Tired of opening your Con Edison bill and wincing? You’re not alone. Brooklyn homeowners are paying among the highest residential electricity rates in the country, and bills have climbed steadily over the past five years. The good news: a few targeted electrical upgrades can meaningfully lower your monthly costs.
After 22 years of NYC electrical work, here’s what we recommend for Brooklyn homeowners who want to reduce their electric bill without sacrificing comfort.
1. Switch to LED Lighting Throughout
Lighting accounts for roughly 15% of the average home’s electricity bill. If your home still has incandescent bulbs, halogens, or old CFLs, switching to LEDs is the single fastest way to lower your electric bill — and it pays for itself in under a year.
A 60-watt incandescent bulb costs about $7 per year to run if used 3 hours daily. The equivalent LED bulb costs around $1 per year. Multiply that by 30-40 fixtures in a typical Brooklyn home, and you’re looking at $200+ in annual savings.
For maximum savings, our team recommends:
– Replacing all incandescent and halogen bulbs with LED equivalents
– Installing dimmable LEDs on dimmer circuits (Lutron Caseta works well)
– Upgrading to recessed LED can lights in kitchens and basements
– Adding motion sensors in closets, basements, and outdoor areas
Professional lighting installation ensures your fixtures are wired correctly and your dimmers are matched to your LED type — incompatible dimmers cause flickering, buzzing, and reduced bulb life.
2. Install a Smart Energy Monitor
You can’t reduce what you can’t measure. Most Brooklyn homeowners have no idea which appliances are driving their electric bill — they just know it keeps going up. A whole-home energy monitor changes that.
Devices like Emporia Vue, Sense, and Eyedro install inside your breaker panel and track electricity use circuit by circuit. Within 1-2 weeks, you’ll know exactly how much your fridge, AC, EV charger, and dryer cost to run each month.
Real customer findings from our power consumption meter installations include:
– An old fridge from 1998 costing $40/month to run (a new one would cost $8)
– An always-on home theater system pulling 200 watts continuously even when “off”
– A pool pump running 18 hours a day when 6 hours was enough
Most monitors pay for themselves within 6 months through identified waste alone.
3. Upgrade to a Modern Electrical Panel
Old electrical panels — especially Federal Pacific, Zinsco, and Pushmatic models common in Brooklyn brownstones — are not just safety hazards. They also limit your ability to upgrade to more efficient appliances.
Modern 200-amp service handles induction ranges (which use 30% less energy than gas), heat pump water heaters, ductless mini-split air conditioning (which use 40% less energy than window units), and EV chargers — all while keeping your bills lower than running multiple inefficient legacy systems.
Panel replacement starts at $2,499 and includes all NYC DOB permits and Con Edison coordination.
4. Replace Old Wiring in Pre-War Buildings
If you live in a pre-war Brooklyn brownstone or co-op, your electrical wiring may be costing you more than you realize. Old aluminum wiring, knob-and-tube circuits, and undersized conductors all create resistance — and resistance turns into heat instead of useful electricity.
The result: your appliances pull more current to do the same work, your bills climb, and your wiring gets warmer (a fire hazard).
Whole-home rewiring with modern copper wiring delivers cleaner, more efficient power to your appliances and dramatically reduces electrical waste. We specialize in rewiring pre-war Brooklyn homes including brownstones in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Bed-Stuy.
5. Add Smart Switches and Dimmers
Smart lighting controls aren’t just convenient — they’re a real efficiency tool. Lutron Caseta, Leviton, and Z-Wave smart switches let you:
– Schedule lights to turn off automatically (no more “I forgot to turn off the basement”)
– Dim lights to 60-70% (uses 40% less power, looks identical to most people)
– Track which rooms use the most electricity
– Remote-control everything from your phone
For families with kids who leave lights on, smart switches typically save $10-25 per month on lighting alone.
6. Install a Dedicated EV Charger Circuit
If you own a Tesla, Rivian, Ford Lightning, or any electric vehicle and you’re charging on a regular 120V outlet, you’re losing money. Level 1 charging is 30-40% less efficient than Level 2 charging — meaning a higher percentage of grid power is wasted as heat instead of going into your battery.
A dedicated 240V Level 2 EV charger charges 5-7x faster and uses energy more efficiently. Combined with off-peak charging schedules, EV owners typically save $50-100 per month versus inefficient Level 1 charging.
7. Find and Eliminate Phantom Loads
Phantom loads (devices that pull power even when “off”) account for 5-10% of the average home’s electric bill. Common culprits in Brooklyn homes:
– Cable boxes and DVRs (often 30+ watts continuously)
– Old computers and printers in standby
– Phone chargers and laptop chargers left plugged in
– Coffee makers, microwaves, and other appliances with clocks
– Smart TVs and home theater systems “off” but listening for voice commands
A licensed electrician can audit your home, identify the worst offenders, and install smart outlets or dedicated switches to fully cut power when devices aren’t needed.
Ready to Lower Your Brooklyn Electric Bill?
Asset Electric Corp has been helping Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan homeowners save money on their electric bills for 6 years. Our founder Ilya Ilin has 22 years of hands-on electrical experience. We’re licensed (NYC #13207), bonded, and insured.
Call (929) 340-1108 for a free home electrical efficiency consultation, or request a quote online. We’ll walk through your home, identify the biggest energy wasters, and quote fixed-price options to reduce your monthly Con Edison bill.
