You should also take the time to check your hot water cylinder for leaks and look around the house for any dripping taps. Instead of being based on your actual power consumption, an estimated bill is based on your electricity usage from the previous year.
Your power bill may be higher than usual if there was a balance remaining on your previous bill. Here at Grey Power Electricity, we pride ourselves on providing competitive electricity rates and exceptional customer service. Sign up online or give us a call on to find out how much we could help you save on your power bill. Read more Winter can be a challenging time for many New Zealand families.
Rising living costs often put a strain on household Respiratory disease is a serious problem in New Zealand. An update from our team on the evolving Covid situation. For more information about how your account may be impacted please see our update. Read update. The first point relates to how much and when your panels produce power. Sometimes people will make assumptions like "now that I have solar, I can run my ducted air con for free". But as I outlined in point 1, air conditioners can use a lot of power.
So this actually depends on the weather, time of year, time of day, size of air conditioner, and size of the PV array. Not so simple! Secondly, if you don't know how your solar is meant to perform, you won't know when it's faulty. Solar PV panels are incredibly low-maintenance and reliable. I don't know of any other consumer product that carries a year performance warranty. Even so, the lower-spec and cheaper your system was, the more likely you are to face some sort of problem.
These include faulty inverters, faulty panels, shading, water-logged connections, and so on. Thirdly, you may have a billing or metering error - both of which can be tricky to identify.
Customers who don't check their system periodically can end up going months, or years, with no benefit from their solar panels.
Solar panels are awesome. But make sure you keep an eye on your system, and understand your usage, to get maximum benefit. Here's how to prevent solar panels from leading to high power bills:. We're an online store focused on energy efficiency and sustainability.
Our products help slash your energy usage and bills. They also often improve comfort, save time, and reduce maintenance costs.
That's why we say waste less, live better! Reduction Revolution Pty Ltd is an Australian owned and operated business established in We've supplied tens of thousands of customers across Australia, NZ and around the world. Read Our Customer Reviews! Subscribe Now. About Contact Search. ABN: 74 All Rights Reserved. If you've received a high electricity bill or gas bill, you can end up feeling pretty helpless.
I've spoken to many people over the years who think their high electricity bill was caused by: an electricity leak, a faulty appliance, an incorrect utility meter, or even a neighbour stealing power.
When it boils down to it, high power bills are the result of three main things: Actual high energy usage points 1 to 7 in my list below , Billing issues 8 and 9 , A problem with solar PV panels item Air Conditioning Ducted air conditioning would have to be the most frequent cause of high power bills that I have seen. Keep the heat or cold out of your building in the first place.
Use shading, draft proofing, and thorough insulation to use less air conditioning. Preference the use of quality ceiling fans , portable fans , and efficient heaters instead of air conditioning. Set the thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter.
To automate your energy savings, see our Bill Buster air conditioning remote and Sensibo smart AC controller. If possible, use small, high-efficiency split system air conditioners instead of ducted systems. Reasons for a high electricity bill from hot water include: A water leak dripping tap, or leak at the tank. Inefficient water fixtures and shower-heads. A resident teenager or another long-shower-taker or two!
Here's how to reduce high energy bills caused by hot water usage: Check for leaking taps, or leaks on or around your hot water unit. Get them fixed as needed.
Install tap aerator inserts and efficient shower heads to reduce hot water consumption. Reduce the set-point temperature and make sure the pipework is insulated, particularly near the tank.
Preference the use of high-efficiency heat pump hot water where practical. If you're stuck on gas eg. At work, get all those hot water devices to switch off after hours. The Zip or Billi under-sink units often have programmable timers. Electric tanks can have a timer fitted at your board by an electrician. Heated pools and spas should have the set-point as low as possible. Deploy a pool cover whenever they're not in use - as the highest energy losses are from evaporation.
Other Heaters Plug-in electric heaters might look innocent, but they can consume a large amount of power. Here's what can be done about it: Use timers or other controllers to restrict the operation of electric heaters.
