Are vampires sucking the life out of your household energy budget?

Almost every household has at least one electricity vampire that sucks up power and costs you money.

"You need to do a home energy audit," said William Tauber, chief executive of Progressive Lighting & Energy Solutions Inc. in Tustin, Calif. "Things in your house are draining energy and you're not even aware of them, but they cost you hundreds of dollars."

The good news is that an energy audit is a lot easier than it sounds. Many utility companies will do it for you for free. However, it may take some time to get an auditor to your door, so here are a few things you can do now.

Unplug. About 15 percent of the average household's electricity use is from electronic devices such as televisions, computers, printers and DVD players. A good portion of that is what energy experts call "vampire" use, devices sucking the power grid when you're asleep, said Vanessa McGrady, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison.

What is vampire use? It's when the TV is still on when you're dozing, or when certain electronics are plugged in even if they're not in use. (You might notice it when you touch a cell-phone charger that's not plugged into the phone but is plugged into the wall, and you realize that it's warm.)

It's easy to take the cell-phone charger out of the wall, but few people want to pull out the entertainment center and unplug each component at night, McGrady admits.

The solution: Buy a $10 power surge strip and plug your electronics into it. Flip the off switch when they're not in use.

Got a spare refrigerator in the garage or attic that's holding a six-pack of your favorite beer? It's probably costing you about $300 annually to keep it cold, McGrady said. In addition to being unnecessary, old refrigerators are often energy hogs, she said.

But what if that six-pack -- or a case of soda -- won't fit in the house fridge? If it's not going to spoil, it doesn't need to be refrigerated until a few hours before you want to drink it. Unplug the refrigerator until you need it. That saves about $25 a month.

If you realize that the extra fridge is no longer needed, Southern California Edison, for example, will recycle it and provide a credit on your electric bill. Or if you do need it, keep it full. An empty or nearly empty refrigerator uses way more power than a full one because all that cold food and drink helps keep the thing cool, lessening the need for electricity. Tauber maintains that his bill went from $150 to $60 a month by just filling the refrigerator.

If you have a central air-conditioning system, a $2 filter and a hose can save you energy costs along with wear and tear on your air conditioner, said Kathleen Kuhn, chief executive of HouseMaster, a New Jersey home inspection company. Air-conditioning filters in the house get clogged with dust and lint, forcing the air-conditioning unit to work longer and harder to push cool air through the dirty filter. Continued...