(02) 4910 0939 Three Reasons Why Your Energy Bills Are So High
Energy bills are a fact of life, and often it doesn’t seem like there is much you can do to reduce them. But there are ways you can save without much change to your lifestyle. The real key to making progress in reducing your bills is to understand what is making them so high in the first place. So, without further ado let’s look at some of the reasons your bill might be high, and what you can do to reduce them.
1. You're Not Shopping Around for Your Energy Provider
Like with most things you will be able to get a better deal if you shop around, so it is worth comparing prices between different retailers. Most retailers offer discount rates for a longer contract and some offer packages with a flat rate for a given amount of energy used during the month.
Where there is an option between a flat rate and a time of use rate, its useful to consider when you are using most of your power so you don’t end up with low off-peak rates that you can’t take advantage of.
2. You're Running High Usage Appliances
Ok, so this one probably seems pretty obvious.
The trouble is, it can be difficult to figure out what you are using at your home or business that is making your power bills so high.
As a rule, anything that heats water will use a lot of power. This can include; kettles, clothes dryers, electric hot water heaters, dishwashers, and washing machines.
Although, there isn’t really all that much that you can do to avoid using your kettle, aside from cutting back on that 3pm cup of tea. But knowing how much power these appliances can use and being aware of when you are using them (see point 3) can save you money.
This is where monitoring your power usage can help. You can request half hour usage data from your power company if its available to see when you are using the most power but this will only give you a more detailed version of your power bill. So, you still might not know what was using all that power.
Alternatively, most modern solar systems can be set up with a dedicated smart meter to record how much power you are using through the day. So, it’s easy to check just how much whatever you have running is costing you at any point in time. Just by being able to see your usage you will be able to be more efficient with the power you use.
Although you still won’t be able to cut out all your usage. The good news is, if you use any of these appliances during the day a solar system can run them for you for free.
A solar system can even be set up to turn on appliances like pool pumps, air conditioners, and water heaters automatically when you are producing more power than you are using. Although there is an installation cost, when sized and financed properly, you can be saving money from day one with no upfront costs.
Talk to us at LuvSolar to find out more.
3. You Are not Taking Advantage of Your Time of Use Tarriff
Increasingly more power networks are moving to a system of charging different rates based on when power is used. This is often called a time of use tariff. Almost everyone in north-eastern Sydney, Newcastle, and the Central Coast (the Ausgrid network) is billed this way.
Many other networks around the country also bill this way, or are headed in this direction. The problem is that when you are running high power appliances (like your clothes dryer) during times of peak pricing you will see a big impact on your bill.
So, the solution is to be check you bill to see if you are on a time of use tariff and what time the peak pricing starts and ends. After that it is just a matter of trying to avoid running the appliances that use the most power at this time.
Where you can, try to use most of your power at off-peak times, in fact many old hot water heaters were originally set up like this by the networks in the first place.
The problem is that in many networks peak pricing is between 2pm-8pm, and it can be difficult to get the kids to stop using the air-con, the dryer, or the T.V. during this time.
Fortunately, LuvSolar can set you up so that in summer a solar system will provide power throughout most of the peak period and for up to 40% of the peak period in winter.
If you use a lot of power in the early evening you may even consider a solar system with a battery for night time usage. These systems can take your power bill down to almost nothing, but they are more expensive to set up, so should be financed properly.