Expect a 'summer-like' energy bill this fall

Expect your next energy bill to be "summer-like," thanks to these record-hot fall temperatures.

A spokeswoman for Duke Energy said you should expect your next bill to be similar to what you'd normally see in July or August instead of September or October.

"I don't like it," said Raleigh resident Emanuel May. "But I want to be cool. I want to stay cool."

May added he's going to keep pumping his air conditioner.

The Duke spokeswoman said air conditioning accounts for 50 percent of our energy bills.

Here are some tips from Duke to save money on your bill:

• Lower your bill by tracking your daily usage online.

• Use your clothes dryer and dishwasher at night and monitor your oven use. These activities heat up your home, making your AC work harder.

More tips:

Brad Sutton, owner of Eastern Turf Maintenance in Raleigh, has a tip that could save you money on your water bill.

He said you should go ahead and aerate and overseed, like you normally do, but he said you should change one thing because of these drought conditions:

"If they don't have an irrigation system, which a lot of customers don't, to go ahead and seed their lawn, and don't worry about watering it until we get rainfall, which we haven't had in quite a while," Sutton said. "Usually the seed will stay viable 3 or 4 weeks, just until it gets water."