Would you like to conserve energy and lower your utility bill? One of the first things you will need to know is how much individual appliances and other electronic devices in your home or business are costing you to operate. This valuable information can now be easily determined by checking out a Kill-A-Watt monitor from the McCormick County Library. These monitors are simple to use and will assess how efficient your appliances really are. The large LCD will display the power consumption by the kilowatt-hour just like your local utility company, and it will calculate how much you are paying to run the appliance by the day, week, month, or year. All you have to do is plug it in and enter your cost per kilowatt-hour, a number that should be printed on your electric bill. You can use the Kill-A-Watt device to find out how much it costs to leave electrical equipment plugged in all the time (both on and off) – such as battery chargers, DVD players, or a computer system. You can also use it to help determine if it makes sense to replace an older refrigerator, freezer, or window air conditioner.

The Kill-A-Watt monitors have been provided by the SC Energy Office in cooperation with the SC State Library. They are available free-of-charge to library card holders and can be checked out for a three week time period.