Average household electricity consumption 2014

A couple of months late, but....

Household of 2:
Kitchen appliances used often - oven/stove-top used 6 days a week; microwave used the other day; single fridge unit
Washing machine used 3 times a week; winter time we make use of a DriBuddy as well (doubles as heater as well)
PC, LED TV on 10 hours a day (averaged per day), router 24x7
5 personal devices (tablets/devices) charged every day
No pool but 2 x Micro aquariums - 1 cold, 1 heated. on 24x7
Don't cycle geyser (consumes more electricity when switched off); temp controlled at 65C IIRC
Aircon on during summer mornings and evenings only (max 4 hours per day)
Heater on during winter mornings and evenings only (max 6 hours per day)

Summer : < 500 units
Winter : 650 - 850 units

Have some appliances that use gas as well - heater, separate gas stove.
 
I just went to pre paid and sofar it seems more expensive... But last month ee have 3 panel heaters on 24/7 and one fin oil one about 3 hrs a night so think thats my prob. Will have better feel in summer. I have a geyser switch that turns off at night at 11 and on again at 6. I shower morning and night and when i cycle or run i shower in afternoon too. I have me, my wife our todler and my sister. Tubledryer often, washing machine, elec garage 2 apple tvs, router and 2 lcds, ipad and iphones charginh. We seem to ave around R1400 pm. In summer it used to be 900pm
 
mercurial said:
Yeah, though I usually get 35 units per R50. I suspect this is less now since the price increased slightly.
Click to expand...

To help everyone - if you're on prepaid it depends when you buy that R50 - i.e. the first set of units you get for one price, then the next set can be much more. So just in Cape Town the number of units you get for R50 can vary between 21 and 52! So just make sure you don't do a massive top-up right at the end of the month.

In Cape Town you can be on Eskom (Northern Suburbs) or City of Cape Town:

Eskom - there's 2 tariffs that are prepaid - Homelight 20A and Homelight 60A
Homelight 20A - R50 = 56.7 units at best or 51.8 units in the top block (>350kwh bought that month = R308 spent)
Homelight 60A - R50 = 52.3 units at best or 30.8 units in the top block (>600kwh bought = R573 spent)

City of Cape Town - 2 prepaid tariffs:
Lifeline (if you get free units) - 52 units at best or 21.4 at worst (>350kwh bought = R336 spent)
Domestic (no free) - R50 = 32.5 units at best, or 26.8 at worst (>600kwh bought = R921 spent)

City power (Joburg) is much more complicated... 4 different blocks, let me know if you want me to work it out for you :)
 
PS -
To all those who are spending much less in Summer rather than Winter -- if you're on prepaid, just make sure you KEEP buying the cheap units you have available. All prepaid buying is based on when you BUY it, not when you USE it. If you do that smartly, you can save around 10% on your bill... not kidding see below:

As an example, below in based on Eskom Homelight 60A tariff - if you use 800 units in Winter (for 6 months) and 400 in Summer (for 6 months)
Option a: Pay for what you use:
= R382 in Summer + R900 in Winter = R7687 for a year.

Option b: Maximise your cheap units, buy up to the top of the block in Summer, even though you don't use them all right then - buy 600 every month.
= R574 in Summer + R574 in Winter = R6884 for a year

Being smart about what you buy when saves around R800, or 10%...

In addition, there's also the fact that your units stay on your meter for next year - so youll have units at the old price before the price rise.

Trying to get all this stuff into a website, so keep in touch!
 
RoboJedi said:
I just went to pre paid and sofar it seems more expensive...
Click to expand...

RoboJedi - do you mind telling me who you buy your power from? Is it your city? or Eskom directly? It would be great if you know your tariff... Maybe there's something we can come up with to stop you overpaying?
 
3,753.000 kWh - Actual Reading

3 Adults.

Think I need to start making my own power
 
richjdavies said:
RoboJedi - do you mind telling me who you buy your power from? Is it your city? or Eskom directly? It would be great if you know your tariff... Maybe there's something we can come up with to stop you overpaying?
Click to expand...

