Who doesn’t fear the arrival of their electricity bill these days?
For many households, power bills are financially crippling, and the pain is about to get worse.
Yesterday, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal announced that electricity prices would rise by up to 21 percent from July 1 – or about $7 a week – due in part to the carbon tax and the cost of renewable energy schemes, along with heavy spending to upgrade the power network.
Here 15 things you can do to around your home to save money on your bill.
1. Unplug the toaster, the coffee maker, or any other appliances when not in use.
2. Wash clothes in cold water then run them through a second spin cycle. Hang to dry.
3. Use the microwave or a gas grill. Heating up an electric oven uses a lot of energy.
4. Turn off the heated dry setting on the dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand takes some time, but can save money.
5. Install energy saving light bulbs.
6. Some electric companies will average your usage. Keeping up with the meter readings will allow you to contest the bill if it’s incorrect.
7. Find out what your electricity provider considers peak times and wash clothes and run the dishwasher during the off-peak hours. Also set heater for the off-peak times on a timer.
8. Educate children… children are sometimes at fault by leaving on lights, computers, televisions and radios. Encourage them to turn them off when they’re not needed.
9. If the doors are drafty, install seals around the facing. Bring back the old-fashioned draft excluders or place rolled-up towels at the bottom of the doors to keep in the heat.
10. Rolled-up towels also work well in windowsills to keep drafts at a minimum.
11. One of the biggest places that you lose the battle of hot air escaping from your home is where you enter your attic. Those little doors and drop down stairs are horrible energy wasters. One of the best ways that you can save on your electric bill and fix the problem is by installing an attic tent that securely fits over the hatch, and you can zip and unzip it to enter your attic when needed.
12. Keep curtains and shades down to help keep the heat in the house at night.
13. Only boil as much water as you need in your electric kettle.
14. Put on an extra jumper or three… and try to make it wool which is much warmer than acrylic.
15. Have your house fitted with solar panels.
Let’s hear from you. Surely you have some more to add.
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17 Responses
I turn the hot water system off in the mornings after everyone has showered and turn it back on mid afternoon. I haven’t had a bill yet since doing this but will be interested to see if it makes a difference. Trick is to actually remember to turn it back on!
I bought solar movement detecting lights and set them up in the toilet.They come on automatically and turn off after a set time.Great for kids in the night.The lead is thin and goes out the air vent above the window.Plus no electricity.
Using the clothes line or indoor rack for drying is great for saving electricity and i divided my bill into weeks and bpay that amount each week saves the howl when the bill comes.
Just like petrol prices, electricity is a necessity to living today. We can try to cut here and becareful there, but in the end we have to get used to it. Being on a disability pension means we have to cut other areas ( not much left) to make the electricity payment..but it is one area we cannot skimp on too much. We would love solar panels but the installation is prohibitive when you have no resources…so we just grit and bear it ….scrounge and be careful..but all in all, we are at the mercy of privatisation of this most important resource for our homes …pity it is still not owned by the Government(s) so it could be properly regulated without a need for HUGE profits for the precious ‘stock holders’. (BTW the ‘help’ we get in a rebate does not even cover the GST..so all those self funded retirees who want what we have…FFS!)
Pensioners can opt to take some money out of their pension on a fortnightly basis this makes their bill smaller
Annie – you should check with your electricity provider about the solar, I know mine will put them up for a $75 deposit and then you pay off over two years. The repayments will probably work out at around the same as your usual power bill, which you won’t be paying because you have solar. I plan to switch this way as soon as I have my roof repainted.
For saving power I find the biggest helper is powerboards with switches. Whole entertainment system is plugged into one board (which is surge protected too) and can get turned off with one flick of a switch
After dinner when the kitchen is closed – lights off – BEESWAX CANDLES ON. Smells pretty, cleanses the air and gets you in calmer state before bed. Just remember to snuff them out – dont leave unattended!
Powerboards with switches ROCK! We have a couple of those on the go. We have a master/slave arrangement for the television and all the associated bits and bobs that go along with that like games, dvd player, set top box, amplifier etc – you turn off one switch and EVERYTHING turns off at once. Not sure how much difference it makes as we’ve not had it for a full quarter yet.
Also – ring your power company and tell them you think you’re paying too much and see if they’ll give you a discount! We get 7% off because I pay on time and have my gas with the same company.
And to make the ‘bite’ less ouchy… I collect a full year’s worth of bills, add them up, add a bit, divide by $26 and automatically pay that each fortnight. In the first year, you have to pay the odd bill – but $200 is easier to find than $600! But by the second year, it evens out. We’re usually ahead in one quarter and pay nothing, and I think the most extra I’ve had to pay is around $80 one quarter. We’re undoubtedly still using a truck load of electrickery, but the cost isn’t as noticeable.
This is not an electricity saving but a gas one. I turned the temperature of our hot water tank down, and it made at least a $20 difference to my next gas bill. The only diffference it made to our life was that we don’t need to add as much cold water to the water when showering or bathing.
Saving on the actual power you use is excellent – BUT the biggest amount of the power bill is in goverment charges that we have no control over – how can we collectively bring “power” to change these amounts!!!
The discussion our family has been having is why are we paying extra premium for upgrading the system – as a business are they not suppose to use consolidated revenue to spend on capital improvements like every other company – would love to see a courier company say – we need a new delivery van so for the next so many bills we are going to charge a premium to do it – they would get laughed at!
Fridge seals! Ours are ripped and worn and gappy, and I just ordered new seals for both fridge and freezer (at a cost of about $100). If you pay someone to come and do it for you, it’s another $120 on top. But ours are ‘push in’ seals which I hope means you can just take the old ones off and push the new seals in. Our last bill was crippling – almost double – and apparently this makes a big diff to the bill. So my dad tells me anyway
Don’t forget outside the house – pools and outdoor lights can be big electricity users. If using a pool vacuum cut it back to one hour a day if possible. Put a sensor light at front of house rather than having to leave the light on.
How about voting out the current ‘government’. I’m sure that would help
A few ideas:
1. Replace incandescent and halogen bulbs with compact fluoros or LEDs.
2. Turn off the beer fridge when not in use.
3. Replace electric hot water system with a gas boiler or instantaneous (in-line) gas.
4. Use fans rather than air conditioners in summer.
And remember that electricity prices are going up in large part due to our peak demand on the network requiring upgrades. The carbon price is just one component of price increases.
We have drastically reduced our electricity bills (when all our friends are complaining that their bills are going up) by turning off every appliance we aren’t using, washing up by hand instead of using the dishwasher, using candles in the house at night in the toilet and kitchen, and we hardly ever use the TV during the day. Oh, and heaters only go on after 5pm if we use them at all; a rug over the knees does just nicely most of the time. Our last bill was just $155!
About 3 winters ago I covered a number of my windows with good old bubble wrap. From memory the roll of bubble wrap cost around $25.00 at Officeworks. I also obtained some thin, transparent double-sided tape from Officeworks to affix the bubble wrap – smooth side against the window pane.
The overall effect resembles a patterned glass and there is a slight loss of natural light.
I think that this el cheapo double glazing has saved me a significant amount of electricity and made it easier to keep the heat inside on these cold Canberra winter night’s when the temperature can drop well below zero.