Particularly underfloor heating and heated towel rails which are left on all the time. Use thermostats, where available, and set them to a sensible temperature. You can use a HeaterMate on any plug-in electric heater to achieve this.
Use effective low-power radiant and conductive heaters as a preference. Things like a heated foot mat , heated throw blanket , or electric blanket. Minimise the use of clothes dryers. If you're a heavy clothes dryer user, switch to a 'heat pump' dryer. Ventilation Systems Ventilation or extractor fans are yet another significant but somewhat 'invisible' energy user. Here are my top tips for reducing ventilation electricity usage: Use controls to only operate ventilation fans when they're actually needed.
By 'actual need' I mean things like removing moisture from a bathroom, or fumes from a carpark. At the most basic level, you can use a timer. More advanced options include occupancy, temperature, humidity, or carbon monoxide CO sensors. To retain 'some' ventilation at all times, install a variable speed drive. This can be programmed to reduce power draw at all times outside of the peak. Where 'conditioned air' is involved, use a heat exchanger also known as 'heat recovery ventilation' or 'energy recovery ventilation'.
That way not all the energy from inside is lost to the hot or cold outside air. For irrigation or transfer pumps, use a smaller pump for a longer time, to move the same volume of water.
Even better, install a standalone solar-powered pump if suitable. Refrigeration Refrigeration gets a bad rap in terms of energy consumption. Actions to combat high electricity bills from refrigeration: Most importantly, consolidate the number of devices in use. Instead of using two or more partially full fridges, use one close to full capacity.
Anything that does not contain perishables e. Your electric bill will thank you. That may not actually be true, however. What happens when you host parties? While this may not be a cause for concern or something you want to change, it helps you understand why your bill has increased.
Think about the times of year when you might use more electricity: In the middle of the summer, you may run your air conditioner more often.
And all those festive lights at the holidays use enough electricity to power 14 million refrigerators. There could be other reasons for changes in your electricity use. Have you added a new appliance or electronic device to your home recently? Even adding a space heater can result in big increases on your energy bill. If your energy bill increases, think about how your electricity usage may have increased, too. Then you can take measures to lower your usage, such as unplugging vampire sources 1 and using appliances at off-peak times 6.
This is an often-overlooked cause of energy bill changes. Experts debate whether daylight savings time saves energy , as it was originally intended to do. Heating and cooling make up a much larger portion and are adversely affected by daylight savings time. We bump up the heat to stay warm when we wake up on cold, dark mornings during the winter.
During longer summer days, we may run the air conditioning longer. Believe it or not, residential electric bills doubling from month to month is not as unusual as you might think or hope. One of the main reasons is extreme climate. Places with very warm summers or very cold winters will usually see electric rates increase during those times of peak demand for cooling or heating.
If you live in Minnesota, for example, the winters are going to be very chilly and your heater will have to work overtime to keep your home warm. When it comes to lighting, many people make the mistake of using lights to affect the brightness of an entire room, which can contribute to high electric bills.
However, lighting is efficient only when used directly to provide light to specific areas of a room, such as couches, chairs, kitchen tables, and workspaces. Full room ceiling lights are much less effective than individual lamps for providing the light you need.
Additionally, ceiling fans have a toggle switch that allows the blades to switch direction for optimal efficiency based on the season. Use lighting only for specific areas that are occupied and make sure to turn off lights when those areas are no longer in use. Change out inefficient incandescent light bulbs for energy-efficient CFL bulbs to save money when the lights are on. The fact is old appliances simply use more energy than new energy-efficient models.
That old-fashioned refrigerator or oven might be cute and trendy in your retro kitchen, but they also drive your electric bill through the roof. Upgrade your appliances with new energy-efficient models.
A new energy-efficient refrigerator, for example, uses about four times less electricity than an older model. You can even get a new model with a retro design to keep your kitchen trendy. Look around your home at all the technology that uses chargers: cell phones, MP3 players, iPads and tablet PCs, electric razors, electric toothbrushes, laptops, portable game systems, and a whole slew of similar devices.
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