Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Energy saving tips

There has been much debate about the increased electricity tariffs to be implemented from 1 July 2009, and although they have not been finalised it certainly looks like prices will rise between 20 to 35%, so we need to be prepared.

What can we do?

Tenants running an inefficient 2kW heater for 6 hours a night can dramatically increase your monthly electricity bill if you live in a flat, cottage or small townhouse. When buying a heater check to see how much electricity it consumes. By checking the instantaneous consumption on your prepaid meter you can easily see how many watts a heater is using and adjust your usage accordingly.

Landlords, by empowering your tenants to easily monitor their consumption with a prepaid meter, surprise "unbelievable" bills can be avoided.

Green tip of the month: Instead of boiling the kettle every time you drink a cup of tea, boil it once, fill a thermos flask and you will have hot water all day. Boiling a half filled kettle can cost about 10c each time. If you do this 6 times a day it will cost you R18.00 per month. If there is more that one family member this cost can multiply - so the answer is to either all drink tea at the same time, invest in a thermos flask.

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