With the rising cost of energy, here are my top tips on ways to save on your electricity bill.
Sometimes my heart skips a little beat when I see how much our electricity bills is! We all use power every day and it’s so easy for the costs to add up throughout the quarter.
Even if you have solar installed, you likely still have a significant bill to pay. The good news is that there are ways you can reduce your power consumption – here are my top tips!
Switch off appliances
Surprisingly, when you leave your appliances plugged in they are actually using energy even when they’re not being used. It might only be a small amount, but that adds up when you have several appliances across the household that are always left on.
The average Australian homes wastes up to $150 a year paying for electricity for appliances that don’t need to be constantly on. The biggest energy users are appliances that have a remote control (like the TV), anything that connects to wifi, or appliances with a continuous display such as alarm clocks and the microwave.
Some examples of things you can switch off at the wall are –
- Laptops and chargers
- Washing machine and dryer
- Toaster and kettle
- TV and gaming consoles
Use the air fryer
If you have an air fryer, it can be more energy efficient than an oven. This is because they are smaller so they heat up faster, plus they have a lower wattage than an oven. Cooking time is also generally quicker than a regular oven, which reduces energy use even more. While you probably wouldn’t use your air fryer for every meal, it’s a good idea to use it for meals that can be cooked either way.
Wash early morning or late night
Depending on your electricity provider and your plan, you may be able to take advantage of off-peak energy rates. Check your electricity bill to find out more information, but generally, avoiding peak hours 7-9am and 4-8pm on weeknights can help reduce your bill.
If you can make it work in your schedule, a good time to run a load of washing or put the dishwasher on is early in the morning or late at night, when less people are using electricity.
Of course, if you have solar, make the best use of those daylight hours as you can!
Close the blinds
Window coverings can make a surprising amount of difference to the temperature of a room. When it’s cold, close the blinds or curtains to help insulate the house against the cold from outside. The same is true for when it’s really hot. You might not need to turn on the air con!
Leave the heater off when you can
On cool evenings, it’s so tempting to switch the heater on when the sun goes down. But air conditioners use a huge amount of energy. (Just recently when ours broke, we saved $200 on our bill!) Instead of turning on the heater or air conditioner, try closing the house up early, pulling down the blinds and rugging up. When it’s really cold, I pop on my super soft dressing gown and slippers.
Clean the air conditioner
When you really do need the air conditioner, make sure it’s working optimally by keeping it clean. While ducted systems might need a professional clean, for split systems, you can do it yourself. Check out my tips here on how to clean air conditioning filters.
Use natural fibres in bedding and clothing
Many natural fibres such as wool, cotton and bamboo have an organic ability to thermo-regulate better than synthetic fabrics. This means they can retain your body temperatures for longer. And the warmer or cooler you are, the less tempted you’ll be to switch on the air conditioning. For bedding, bamboo sheets are excellent because the micro-gaps in bamboo fibre trap cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter, by 2-3 degrees.
Have short showers
Heating up water uses a lot of electricity! Having short showers will not only save on your water bill, but on your electricity bill too. For those kids and teens who love a long, luxurious shower, try limiting their shower time to under 5 minutes using an egg timer.
Install a water-saving shower head
- Another way to limit the amount of hot water is to install a water-saving shower head.