City power and its sliding scale the more you use the more expensive it gets. Ladt month total seemed to be 1900 just for elec.
 
Mine is the same price regardless of the units I used. There is no discount amount, it does break it down in 0-250kw, 250-500kw but the pricing is always the same and its always expensive. Its more than R1/unit.
 
richjdavies said:
To help everyone - if you're on prepaid it depends when you buy that R50 - i.e. the first set of units you get for one price, then the next set can be much more. So just in Cape Town the number of units you get for R50 can vary between 21 and 52! So just make sure you don't do a massive top-up right at the end of the month.

In Cape Town you can be on Eskom (Northern Suburbs) or City of Cape Town:

Eskom - there's 2 tariffs that are prepaid - Homelight 20A and Homelight 60A
Homelight 20A - R50 = 56.7 units at best or 51.8 units in the top block (>350kwh bought that month = R308 spent)
Homelight 60A - R50 = 52.3 units at best or 30.8 units in the top block (>600kwh bought = R573 spent)

City of Cape Town - 2 prepaid tariffs:
Lifeline (if you get free units) - 52 units at best or 21.4 at worst (>350kwh bought = R336 spent)
Domestic (no free) - R50 = 32.5 units at best, or 26.8 at worst (>600kwh bought = R921 spent)

City power (Joburg) is much more complicated... 4 different blocks, let me know if you want me to work it out for you :)
Click to expand...

Thanks man. I'm on the City of Cape Town's Domestic tariffs. Is there any way for me to change it to lifeline?
 
mercurial said:
Thanks man. I'm on the City of Cape Town's Domestic tariffs. Is there any way for me to change it to lifeline?
Click to expand...
Lots of persuading the municipality! I know of someone who managed to do it.
They say here:
https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/elec...sidential Electricity Tariffs Explanation.pdf

That Lifelife tariff people need to be getting free units -- so need to use under 450kwh/month on average over 12 months, be prepaid and have one of the following:
1. A house worth less than R300,000
2. Be retired
3. Be disabled
From the second page of the link above:
The Lifeline Tariff is a special, highly subsidized 2 block inclining block tariff aimed at existing prepaid
consumers who receive on average 450 kWh or less per month (as calculated using a twelve month
average), including any Free Basic Electricity that may be applicable, or any prospective consumers who
receive on average 450 kWh or less per month (as calculated using a twelve month average) AND have a
prepaid meter AND have a municipal property valuation of less than R300 000. Any consumer who qualifies
for an indigent rebate in terms of the Debt Collection and Credit Control Policy, as well as any consumer
who qualifies for a pensioner or disabled rebate in terms of the Rates Policy of the City will not have to
comply with the municipal property valuation criteria, but will still have to meet the 450 kWh per month
average and the prepaid meter requirements...
Any consumer on the Domestic Tariff who feels that they’ve received less than the average of 450 kWh per
month, and meets the additional criteria, is free to apply for the Lifeline Tariff. However, the City will
investigate whether or not they actually do qualify or not. Should they qualify, they will be switched to the
Lifeline Tariff with effect from the date of application.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how that can actually happen given that it's prepaid... but then that's the city for you... going back in time to make you prepay less in future?!
 
We pay R200 - 300 for a family of two lol. Sold the Tumble dryer. Washing machine runs like 3 times a week. Geyser is 55 degrees.

EVERYONE SET YOUR GEYSER TO 55 FROM HIGHER TEMPS. YOU WILL NOT GET LEGIONAIRS DISEASE AT THIS TEMP YO.
 
Wasabee! said:
We pay R200 - 300 for a family of two lol. Sold the Tumble dryer. Washing machine runs like 3 times a week. Geyser is 55 degrees.
EVERYONE SET YOUR GEYSER TO 55 FROM HIGHER TEMPS. YOU WILL NOT GET LEGIONAIRS DISEASE AT THIS TEMP YO.
Click to expand...

