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Lower Your Energy Bills - Summer18/12/2018 With summer around the corner, it’s one of the times of year where your electricity bill can sky rocket. While we use our heaters, dryers and even hot water less, our cooling bills increase and for a country like Australia, there are a few things you can do to limit your electricity bill. Be Smart With Your Air Con Almost certainly the largest power guzzling appliance in a modern home during summer is the Air Conditioner. But there are ways you can limit the energy cost. First is to regularly clean all parts of your air conditioning system, not just the filter inside your home. Make sure any part of the system, including the outside unit and any piping is regularly inspected and maintained to ensure your air conditioning system is operating at maximum efficiency. All air conditioners will work more efficiently within a certain temperature range compared to the outside temperature. This varies from system to system, but a good temperature to keep your air conditioner no more than 7-8 degrees to the outside temperature. This means if the outside temperature is 32 degrees, you should limit your air conditioner to a temperature no less than 25 degrees. Using a setting below that range will cause your system to use more energy, increase your power bills and may even shorten the lifespan of your system. If you are installing a new air conditioning system, choose a smart system connected to a thermostat. This will enable your system to accurately measure the temperature of you room and reduce or even stop cooling for a period of time, reducing your energy bill. Installing a cloud connected smart thermostat can even allow you to access your system remotely, allowing your system to cool down your home while you are on the way home from work. Eliminate the Air Con To truly lower your energy costs during summer, eliminate the air conditioner all together. This is very simple and for some it is a lost art. All you need to do is open your windows and turn on a fan. Using a fan compared to an air conditioner will drop your energy bills by 90% or more while assisting with the natural airflow from your windows. This method won’t cool the air like an air conditioner will, but it will ensure that air is moving around the room you are in and being cycled with the fresher air from outside. Tips for all seasons Install LED lights By changing your lights over to LED based globes, you’ll lower your lighting costs by at least 50%. LED Globes use half the power of Fluorescent Globes/Tubes and around 1/6th the power of an old incandescent globe for the same level of light output. While still the highest cost of the globes on the market, the retail price of LED globes has come down recently where you can find the price of a 60W equivalent output for less than $10 at your supermarket. Even though the initial cost is higher, LED globes have a significantly longer life span compared to other light technologies, plus the savings on your electricity bill will more than pay for the difference over the globe’s lifetime. Check the end of the article for Nic’s LED Light Picks. Turn off appliances at wall Even though our appliances look like they are turned off, most modern-day appliances are consuming power in their stand-by mode. Whether it’s a clock on the front of your microwave, your computer ‘sleeping’ or your television turned off, a significant number of appliances will use a small amount of power to keep them in a ready-to-use ‘instant turn on’ state so you don’t have to wait for it to turn on. Unless you have a cheap toaster, it is most likely your devices are using stand-by power. By physically turning the power switch off and unplugging these devices, you’ll prevent them from using that small amount of stand-by power and your electricity bill will be reduced. Bear in mind if you do this, devices like computers, televisions and games consoles will take longer to turn on to a usable state when you power them up again. Buy Newer Appliances If you have an older Plasma or Tube (CRT) television, you’ll see energy savings by purchasing a new LCD LED based television. The larger the television size the more electricity it will use and if the television has smart features like YouTube and apps it will use even more energy for those features to function. Is your fridge 7 or more years old? If so, your fridge may be less efficient. Recent regulations and efficiency advances mean that my recently replaced 15 year old fridge uses about twice the power compared to the newer and larger fridge that replaced it. Do you still use a desktop computer for not much more than browsing the internet? If so, replacing it with a laptop will reduce the electricity bills significantly. Most desktop computers have a power supply in the 100’s of watts (400+), where a laptop will have a power adapter between 45-65 watts. If you are worried about a smaller screen, you can still use the monitor your desktop had with it (as long as you follow the same principles as those for televisions). If you want to save even more money on your bills instead of buying a laptop, consider buying a tablet instead. If you don’t need a keyboard or mouse (you’re not a writer) or certain major specialist applications like photoshop, a tablet like an iPad will be able to a laptop for almost everyone. They use less power for the simple tasks like browsing the internet, checking email and watching videos, and they have the added advantage of being light and portable. OUR CUSTOMER TIPS Change Electricity Retailers One of the final tips for reducing your electricity bills is to switch electricity retailers. Many electricity retailers will offer attractive entry deals but after an initial period (1-2 years), these deals will revert to a standard offer or rising tariff prices will eat away at any discounts you may be receiving. Our energy company has the ability to not only save you money, they can also eliminate the worry of having to meet conditions of pay-on-time discounts by building that discount into the base tariff. This means that no matter when you pay your bill you’ll get the best rate possible and if you receive any credits (e.g. solar feed-in, low income, seniors, etc), those credits will go further. To compare your existing bill, contact one of our team below or go to the Energy section at www.saveonbills.money and click through to the website to receive a no obligation quote. All you need is your post code and your existing bill to compare how much you would have paid pay with our supplier. Make sure you download any information sheets and read them before agreeing to switch. Get a Tablet Our mobile retailer has a selection of Tablets you can choose from and pay off over the term of your contract. This is great for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas and helps split the purchase cost over a longer time. If you’d like to find out more about our tablets, contact one of our team below or go to the Mobile section at www.saveonbills.money and click through to the Tablet section on our providers website. Make sure you download any information sheets and read them before agreeing to a contract or sale. If you don’t understand a feature or part of the information sheet, contact us before proceeding. Nic’s Picks - LED Globes Philips LED Warm 1400 B22 E27 (100W) Philips LED Cool 1400 B22 E27 (100W) Philips LED Warm 1055 B22 E27 (75W) Philips LED Cool 1055 B22 E27 (75W) Philips LED Warm 806 B22 E27 (60W) Philips LED Cool 806 B22 E27 (60W) Choose your white colour, globe connection type (B22 = Bayonet or E27 = Screw) and wattage equivalent and click on the connection type. E27 is not a small lamp screw. Nic uses and recommends Philips LED globes. They have always been reliable and have never let him down. ~ A reminder, the allowances, prices and product features were correct at time of publication and may have changed by the time you read this article. Please refer directly to any product website, manual or information sheet before making a decision to purchase a product or enter into a contract.
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