Your Monthly Home Electricity Usage

[Turiko]

I can believe my Kwh is around some of these people with a family!

Mine is 700-800kwh per month and I live in a small house with a stove I barely use (2 times a week) . Do washing once a week with no tumble dryer.

How is this possible...

I found out how-

are you living in a complex? I am. They're doing fraudulent meter readings, they whopped me R500 yesterday for the electricity- and that is with

- us cooking on charcoal for most of September
- Turning the geyser off for 10-12 hours a day
- Not being home much at all

To solve this problem, I am installing a kWh meter in my unit on Saturday and I am going to nail them for falsely billing me.

 

[stoke]

@Turiko ... how does your complex charge for the common area electricity usage?
sometimes that is not included in the levy and is simply added to the individual units electricity bill.

 

[Turiko]

As per the meeting 3 weeks ago, the common property usage (mostly CFL's and a gate motor) is derived and then divided up amongst the number of units, and worked into the levy.

It has been discovered that the meter reader contractors are "guessimating" readings rather than coming out to actually read the meters. The problem is there is also a faulty meter in the complex, where the one unit uses over 2000kWh/month but there's far too many politics to allow me to replace it. The reason is because the body corporate is bankrupt, because we have several owners in the complex who refuse to pay any levies or water and electricity and this has been allowed to go on for the last 24 months.

 

[MontyPython]

LED lights

Hello everybody,

LED lights have come a long way in the last few years as far as brightness is concerned.

Please go to
www.c2r.co.za
to have a look at the range that is available in SA.

For example a fully dimmable fluorescent replacement tube that does not need a starter and ballast to work, although they will work with them. Or a fully dimmable globe.

6 Watt downlighters that give the same light as a 50 Watt halogen, in either the 12v or 220v versions. A 88% saving in electricity. The 12v version is dimmable because of the transformer.

There is also a 2 Watt downlighter that looks the same as the name brands from hardware stores, but this version gives more light, I have put them side by side in my bathroom. A 96% saving in electricity.

The lifspan is amazing:
Tube replacement is 80 000 hours.
6Watt downlighter is 30 000 hours.
BulbLED is 40 000 hours.

Yes they are expensive, but calculating a total cost of ownership
the lights will save you money in the end.

For the environment friendly people, remember
that LED's contain NO Mercury.

Imagine SA wihout any loadshedding.
Applications exist for any situation, Industrial, Commercial,
Residential.

 

[BattleMoose]

You guys should all be aware that your fridge and freezer are large energy users, I see very few people are listing them.

Worry less about things that used for short periods of time, like hair dryers, kettles and irons and more about things that are on most of the time, by accident or otherwise.

 

[hj2k_x]

You guys should all be aware that your fridge and freezer are large energy users, I see very few people are listing them.

Worry less about things that used for short periods of time, like hair dryers, kettles and irons and more about things that are on most of the time, by accident or otherwise.

A good point. I guess most people have a fridge and perhaps a separate freezer as well. Not much you can do about energy saving there...

 

[Frankie]

As per the meeting 3 weeks ago, the common property usage (mostly CFL's and a gate motor) is derived and then divided up amongst the number of units, and worked into the levy.

It has been discovered that the meter reader contractors are "guessimating" readings rather than coming out to actually read the meters. The problem is there is also a faulty meter in the complex, where the one unit uses over 2000kWh/month but there's far too many politics to allow me to replace it. The reason is because the body corporate is bankrupt, because we have several owners in the complex who refuse to pay any levies or water and electricity and this has been allowed to go on for the last 24 months.

What is the body corporate doing about this and why the hell did they allow it to go on for so long?

I had an incident in a previous complex - my meter was switched with my neighbours and I didn't notice this for about one year, then when I started working abroad permanently I noticed the consumption on my bill never changed. I took the issue up with the council and they allowed it to go on for about eight months thereafter. To get a quick response I threatened to have my supply terminated and when my neighbour realised that it would mean that he'd be without power until the cock-up was sorted, he then pushed the issue through pretty quick. He ended up paying a shortfall of R3800 which of course came back to me after about 5 months wait.

The best is to get pre-paid installed.

 

[Frankie]

A good point. I guess most people have a fridge and perhaps a separate freezer as well. Not much you can do about energy saving there...

Right, the only thing you can do with it is to ensure that the thermostat is set to a temperature that's just cold enough for beer

 

[Frankie]

We moved into a new home which has the mixer taps - I had to train the family to keep the taps swivelled all the way to the cold side, because they were opening them while positioned midway just for short periods to wash the hands or rinse a glass etc. and it was shut off again before the water coming out even got a chance to get warm, but doing this caused an inrush of cold water in the geyser - we saw a marked improvement on the bill and the family have been very good in keeping it that way.

 

[Frankie]

250KW in the last 8 days. I have being saving like mad.
Ran the pool 5 out of the 8 days, boiled kettle for 2 cups max, turned oven off 15 mins before cooking was complete, hibernated PCs over night, turned off all lights when not in use and so on.

That is 1000KW a month (bit of room for error).

There is just NO way I can save more. None.

BTW - We normally use 220KW in a 7 day period.

The oven cooking is very inefficient / expensive - I avoid using the oven - I now do a pot roast instead and use the electronically controlled induction heated pressure cooker (like a high-tech potjie).
Similar to this one http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challen...cd=GE&pos_class_cd=300004039&pos_class_kind=S

 

[Sly21C]

I moved into a new flat a month ago and the geyser size is 250 litres, which is a lot and consumes a lot of my electricity bill. I used to spend about R150 on average when I used to stay at my previous flat but I now spend about R250 .