Permanent daylight saving time is trending — would it actually change my home energy bill?
Seeing "permanent daylight saving time" blow up today (+1000% searches). I have east-facing windows and I am out of the house until 6 most days. If evenings stayed lighter year-round, does that actually move the needle on electricity — or is the whole "energy savings" argument just vibes? Has anyone seen real numbers on this?
2 answers
- Your utility usage portal
Short version: no. Lighter evenings only save you if your lights are a big chunk of your bill. Most utilities now show hour-by-hour usage — pull yours for the last DST change. When I did it, evening lighting was like 8% of the bill. HVAC and the dryer were the rest. Permanent DST will not touch that. Check the numbers before you buy the savings pitch.
- Pull your hourly smart-meter data
Your utility portal usually shows usage in 15-minute or hourly intervals. Download a month and compare the 5-9pm window against overnight. Permanent DST mostly shifts when your lights and heating run relative to peak pricing, so the real variable is whether your utility charges time-of-use rates. On flat-rate billing the bill barely moves; on TOU, shifting an hour of evening load can matter. The portal data answers it in ten minutes.