This excellent post from Adam Dachis on lifehacker.com tells how to lower your electricity bill easily, at no cost, by using your appliances more efficiently. For example, promoting optimal air flow will lower energy costs by reducing the demand on your cooling/heating system. Opening all vents in the house and replacing filters on a monthly basis will support ideal air flow, while standing or ceiling fans can be positioned to push hot air up and out (summer) or down to trap it in the room (winter).
Dachis also provides useful tips for laundry machines (reduce heat whenever possible as it accounts for over 90% of the electric demand; load the machines appropriately; do the job when discounted rates apply; air dry the clothes where possible), dishwashers (disable the heated drying cycle; pre-wash just enough to remove food particles and let the machine do the rest; load the dishes according to the machine's design; use a good detergent) and electronics (reducing consumption requires turning them off since even sleep mode uses power; schedule computer start up and shut down times).