What are you doing to cut costs?

I

Imoe

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Ok so over the past few months I have done as follows to cut costs of electricity:

Purchased a 2 plate gas stove, ....gas costs me R150 for 2 moths
No longer using the oven of the electrical stove
All non-essential lights off during the evening and night
Lights out in totality after 20h00 unless really needed
Turned the geyser down from 70 to 60
Switched to energy saver bulbs
All appliances are to be switched off at mains, no standby

Now what beats me is that The electricity consumption is still at 2500kWh. I think I am being screwed:cry:
 
That's probably because Eskom is using your average consumption for previous months and years to estimate your bill. Have a look at the consumption after they read the meter
 
I think you should ask for a meter check.That is hectic!!I have a gas stove and use about 450kw/month.
 
LED lights

I got some LED lights from
www.c2r.co.za
You have to see the variety that they have, I didn't think there was so many LED's yet!!!!
 
Fenix_SA said:
That's probably because Eskom is using your average consumption for previous months and years to estimate your bill. Have a look at the consumption after they read the meter
Click to expand...

quite correct - ekskum does not want to loose money - so they changed their billing system a few years ago to average out the monthly bills - Ironic isn't it - they tell us to cut electricity usage - which will reduce their income - so then they just UP the cost of electricity to compensate!!

I have also spent money on "saving electricity" stuff like R4500 gas stove / R2500 for complete roof insulation / R10000 for double glazed windows / R450 for geyser timer / R300 for CFL lights!! to this day I have NEVER seen a saving (actual drop in bill) - quite the opposite my bill just keeps going up but my units stay the same!!

The previous month they wacked me R780!! this month R260!! :confused: what would be nice is a clip on "unit" monitor! something I can set at 450 units and when it reaches 450 units an alarm goes off.

its ridicules to think that soon yr electricity bill will be HIGHER then yr bond!! :wtf:
 
seriously people . .

Vegeta said:
Those prices... :sick:.... :wtf:
Click to expand...

Think about it this way:
LED 6watt downlight life = 30 000 hours, cost R430.
50Watt normal downlight life = 2000 hours, cost R20.

You need to replace the 50watt light 15 times to get the same lifespan as the LED.
R20 x 15 = R300.
Still short R130 over a period of 30 000 hours.

50W x 30 000 hours = 1 500 000W or 1 500kW
6W x 30 000 hour = 180 000W or 180kW

now:
(50W) 36c x 1 500 = R540
(6W) 36c x 180 = R64.80

R540 - R64.80 = R475.20 - R130 short from the cost of the light =
R345.20 SAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now do the calculations with the real price you pay to eskom.
 
B@rrels said:
I think you should ask for a meter check.That is hectic!!I have a gas stove and use about 450kw/month.
Click to expand...

I think i should consider getting one of those.
i ve got pre paid electricity. we spend on average just more than R1000 a month. and with this price increase its gonna get worse.
 
Paulr said:
Seriously dude.... :wtf:
Click to expand...

LOL, yeah, very very very very bad attempt at spam....

MP, just ask them to update your 'status' to C2R dealer, then pay the advertising fees, and advertise....

not for 1 second does anyone believe you are just a user, is this c2r your company?
 
MontyPython said:
Think about it this way:
LED 6watt downlight life = 30 000 hours, cost R430.
50Watt normal downlight life = 2000 hours, cost R20.
Click to expand...
Sure, but none of the LEDs seem to be able to match the light output of a 100W spot. Also, the advertised hour claims are usually way off. I know of an electrician who installed LEDs on the bus premises as a trial run to see if they can recommend them to clients. 6 months later half the LEDs were dead. Thats 4000 hours. Sure, it depends on the brand...but I sure as hell wouldn't base a calc on the 30k hours on the packaging.
 
HavocXphere said:
Sure, but none of the LEDs seem to be able to match the light output of a 100W spot. Also, the advertised hour claims are usually way off. I know of an electrician who installed LEDs on the bus premises as a trial run to see if they can recommend them to clients. 6 months later half the LEDs were dead. Thats 4000 hours. Sure, it depends on the brand...but I sure as hell wouldn't base a calc on the 30k hours on the packaging.
Click to expand...

+1
 
8000+ hours and counting

HavocXphere said:
Sure, but none of the LEDs seem to be able to match the light output of a 100W spot. Also, the advertised hour claims are usually way off. I know of an electrician who installed LEDs on the bus premises as a trial run to see if they can recommend them to clients. 6 months later half the LEDs were dead. Thats 4000 hours. Sure, it depends on the brand...but I sure as hell wouldn't base a calc on the 30k hours on the packaging.
Click to expand...

Hello Havoc and PESM,

the following link takes you to World Wear shopping centre cnr Beyers Naude and N1 near Cresta:
http://www.c2r.co.za/General_Info/Projects/World_Wear_Trial/world_wear_trial.html

Sunday night 7 March 2010 I drove past to check on the floodlights.
Only 3 lights were working, the 2 LED's and the curly CFL between the LED's.

The picture dated 23 April 2008 was taken a month after installation.
2 years x 12 hours per day = 8760 hours and counting.............

Havoc, I give you the opportunity to make MY NAME tottie!
I'll gather all my demo lights and visit you in Pretoria to show them to you in person
at your home in your familiar surroundings.
If they are not bright enough you can spread the word right here!!!!

PESM, if you're in the JHB or surrounding areas I'll demo the lights to you also.

my email is
[email protected]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article334456.ece
eskom is so deep in it its not funny!!!!!!

There is a light at the end of the tunnel,
and it's a LED!!!!!!!
 
MontyPython: you may have had a valid argument had you not had the same link in your sig.
 
We've reduced our daily consumption from an average of 35kWh to 15kWh. I've implemented the following steps:
1. Replaced 20 X 50W downlighters with 3W LED downlighters (cost R2600 at www.ecozone.za.net)
2. Put solar heating on geyser (cost R10000)
3. 1kW of PV panels on roof with 6KVA MLT bi-directional inverter + 80A Apollo charge controller + 200Ah of batteries (DIY - cost R95 000)

Besides the charge controller all purchases are from local manufacturers:
1. Solar panels from SetSolar (8 X 135Wp panels at R22.50/W)
2. Inverter from MLT. (6KVA bi-directional inverter)
3. Batteries from First National Battery (8 X Excis 102Ah Sealed lead acid)
4. Cabling/fuses/misc from ElectroParts

With the huge saving we're getting on our monthly bill (from R850 to R450) and the increases that are on the way, the expected time to recover costs is 12-15 years.
This is not our only reason for doing this though as our reduction in our carbon footprint gives us a great feeling.

Once we actually get some budget again we plan to add another 1kW of PV panels which should help us get closer to 0kWh usage on sunny days.
 
MarkI said:
....+ 200Ah of batteries (DIY - cost R95 000)...
Click to expand...

out of curiosity, what is the expected lifespan of these batteries? The battery cost is what has so far put me off from using big UPSs for home use, when the batteries need replacing I will be bankrupt.
 
Do your own meter readings & email them figures. I switch of geyser between 08.00am - 4pm; huge savings it that!
 
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