Now that summer is here, electric bills are skyrocketing with the heat. Air conditioners are coming on by the millions in an effort to cool down. Add that to the electrical appliances, televisions and other electronics that consume power and your electric bill soars. Here are some tips to reduce those costs.

1. Closing your curtains and blinds on the sunny side of your house will help keep it cooler when temperatures are high. You can also apply window film to your windows. This will cut radiant heat and still allow you to see the view outside. Painting your house a light color and using window awnings will also help reduce heat inside your house.

2. If you use a window air conditioner, put it in a window that is located on the shady side of your house near the center of the house. Cooler air outside means cooler air inside.

3. Make sure that your cooling system (and heating system in winter) is working efficiently. Have your systems checked by a reputable maintenance company at least once yearly. Change the filters on your furnace and air conditioner monthly.

4. Turn off your air conditioner or furnace when you leave home for short periods of time. Of course, if you live in a desert or severely cold climate, you would turn your thermostat a bit higher or lower than you would normally have it.

5. Plant trees and shrubs outside your house to shade it. Be sure that shrubs placed near air conditioning units are trimmed so that they have sufficient air flow.

6. Electronics that are turned off may still use electricity. Unplug them when going on vacation or when leaving your house for an extended period of time. For other electrical units like razors or hair dryers, plug them into a power strip that you can switch off when you're not using them.

7. Use fluorescent light bulbs instead of standard incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs use ten times the power of fluorescent.

8. When you are shopping for a printer, scanner or other computer equipment, look for those that will automatically go into "sleep mode" or turn off when they aren't being used.

9. When you're deciding between the microwave and electric stove to cook a meal, choose the microwave. Not only does it use 90 percent less energy, it will not heat up the house - thus using even more electricity to cool it.

10. Replace appliances that are older than ten years old. Older refrigerators and other major appliances cost more to run than newer appliances. Modern appliances must conform to "Energy Star" efficiency and are ten to twenty percent cheaper to operate.

11. If your electricity should go off during a "brown-out" or "blackout," turn off or unplug as many appliances as you can. Otherwise, when everyone's power comes back on at the same time, another transformer could blow out.

Using some of these ideas will help keep your electric power bills lower. The more ideas you use, the lower your costs will be. Save your pocketbook, and your environment, by conserving electricity.