Costs are climbing for just about everything (including energy) as inflation continues to assault the nation's economy.

You probably have been paying the most attention to prices on gasoline and diesel so far, but your home utility bills are getting more expensive, too, as temperatures climb this summer.

There are many ways you can invest in your home to make it more energy efficient, saving on utility bills over time, and we've put together several that range from quick, easy and affordable; to more-dramatic upgrades to your home.

We ranked them in order of up front costs to you, the consumer, though it's important to keep in mind some of the more expensive investments provide the largest savings in the long term.

Take advantage of the free services

You're already paying a monthly utility bill, so you might as well take advantage of the free services many utility providers offer.

In Oklahoma, utility providers like Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., Public Service Co. of Oklahoma and others offer a variety of services to their customers ranging from free inspections to air conditioning tune-ups to new lightbulbs. Some services are offered to all customers, while others are provided to households that meet certain income requirements (more on all of this in later sections).

Customers also can enroll in programs provided by utilities that incentivize the conservation of energy during peak hours. Both OG&E and PSO offer a variety of options, and information about those programs can be found at each company's website.

Change your light bulbs

One of the cheapest options for improving your home's energy efficiency is to swap out incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient, LED replacements.

LED bulbs range in price from $11 for a four-pack of dimmable 60W bulbs to $32 for an eight-pack of dimmable 75W bulbs, depending on the brand and retailer specials. But those bulbs can last up to 25 times longer and use far less power than traditional lightbulbs.

You'll find a variety of estimates on how much you can save on your energy costs, which depends heavily on how much energy rates are where you live. According to PSO, a typical residential customer in Oklahoma can save up to $45 or more per year by replacing just five of his or her home’s most used lights with ENERGY STAR® certified LEDs.

And in case you forgot the first bit of advice in this story, take advantage of the free stuff, you should know there are currently some programs in place by both OG&E and PSO to provide customers with some free LED bulbs.

OG&E offers bulbs through a free home energy assessment it offers its customers once every 10 years. Participating retailers in PSO's service territory offer up to $2 in instant rebates per bulb.

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Change your power strips

Another easy and cheap change is to replace power strips throughout your house, especially ones used for heavy power users like TVs and computers.

"Advanced" power strips, which can cost anywhere from $20 to $40 (or more, depending upon your needs) reduce power usage by shutting off power to products whenever they go into a standby mode.

Experts say standby power consumption in an average home ranges from 5% to 10%, and the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory estimates that can account for about 1% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.

You can cash in on some freebies if you're an OG&E customer who partakes in its energy assessment evaluation, while PSO offers its customers a rebate of up to $22 on each advanced power strip a customer buys.

Inspect and repair your home's weatherization upgrades

Weatherization upgrades that could help boost a home's energy efficiency include weather stripping around doors, sealing leaky ducts, adding attic insulation and caulking around windows/doors/light fixtures.

According to homeadvisor.com, weather stripping around doors can cost an average of $275, depending on the numbers of doors that are being sealed, while it can cost a person an average of $5 to $18 per linear foot of caulking that could be used to seal a home's window frames, plus labor costs if someone is hired to do the work.

All can improve the efficiency of your home and prevent the loss of heat from your home, or perhaps more appropriately during the summer — the unwanted entry of Oklahoma heat from outside.

OG&E offers some assistance through a weatherization program it provides free to customers with an annual household income of $60,000 or less where they own or rent single-family homes, duplex units or mobile homes (landlord approvals for renters are required).

The utility also offers those customers inspections and seals of leaky ducts, added attic insulation, caulking around light fixtures, and other improvements valued at approximately $2,500.

PSO offers customers who live in single family residences and have a household income of $55,000 or less inspections and weatherization upgrades too.

"If you qualify, we will send a company out to do an energy audit and find problems that, when corrected, automatically make your home more comfortable where we pay for those repairs," PSO spokesman Wayne Greene said.

Tune up your air conditioning

A properly operating air conditioning system uses less energy.

For example, if your system is dirty it won't circulate air as well, meaning your unit will run longer than if it's clean. Same goes for having the proper Freon levels.

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Homeadvisor.com says a typical service on a home heating, ventilation and air conditioning system costs between $75 and $200 or more, depending on the system's size and age and whether or not Freon is required to boost the system's efficiency.

PSO offers customers who choose to have their system serviced at the start of each summer a rebate of up to $75.

OG&E offers free tune-ups for operating air conditioning systems (using its approved contractors) once every three years (and will provide Freon without charge once every 10) to customers that own or rent a residential property with a permanent foundation.

Buy and install a Wi-Fi thermostat

Wi-Fi and "smart" thermostats help improve home energy efficiency by allowing homeowners to adjust temperatures throughout the day and reduce power usage.

If you're away from the home, go ahead and let the temperature rise. Need to cool down for the hours you're in your house? Adjust that temperature from your phone before you leave your office.

Costs vary on these types of thermostats, but if you're a PSO customer, you can get a rebate of $75 when they purchase a Wi-Fi capable thermostat.

Wi-Fi programmable thermostats also come in handy if you want to take advantage of energy-shifting programs offered by both it and OG&E to save you money during the summer cooling season.

Replace your windows, doors

One of the more expensive and labor-intensive upgrades to your home is the replacement of windows and/or doors.

But those changes can save a lot of energy and money in the long run.

OG&E’s Lead Program Manager, Toney Cooper, estimates upgrading windows to double-pane models in a 1,500-square-foot home could cost a homeowner about $7,450, but in return, the buyer could expect to save 4,250 kWh annually, worth about about $455.

OG&E offers its customers rebates of $50 per window and $100 per door.

Replace your HVAC system entirely

Another option an owner could choose is replacing the home's heating and cooling system entirely.

OG&E's Cooper said the average cost for 3-ton HVAC replacement unit is abu $9,450 (price may vary based on its seasonal energy efficiency rating and brand).

Upgrading to a more efficient unit, Cooper said, could save the buyer 140,938 kilowatt hours (kWh) of usage over its 20-year-life, translating into savings of more than $15,000.

PSO offers its customers rebates ranging from $200 to $800 on new, high-efficiency air conditioning or heat pump systems.

And while those large upgrades can be expensive, they often provide homeowners with "the most bang for the buck," said Chris Roman, a certified energy manager who works for a California-based company that upgrades commercial air handlers for large power consumers.

Participate in your utility provider's energy savings programs

Both OG&E and PSO also offer their residential customers ways beyond making physical changes to their properties to save money on their summer cooling bills.

OG&E offers its SmartHours program from June 1 through Sept. 30, which allows enrolled customers to save money by reducing or shifting some of their energy usage away from 2 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays (the utility's peak demand period during summer months).

OG&E also offers customers that have Wi-Fi capable thermostats an "If this, then that" program that prompts the thermostat to adjust its temperature warmer whenever it receives an alert from the meter that the cost of electricity is reaching a certain cost.

PSO offers the same type of programs to its customers through a Time of Day rate option that functions just like OG&E's from June 1 to the end of October, plus its Power Hours program that adjusts a HVAC system's Wi-Fi connected thermostat up to 4 degrees warmer during declared peak usage events (up to 16 times during the summer cooling season). Power Hours enrolled customers receive a season end incentive of $25 per thermostat and can opt out of individual alerts, if desired.

Business Writer Jack Money covers Oklahoma’s energy and agricultural beats for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com. Contact him at jmoney@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by subscribing to The Oklahoman.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How to reduce utility, electric bills during the heat of summer in Oklahoma