We've all suffered from electricity bill shock recently (if you'll pardon the awful pun). The best way to cut your energy usage is simply to reduce the need for it, either by building sensibly, thinking about how you live, or by taking advantage of government rebates and replacing energy hungry appliances with more efficient ones.

Here's a list of articles to help you keep your bills down:

• 10 tips to reduce your power usage
  
• What is a power vampire?
  
• Common power-wasting appliances and scenarios
  
• Rebates for solar panels
  
• Alternative energy sources
  
• What is energy management?
  

 
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Lastly, this month we'd also like to welcome Matthew Crossling from Crossling Bros builders on board as a guest blogger. He's written a post featuring advice on how to pick a list of builders to tender on your building project. Valuable reading for anyone who's on the market for a builder.