevent holiday usage spikes. With a little forethought and diligence, it’s easy to find a little savings during this time of year.

Replace Christmas Lights with LEDs

Updating the lighting in your home is one of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce your energy usage and costs. Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are a well-known alternative to traditional lights, and are quickly becoming standard lighting. While many people are making the switch to these lights in their homes, they still might reach for the older, less efficient string lights they’ve always used when decorating for the holidays.

Depending on how festive your holiday display is, the cost of using these lights can really begin to add up – perhaps to the tune of hundreds of dollars! Christmas lights that utilize LEDs, however, are up to 90 percent more efficient and have a far longer life than traditional incandescent lights.

Beware the Holiday Vampires

United Power has regularly talked about vampire loads, which are quickly becoming larger consumers of energy. Vampire loads come from devices that continue to use energy even when they appear to be off, such as TVs, gaming consoles or charging devices. Holiday lights can also contribute to these loads when they stay plugged in throughout the day while not in use. To avoid the additional energy usage, unplug lights during the day or before bed in the evening, or you can plug them into a power strip that can be turned off when not in use.

Give the Gift of Energy Savings

Electronics have become a more common gift item over the past few years, many of which have the capability of using large quantities of energy. “Green gifting” is the practice of gifting electronics that are certified energy efficient, such as those marked by the ENERGY STAR label. These devices are at or better than federal standards for energy efficiency. This allows you to pass on the gift of energy savings to friends and family.

For more energy efficiency tips to help you save on usage throughout the year, visit our Energy Tips page.

When United Power founded Operation Round Up in 1995 as a way for members to voluntarily help each other through a small monthly contribution built right into their billing statement, we envisioned being able to help vulnerable and struggling members in the communities we serve make ends meet. We couldn’t have imagined then that a nationwide pandemic would stretch the foundation to its limits as we celebrate our 25th anniversary this year.

It hasn’t been an easy year for anyone, and some have felt the impacts more than others. Although many more members are in need of assistance, the Round Up board has remained committed to finding the most effective ways to help meet needs throughout this time.

For those not familiar with Operation Round Up, it is a foundation funded entirely by members who “round up” their monthly billing statements to the next whole dollar. Participation is voluntary, and average yearly contributions are only $6, or approximately $.50 per month. Those funds are then redistributed to nonprofits in various parts of the service territory to ensure as many members receive help as possible. The Round Up Board selected these nonprofits because they have more resources and are better equipped to provide for members in need. The Board is made up of fellow United Power members who also live within the various parts of the service territory and are familiar with the specific needs of their respective areas.

This unusual year hasn’t prevented the board from going above and beyond to meet increased needs, which created an added burden on the foundation. Without the generous contributions of more than 20,000 members who have elected to round up their bill, this wouldn’t have been possible.

In November, we asked our members to tell us why they round up, and we received some tremendous responses:

“Yes, been rounding up for at least a decade. One of a list of gratifying things to give. Maximum of $12 a year. A feel good thing!”
Larry W., Commerce City

“I haven’t participated in Round-Up before, but I am signing up today. Sounds like a great program and I can see that even a little bit helps.”
Sam G., Firestone

“Yes we do. We have dealt with hardships and want to contribute to help others in need.”
Brad L., Frederick

“We participate in Round-Up to ensure that our little contribution helps members who are less fortunate, especially in these times of COVID-19.”
James D., Black Hawk

“Yes! We do participate in the Round-Up program. We are grateful for the opportunity to assist members of our and the greater United Power community when the need arises.”
Michelle B., Golden

“I haven’t yet, I did not know what it was! But will be signing up now.”
Terry H., Brighton