10 Tips On How To Save Energy and Your Power Bills

With today’s rising costs of living and growing interest rates, here are our top 10 tips on reducing your household energy consumption and bringing down your power bills.

A smart device is an electronic item that can connect to other devices or networks and interact with its user from a mobile phone or tablet.

Solar system

Invest in a solar system for your home. Solar panels generate renewable energy, export it to the grid inverter to draw electricity when needed, and store the surplus with solar batteries. The power generated should meet your energy needs depending on the size of your solar system and your electricity usage. It is estimated that the average solar system will save you approximately $400 per year per kW. So a 5kW system should save you approx $2000 a year. It is an excellent investment for your pocket and the planet!

Use Smart Thermostats

Heating/cooling is usually the largest consuming item in energy bills.

Smart Thermostats can connect with your heating and cooling system to control your home’s temperatures from your mobile phone. This will mean you can control the temperature or turn the system on or off remotely even when you are not home. By switching the system off when not in use and controlling the temperature, you will be able to use less power and reduce your energy bill.

Turn off unused appliances

With household appliances that are not used daily, like the washing machine, dryer, irons etc., whilst not in use, unplug them from the sockets, so they don’t consume small amounts of energy. Unplugging them will also protect your devices from damage through an unexpected power surge.

Use LED lights

LED lights to use less energy and last longer than halogen light bulbs. LED lights use about 75% less energy which will help reduce your energy bill. You are expected to save $650 within ten years by replacing ten halogen light bulbs with LEDs.

Use reflective blinds.

By using quality reflective blinds/curtains in your home, you can save up to 35% on your power bill. They will help you keep your rooms cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Purchase Energy Efficient appliances.

When your appliances stop working or you are simply upgrading, it would be wise to consider energy-efficient appliances as they use less electricity than other similar models with the same size capacities and achieve the same performance levels. The more energy-efficient appliances you use, the more you save on your power bill.

Control your home temperature.

When heating your home, set your thermostat to 18 to 22 degrees for the price conscious consumer. Each degree above can add up to 10% to its running costs. When cooling your home, set your thermostat to 25-26 degrees; every degree below this can add 10% to its running cost.

By being mindful of the thermostat temperatures, you can save energy to reduce your power bill.

Close doors and curtains.

The harder your appliance needs to work, the more energy it will use. It is also recommended that you close doors, windows, and curtains to avoid the systems from overworking and using more power to help reduce your power bill.

Get energy monitoring

With an Energy monitor, you will have visibility and the ability to track your energy usage. An energy monitor will report on how and when you are using power to help you identify opportunities on where you can save energy to reduce your bill.

Use smart home technology

Suppose you have a fully integrated smart home automation system. In that case, you can control and monitor several devices from one central hub or your mobile phone to reduce your energy bill.

You can control lighting, heating, cooling, and other connected appliances and devices to align with your energy company’s off-peak times to reduce your energy bill. The smart home automation system can also be programmed to send notifications to alert you of the energy peak times to prompt you to turn off your smart appliances remotely or set customised times to control your smart home automatically and stress-free for your convenience.  Your smart home automation system should also have an energy usage monitor that you can use its information to customise and automate the system to turn your appliances off and on.

In conclusion

There are many ways you can save energy and reduce your power bill. Some require a little effort whilst others are automated to make saving energy easy. All the options provided will help you to achieve lower energy bills. Try out a few and see how much you can save.