You are probably using far more power than necessary and the answer is totally in your own hands. In addition to shopping around for better electricity deals, reducing the amount of electricity you use can have a big impact on your electricity bill. This chart shows where the average family home uses most electricity. All of these tips you can put in place immediately, absolutely without cost!
Water heating and laundry
- Ensure your electric hot water is on a controlled load (off-peak) tariff
- Use cold water for laundry
- Only wash full loads in the dishwasher or washing machine
- Avoid using the dryer where possible.
Heating & air-conditioning
- Use a fan when you can instead of the air-conditioner
- Adjusting your air conditioner up by one or two degrees saves you money
- Close all the doors, windows, curtains and blinds in the room while using the air-conditioner or heater.
Kitchen
- Limit the time the fridge door is open (especially if you have children).
Lighting
- Turn off lights when nobody is in the room
TV & entertainment
- Make sure to switch off the TV and other entertainment appliances at the wall when nobody is using them.
‘Standby’ is still using power
- Turn everything off at the wall. Appliances use power even when not in use
- Phone chargers, tablet chargers and gaming consoles also use ‘standby’ power if not turned off at the wall.
NB: We can’t stress enough that everything above is an easy list of habits to adopt in order to free up some of your hard-earned cash every week. All of this information (and more) is freely available on a special Queensland Government website. We’ll bring you more from the various information sources from week to week.
Want to go even further and invest money to save yourself even more? Contact us and we’ll discuss the best, most economical way for you to go.