Utility bills can hurt this time of year.

It's hot, so chances are the air conditioner is on. And if it hasn't rained in a while, your sprinkler is likely on full tilt, keeping your lawn mean and green.

It doesn't help that after years of steady decline, the percentage of income that U.S. families spent on energy began to rise in 1998.

The cost of natural gas has risen 65 percent since 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Heating oil costs have risen 11 percent, and electricity prices have gone up 26 percent.

Water and sewer rates in Columbus rose 10 percent in 2006 and went up an additional 15 percent this year.

Don't resign yourself to shockingly high bills. There are some simple things you can do to lower your costs without sacrificing comfort.

With a few simple changes, the typical family could save $50 or more a month on their utility bills, said Brad Stroh, founder of Bills.com, a consumer-finance Web site based in San Mateo, Calif.

"Any upgrade in efficiency will pay for itself in savings," said Jeff Deyette, energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

That extra cash is nothing to sneeze at.

"You can use the savings to pay off debt and build wealth," Stroh said.

But being more efficient doesn't mean you have to be uncomfortable or spend a lot of money. A handful of low-cost, money-saving things can be done to lower your utility bills and put more cash in your pocket.

Water

The average quarterly water bill for a family of four in Columbus is between $182 and $219, according to the city public utilities department.

You can significantly reduce your water use -- and your bill -- if you install a few water-saving devices, according to Get Green Columbus, a city conservation program.

Install a low-flow showerhead : A 10-minute shower uses 50 gallons of water. A low-flow showerhead reduces that to only 25 gallons. Low-flow showerheads cost about $12 at home-improvement stores. If you shower 10 minutes a day, the savings would be 750 gallons of water a month, or about $5 a month on your water bill.

For added savings, replace your faucet aerator. Aerators are the round disks at the tip of the faucet that control how much water comes out.

Low-flow aerators cut water use from about 2.5 gallons to as low as half a gallon per minute, and cost about $1 each.

Watch the flush: The typical family of four uses 112 gallons of water a day, or 3,360 gallons a month, to flush toilets, at a cost of about $20 a month.

Replacing older toilets, which use 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush, with low-flow toilets using 1.6 gallons could reduce your water use by up to 73 percent. The cost to make a replacement starts at about $100, but you could save up to 2,450 gallons of water and shave about $14 a month off your water bill.

If a new loo is out of your budget, hanging a water displacement bag in the tank can reduce water use by 20 percent, or about 1 gallon per flush. Water displacement bags cost about $2, and could save you up to 672 gallons, or about $4 a month.

Lawn smarts : The average American family uses about 120 gallons a day, or 3,600 gallons a month, watering lawns and washing off driveways and sidewalks. You can reduce that by up to 50 percent by watering in the evening -- when less of the water evaporates because of heat -- and by "making sure you aren't watering your sidewalk instead of the grass," said Rick Tilton, assistant director of the city's division of water and power. Potential savings? About $10 a month.

Electricity

The average U.S. household consumes about 11,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity (kWh) a year, at a cost of about $900, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs : Compact fluorescent bulbs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, according to Energy Star, a government program that rates products by how much energy they save.

In central Ohio, it costs 95 cents to power one 75-watt standard light bulb for five hours a day for one month, according to AEP Ohio. It costs 25 cents to power a compact fluorescent for that long, a savings of 70 cents a month and $8.40 a year per bulb.

It takes only about 3 months to recoup the extra cost of compact fluorescent bulbs in energy savings, according to Energy Star.

If a houseful of new bulbs isn't in the budget, replace those in the fixtures you use most, such as the kitchen, bathroom and family room lights, Deyette said. Replacing five bulbs will save you about $3.50 a month, or $42 a year, according to AEP Ohio.

Buy a power strip : Many appliances use electricity even when they are turned off. It's called a phantom load, or vampire electricity, and the Ohio Consumers' Council says it accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of a home's electricity use and costs Ohioans $46 to $93 a year.

Unplugging one small appliance, such as a fax machine, one computer monitor, and one television when you aren't using them will save you about $6 a month, Stroh said.

Plugging electronics such as computers, televisions and DVD players, and small appliances such as coffeemakers and microwaves into a power strip, and then turning the power strips off when you aren't using those items will save you even more money, Deyette said.

Heating, air conditioning and laundry : Heating and cooling account for 47 percent of the average household's annual energy bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The easiest way to cut that expense is to adjust your thermostat.

Every degree you raise your thermostat in the summer shaves 2 percent off of your energy bill, Deyette said. Every degree you lower the heat in winter, shaves 3 percent off the bill.

Install a programmable thermostat : This can lower your heating and air-conditioning bills even more, by about 10 percent, said Ronnie Kweller, spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group in Washington.

Programmable thermostats alter the temperature of your house at different times of the day, allowing you to use less energy when you're sleeping or not home.

"If you're spending $1,000 on A/C in the course of summer, it can save you up to $100," Kweller said. "You can still come home to a comfortable house but not at the cost of running the air all day."

They cost as little as $30 and usually can be installed by the homeowner, Deyette said.

Laundry day is another cost-saving opportunity.

A family that washes seven loans of laundry a week can save about $5.25 a month, or $63 a year, in water-heating bills by washing clothes in cold water, Kweller said.

Old-fashioned line-drying will save you even more.

"A new electric dryer can use 4,500 watts per hour," more than almost any other appliance in your home, Stroh said. Old dryers use even more.

"Hanging your clothes out to dry will knock nearly $10 a month off of your utility bill."

Maximize your savings

You really can save money being more energy efficient, Stroh said.

"It's an easy -- and good for the environment -- way to stash $50 a month with only a few simple changes," Stroh said.

It might not seem like a lot of money, but it can add up to $600 or more each year that families can use to pay down credit-card debt, boost their emergency fund, or save in a retirement account or college savings plan, Stroh said.

"Investing $50 a month at 8 percent interest for 30 years produces a nest egg of nearly $75,000," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com. "That will go a long way toward improving retirement security."

Using those savings to boost your monthly credit-card payment from $75 to $125 would allow you to pay off a $3,000 balance at 18 percent interest 2 1/2 years faster and save you $860 in interest charges, he said.

The little bits of money you save here and there really add up.

"People that are successful at building wealth over the long term are the people who watch the smaller expenses just as closely as larger expenses," McBride said.

But the key is to save the money, rather than spending it "on some flashy thing," Stroh said.

Once you've made some changes to reduce your energy bills, the easiest way to make it pay off is to transfer the amount you expect to save each month into a savings or investment account, McBride said.

"You have to pay yourself first."

dtrowbridge@dispatch.com