Cutting the Electric Bill - the July Electric Bill

I'm mad as hell. But I knew this was coming. Last month I set a goal of reducing my electric usage by 20% over the next 6 months. I just received my July bill, and am disappointed. I knew I would be disappointed because I've taken a reading from my meter just about every day. I've logged my meter readings in a spreadsheet (yeah, I know I'm a nerd). It was obvious pretty much all month that I wasn't reducing usage.

My July 2010 usage was basically the same as in July 2009. So what happened? I know it was warmer than normal this month versus last, so I did keep my cooling costs in check. What did I do differently? Last year the thermostat usually was set around 78, maybe lower. This year I've set it to 80, and when I'm not home it's turned off. We usually try to wait until 7 PM or so before we turn it on just to eke out every last bit of savings. I also unplugged a few things: we no longer use an alarm clock, and computers are unplugged every night before bed.

For my July power bill, I used 428 kWh of electricity, and my bill was $61.04. In July, 2009 I used 431 kWh and my bill was $65.34. It gets harder in August. Last year I used just 314 kWh, so I can only use about 250 kWh this year, or about 8 kWh per day.