Tips To Reduce Your Power Bill

Using more electricity than you need is not only bad for the environment, but bad for the budget too. You may like to try some of the tips mentioned below and see if your next bill is cheaper.

Air-Conditioning

• Leave the heater off and put on another layer of clothes - heaters and air-conditioners often use the most electricity of all appliances. Also, increase temperatures on reverse cycle air-conditioners during summer and decrease during winter, as every degree lower or higher than the thermostat needs to be, increases heating/cooling costs by 10%. For summer set the temperature at around 25°C and in winter around 20°C.
• Turn off your air-conditioner for a few minutes every hour or leave it off if you are not at home.
• Fans are cheap to install (in comparison to air-conditioners) and have lower running costs. Portable fans are also effective.
• Keep the living room closed off from unheated/cooled rooms.
• If curtains are kept closed during the day it will reduce the heat conducted through the windows by half. If your curtains are not made of thick material, try attaching an old sheet to the curtains to add extra block out from the sun during summer.
• Seal gaps around doors and windows. A cheap option to put at the bottom of doors is a round material draft stopper (looks a bit like a snake).

Water Heating

• Use cold water instead of warm water to wash your clothes.
• Lower the water temperature on your hot water heater to around 55°C. (You may need an electrician or housing maintenance worker to do this).
• Front loading washing machines are usually more energy efficient than top loading machines (check their energy star rating to make sure).
• Only do the washing when you have a full load.
• Have shorter showers instead of baths, this should reduce your gas or electricity bill and your water bill as well.
• Install a water saver shower rose if you have a mains pressure hot water service.
• Fixing leaking hot water taps saves around $16 per quarter.
• Electric clothes dryers cost an average of an extra $30 per quarter to run so hang the clothes out wherever possible.
• If you must use a clothes dryer, clean the lint filter in clothes dryers prior to each use as it will make the dryer work more efficiently and therefore reduce drying time.

Fridges and Freezers

• Clean any obvious coils/filters on refrigerators and air-conditioners.
• Don't leave the fridge door open longer than necessary.
• Reduce the temperature setting of your fridge and freezer to the lowest recommended temperature, around 4°C is fine, anything lower than this is wasting power.
• Keep the rear coils clean and 10cm away from the wall this allows air to circulate around them and aid the cooling process.
• Keep fridge's and freezer's defrosted regularly. Ice build up makes the fridge/freezer work harder to keep items at the appropriate temperature.
• Check the seal on the fridge or freezer and replace it if there is a leak.

Lighting

• Turn lights off in rooms that are not being used.
• Fluorescent bulbs may be slightly more expensive to purchase, but are a lot cheaper to run.
• Clean windows regularly to maintain a high level of natural light, reducing the amount of money spent on lighting.
  

• Microwaves use less power than conventional ovens and cook faster.
• Food that is thawed before it is cooked will take less time to cook and reduce energy required.

General Tips

• Use energy 'star' ratings to help choose efficient electrical appliances. 1 star is the least efficient and 6 stars is the most.
• Remember that any appliance that is not in good condition will cost more to run.
• Turn off appliances when they are not in use e.g. TV, video, kettle, iron, computer.

For Further Information

The Energy Information Centre provides free impartial advice on shading, insulation and air-conditioner systems to meet your needs. If you would like more information from them their contact numbers are:

Metropolitan Callers: 8204 1888
Country Callers:
1800 671 907
The office is open from 9am-5pm,
Monday-Friday

For a detailed brochure of appliance running costs in South Australia, call AGL on 13 1245 and ask for a copy of a brochure entitled "Electric Appliance Operating Costs"