Electricity usage (and costs) of common household appliances

[bodhi]

@Debbie2 - thanks for posting this

[Decotey]

My computer's stay on 24hours. Ofcourse the monitors goes into standby when not in use, but the towers stay on, the routers stay on. Wonder what that costs...

Should be just under R100 a month if you are running that 750W psu.

[DragonLogos]

Changing to LCDs helps a lot - especially in a office situation - there is also a transformer solution that you can make out of an old PSU that I will post this week

[StrongTurd]

Should be just under R100 a month if you are running that 750W psu.

The size of a PC's power supply has got nothing to do with its actual power consumption. That number gets determined by the power draw of the components connected to the PSU (CPU, chipset, RAM, GPU etc). I would venture to say that there are VERY few PCs out there that can actually draw 750 Watt from the wall.

However, suppose you were to accept the (flawed) number of 750 Watt then I calculate the monthly consumption as follows:

.75kW * 24 hours = 18 kW/h per day. 18kW/h * 30 days = 540 kW/h per month.

Assuming that you pay arount R0.47 per kW/h, then this should translate into around R253 per month. However, as I mentioned earlier, your PC will in reality only draw a fraction of 750 Watt.

[gregmcc]

Don't forget to add the new 14% increase to the figures

[oomhenry]

Bump

[aadil]

Here's something interesting I just read from IOL.co.za

"Customer usage - Some 36 percent of all Eskom power is consumed by the country's mining houses, which account for about 0,1 percent of Eskom customers. Domestic users, who make up 96 percent of the customer base, consume 12,2 percent of the electricity produced."

If households account for only 12,2 per cent and all households cut usage by 25% (a tall ask), that only adds 3% back to Eskom for their reserve capacity. We're doomed !!!!!!!!

Is there any point???

[Joe Masehare]

Another way to limit household use to acceptable levels:
Outlaw 60A breakers and install 30A-45A breakers in all houses.
This will limit over use by tripping when too many appliances are on at the same time.
Any normal household should be able to operate without tripping a 30-45A breaker. If the power trips, switch off some appliances/lights that are not in use.
Same goes for businesses - limit the breakers.

[Syndyre]

Another way to limit household use to acceptable levels:
Outlaw 60A breakers and install 30A-45A breakers in all houses.
This will limit over use by tripping when too many appliances are on at the same time.
Any normal household should be able to operate without tripping a 30-45A breaker. If the power trips, switch off some appliances/lights that are not in use.
Same goes for businesses - limit the breakers.

I must say the term "acceptable levels" bugs me, the implication is that people using what they pay for are doing something wrong, just as Telkom accuses people of violating its AUP.

[Joe Masehare]

I must say the term "acceptable levels" bugs me, the implication is that people using what they pay for are doing something wrong, just as Telkom accuses people of violating its AUP.

True, but we are currently in a desperate situation that needs to be managed by means other than cutting power. Limiting use seems a much fairer option.
Unfortunately me must all pay for mistakes or poor decisions made by incompetent @ssholes.
Much better having a constant (but limited) supply than having broken service or no supply at all.

[ToxicBunny]

Why must I now start spending money on my house (which will have to be respent in the future) so I can give Eks-dom some breathing space.

I refuse to alter my lifestyle (other than cutting back on complete unnecessaries like the spa bath, or having 4 pc's on... But when I want to cook I will cook, when I want to turn my aircon on because its hot, I will. I will not alter my electrics to stop me doing those things. Eks-dom can ****, in very simple terms, and Alec Erwin can go with them for being a complete moron.

[PeterCH]

Toxic, even if Eskom could generate the power, there will come a time where people will have to ration. The environment can't handle all the excess pollution. Its fair for everyone if everyone (around the world) cuts back as much as possible.

[ToxicBunny]

Peter : rationing I have no issue with, as long as its done fairly. But I refuse to spend money to make my house trip out when I start plugging too many things in, because when this issue goes away, I will have to spend MORE money fixing it.

Any solution that requires me to spend money in large quantities is not an acceptable solution to me.

[PeterCH]

Peter : rationing I have no issue with, as long as its done fairly. But I refuse to spend money to make my house trip out when I start plugging too many things in, because when this issue goes away, I will have to spend MORE money fixing it.

Any solution that requires me to spend money in large quantities is not an acceptable solution to me.

I agree with you. Buying extra equipment will only increase enegry demand as that equipment has to be manufactured and delivered then installed. That all takes not only YOUR money but a lot of energy (fossil fuel, electricity and water). People should just self-ration, even for the sake
of saving money - spend that money on extra bandwidth maybe I dunno. There are many people however who earn enough to be able to afford an extra R2-3000 bill per month from Eskom.
Well those people should be FORCED to reduce their consumption then. Even if they can afford the power, their overuse means you may have to face an extra few minutes of darkness.

[Paul_S]

Well those people should be FORCED to reduce their consumption then. Even if they can afford the power, their overuse means you may have to face an extra few minutes of darkness.

Ok but how are we/they going to determine fair usage?
A single person living in a garden flat doesn't need much power compared to a 4 or 5 person family.
Also there are people who have big houses or additional buildings on their place that they rent out so it's not impossible for there to be 4 to 6 people living on the same piece of land.

Let's say there is are 4 single tenants on a property who get home after work and decide to warm up something in the microwave oven (800W) and make a cup of coffee at the same time (2200W).
They also have one desktop PC switched on which uses 400W (PC + monitor) and a few power saving light bulbs totaling 100W.
Because they just arrived home they decide to wash the fur out of their cereal bowls which they didn't get time to do in the morning rush so their small geysers kicked in as well (1500W).
Let's assume that in winter they're willing to shiver so no electric heaters for them.
So that's 5kW * 4 users = 20kW = 83 Amps and I'd hardly call that excessive power usage. No heaters and no aircon.