I'd still say maybe turn it to 70 degrees every once in a while... just to make sure. Lot of people recommend heating to 60 degrees every day to make sure it's all properly dead! And remember some parts of your geyser won't be the full temperature...
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Legionnaires-disease/Pages/Prevention.aspx
or:
http://www.hamworthy-heating.com/Library/Preventing-legionella.asp

It states that Wpasteurising should occur daily, for a minimum period of one hour at 60°C to ensure elimination of any legionella bacteria.W

I can do this quite easily with my homebug :)
 
Around R1000 per month (Winter)

2 PCs/1 laptop: 24/7
4 heaters
1 x dishwasher
1 x LG refrigerator
1 x Defy washing machine
1 x LCD tv
A geyser is always ON every day.
 
Summer - R500 - R650 / +-375 - 453 Units
Winter - R1000 - R1500 / +- 743 - 855 Units

That is on Ekurhuleni Tariff B.
2 Adults + 2 Todlers
LCD TV for 4 Hours a day weekends more. Geyser for 4 Hours daily. All CCFL and LED lights. 1x 3G Router + AP , 1 Fridge Freezer, 1 Full Freezer and electric fence on all day. (Electric fence and DVR and Router will move to Solar setup soon)
Oven gets used a lot and tumble dryer in winter. Also 4 Bed warmers in winter.

I had an energy meter on my Fridge for 30 Days and it calculated total usage for year will be about R1300.
 
The_Other said:
Electric fence and DVR and Router will move to Solar setup soon
Click to expand...
Don't understand why you'd pick those things to go Solar-PV on? Those are the 3 things that really shouldn't cost you much and you DO want to make sure are running all the time, especially at night and/or in winter?!
The_Other said:
I had an energy meter on my Fridge for 30 Days and it calculated total usage for year will be about R1300.
Click to expand...
So your fridge uses R1300 @ (R1.27 + 14% VAT*) = c. 900 kwh/year = 75/month -- this a bit more than lots of modern ones** which use more like 100-200kWh/year. All modern ones are A++ or better; so if your's is 4-5 times worse than that which would make it a category F.
Also seems quite high given your total usage -- around 20% of your usage coming from one fridge?!
So if you're spending 1300 on it now, you'll probably only be spending R300/yr on a new one... might be worth replacing it even!?

*http://www.ekurhuleni.gov.za/573-schedule-02-electricity-supply-1/file
** http://www.bosch-home.com/Files/Bosch/ZA/za_en/Document/Bosch/Freestanding/COOLING_2013.pdf
 
Nice Thread..

Happy that im not the only one thinking about energy costs...

SO here are my KW totals for each month since moving in and only started tracking my Energy consumption. I do my own readings and send to Municipality on/about 24th each month:
02-Dec - 976kw
02-Jan - 615kw
24-Jan - 396kw
24-Feb - 610kw
24-Mar - 599kw
24-Apr - 644kw
24-May - 644kw
24-Jun - 680kw
24-Jul - 734kw
26-Aug - 868kw
25-Sep - 931Kw.

Average about 705kw.

2 adults in Main 4 bedroom house, 1 adult in Grannyflat.
2 Geysers, 1 very large 250lt and one 150Lt. Only on timers now..1 hour evening and morning.
0.75kw pool pump only swith it on about 1hour a week (maybe, depends if pool is dirty).
51 inch plasma, watch atleast 5 hours a day.
Recharging of Iphones and tablets.
Last month put in 40 LED downlights, all light are either LED or Energy savers.
22Beams Alarm system.
only two Energy savers as outside lights and one LED Downlight on at night.

Trying to learn the SO to switch off lights when she leaves a room, (IN progress..lol)

Hopefully with new downlights in the house and timers on geysers the energy consumption can come back down to 600 mark.
 
So did a bit more research on the fridge thing and put the info here:
http://blog.homebug.co.za/?p=48

I was wrong to say new fridges are all A++ -- that's in the EU, here in SA with the energy crisis and all, we're happy with really inefficient ones :)

Seems like if you have a really old fridge just chugging away in the garage you might be paying more for the fridge than the occasional beer you get from it!

Headline figures: New Fridge uses around 300kwh per year, whereas an old one can be 600. 1000 or more?! Could easily be costing you R1000 per year to keep that old fridge running (or around R20/week)...
 
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