![Eric Myers, a Gulf Power Residential Energy representative, reviews findings from an Energy Checkup with Gulf Power customer Lorraine Allen to make sure she's doing everything she can to save energy and reduce her power bill. [Special to the Press Gazette]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-64021dd0-270e-1823-e053-0100007fb39d-0ad2fec0-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — This week's forecast calls for more cold weather with low temperatures at 52 degrees Wednesday but hovering between 35 and 47 degrees the rest of the week.
These temperatures burden customers’ power bills as they try to stay warm.
With January’s temperatures dipping into the teens, Gulf Power reportedly has experienced the highest energy demand ever. This winter’s peak is 28 percent higher than forecasted and surpasses the all-time peak of 2,694 megawatts in January of 2014, according to the company.
"What this means is our customers should prepare for higher than normal power bills," said Kimberly Blair, Gulf Power spokesperson. "With two months of winter left, and another cold snap forecasted for next week, we also want to remind customers of ways to conserve energy and reduce the jumps in bills."
Gulf Power offers several methods to help — starting with a program called Budget Billing.
"With Budget Billing," Blair said, "customers pay about the same amount each month with their bill averaged out based on their previous 12 months’ electrical usage. That eliminates the drastic spikes from extreme weather events."
Gulf Power also offers a free home Energy Checkup. It provides a report personalized to each customer based on the home’s energy use.
Other tips include installing a programmable thermostat, sealing leaks, maintaining the home’s heating system well, lowering lighting costs and using a heating blanket instead of heating the whole house.
There are agencies that can help with people facing high power bills but they’re limited in what they can provide.
United Way of Santa Rosa County receives calls for this kind of help, according to Executive Director Guy Thompson.
"We feel we’re getting the calls ourselves and doing the best we can to refer to agencies that will respond," Thompson said. "We have agencies out there that run out of $ and limited in their hours for whatever reason that may be … A lot of agencies are very limited on their funds and on hours they’ll stay open."
Situations like this one are why the UWSRC is building its thrift store, according to Thompson.
"There are no agencies up there that can consistently do the job," he said, "so United Way is trying to fill the gap in. That’s why we’re building the thrift store, to generate the funds to do these things."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Power bills spike amid winter weather