moneypenny20

That sucks, we've lost power probably five times in the last 8 years. Longest outage was about 8 hours and that was lightning hitting the substation. However leccy prices are beyond ridiculous.

ozzieeagle

I wonder how many people know how much electricity they use a day in Kwh and how much they pay per Kwh... and most importantly who is the cheapest electrcity supplier in their area.

Which household appliance or system uses the most power and how they can eliminate some of those costs.

IE: In Most cases buying a new fridge would pay for itself in electricity costs if replacing a Fridge older than 10 years within 24 months
Get rid of your tumble dryers and knock 30 pct of your bill if used 3 times weekly. Use Cold Water on your washing machine. Set the air con thermostat to 23C and you'll be paying less than 5 years ago even with the 53 pct increase.

moneypenny20

More to the point, turn off the air con and open the windows and turn on ceiling fans. (depending on where you are )

ozzieeagle

Yehp good point.... Although no good on a 35 plus degree day... well the 2nd or 3rd one in a row here in Melbourne.

My main point is people dont know generally how much appliances are using or costing to run.

My Air Con is paticuarly cheap to run as it's a heat pump system and the 5kwh system would only use 30 cents an hour maximum full bore... they never go full bore as the thermostat kicks in and out and we have good insulation. The heat pump reduces the power usage by up to 2/3rds of it's rated output.

Old Fridges can be massive draws on electricity... quite often the costliest item in a household to run.

moneypenny20

Our old kettle and toaster used to send the old dial spinning like a crazy thing

BadgeIsBack

we've never owned a dryer. Frightful things and they ruin clothes...

I wash all my shirts on cold, 15 min cycle...it also extends the life of them...

BadgeIsBack

in Melbourne we draw curtains or blinds, even on the hottest days...
We live in a society where people think they need to chuck money at everything to get by....

Dorothy

Really? I always use a dryer; never a clothesline and my clothes are not ruined.

I do use cold water to wash most things, though. The only exception is my daughter's chef's whites which need hot water and a longer cycle. (she's a very messy cook and comes home covered in chocolate every day)

berserk

i have no issues with electric bills, cause i'm always outdoors and i use cold water for washing and clothesline. i dont iron my cloths, i seldom use airconditioning for cooling or heating, and our water heater is solar powered.

ozzieeagle

No home appliance can use more than 2.4 Kwh as thats the top rating ...So if you have a kettle at the top rating it would use 2.4 kwh \ by how long it takes to boil... same with a toaster...2.4 Kwh at the most. So if it take 90 seconds to brown your toast or boil your kettle, that would cost circa 1.5 cents.

2.4 Kwh at 23 cents per kwh = 60 cents = 1 cent per minute.... which means 90 seconds costs 1.5 cents.


Whereas tumble dryers etc can be on for hours at a time burning 2.4 Kwh so each hour they are on costs 60 cents.

Fridges, especially ones with dodgy seals as in most old models , may only use 1.5 kwh per hour on average costing 33 cents per hour to run.... but some of them run 24/7/365 and can cost as much as 8 bucks per day to run... which would add 720 bucks to a quarterly bill.... Most of their motors would run say 8-12 hours per day with slightly more effective seal thats still 360 bucks on a quarterly bill.... Modern fridges would only cost 180 or less per quarter to run.

So the major things people have to look for are faulty hot water services and bad fridges.


If you've got a bigger bill than your neighbours.... Look at your fridge.

BadgeIsBack

I defer to you! I do know they could shrink clothes (and your bank balance).

I agree that cold washes are the go, where possible.

Dorothy

My clothes only shrink because I've grown. Today is set to be 40 degrees out, so I've decided to try hanging the wash out. The sheets were dry within about 30 minutes, so not bad. The towels need the dryer to be soft, though.

If your clothes are shrinking in the dryer then I'd say youre doing something wrong. In the 35 years I've lived away from home I only ever used a tumble dryer until we moved to Australia. And I really only use the clothesline when it's really necessary.

moneypenny20

Towels should never be hung on the line. Dryer gets used if a) I can't be arsed to go outside to hang the stuff up, b) I know rain is on its way or c) as was the case yesterday the washing was on the line but a bloody black cloud came over and I got it all in before it was dry but also before it got soaked.

Hino

Hi Chris, wow indeed, it's great to see that the recent large investment of capital in infrastructure is paying dividends in such a short time. If we are to get a 5% reduction in purchase cost after only three years, just think of the savings to come down line.

It is unfortunate that neglect of the system by previous governments necessitated the outlay of so much capital in so short a time, but to see a return in the form of lower prices in such a short time is nothing less than outstanding.

An indication of this commitment to improved delivery and reduced cost can be found less than five miles from where I live. They have just built a $43 Million transformer and distribution centre. It's brand new and it's presently standing idle not even connected to the grid.

I live in a rapidly expanding area and this station is not only a great example of forward planning but a prime example of why tomorrows savings sometimes have to be paid for today. When this area grows to an extent that the present electrical system is under pressure, then it will be of simple matter of connecting the new station to the grid and capacity will be increased almost immediately. No wait for planning, no wait for funding, no danger of a change in Government and a change of plans. Flick the switch and it's running.

I'm not sure where you obtained your 54% figure, the only reference I can find to that figure is in this document that seems to referring to mid rise apartment blocks. The document does however give a good grounding into some of the factors behind recent electricity rises.

http://www.energysmartstrata.com.au/...gy-prices.html

I'm afraid that rising energy costs are a way of life, and in no way restricted to Australia. I notice that in UK the cost of Electricity and Gas rose by over 100% in the seven years between 2004 and 2011 and with the price of oil constantly rising is seems that there is little chance of a fall in price.

http://www.castlecover.co.uk/histori...tility-prices/

When I first came to this country, I worked as an A/C repairman. At that time power was so cheap, that I used to advise domestic clients to leave the A/C running all day even when the house was empty. This obvious waste of resources was the result of both cheap power and lack of environmental awareness. Of course in today's more enlightened world we are more aware of the true 'cost' of energy and most of us budget accordingly.

berserk

I'm not sure where he get's 50% from, he's obviously exaggerating cause I didn't feel much inflation in the past 4 years!