Simple Hacks to lower electricity bill

Here are some Simple Hacks to lower electricity bill

Meralco bill always gives us headache most of the time. But by doing some simple tips, you can lower your electricity bill by half or so, it just depends on your situation.

 

Using the so called “Power Saver” will not help reduce electricity bill, we already made an article about that. If you want to know more about Power saver, click on this link.

Here are some simple idea to make your electricity bill down

Electric Fans

 

• Regularly clean the fan blades and grill to maximize air flow.
• Place the electric fan near the open door or window to allow the cool air from the outside to enter your house. In this scenario you can set the fan to number 1 instead of setting it to number 3 when fan is placed in a hot area.
• Bigger fans means bigger power consumption, If you think big fan is too much for your needs, then use smaller one.
• Set to lowest setting that is acceptable for you. Set it to number 1 if the weather is not too hot.

 

Televisions

 

• Place the TV in a dim area in your house that no direct sunlight will hit the screen. It enables you to set the brightness of your TV to minimum to save power. Placing it in a bright area will force you to set the brightness of TV to full which in turn consumes more power.
• Set the brightness to lowest acceptable setting, this will lower electricity bill and lower eye stress.
• LED TV consumes about 30-40% of conventional TV power consumption, so if you are using TV more than 8hrs a day and your TV is conventional CRT TV; it is worth the price to buy a LED TV and get rid of your CRT TV for lower electricity bill.

If you are not yet convinced buying LED TV then lets do the math to prove how much you can save.

Lets say you are using a 24 inch TV and you are using this TV an average of 10hrs/day.

If you are using LED TV, it usually consumes 30W, so computing for the electriciy bill you are paying by using this TV:

10hrs/day * 30days/month = 300hrs/month – usage per month

300hrs/month * 30W/1000 = 9kwhr

Electricity bill = 9kwhr * 11.398/kwhr = Php102.582

(As of this writting, Meralco charges us Php 11.398 per Kilowatthour)

While if you are using CRT TV which usually consumes about 120W.

300hrs/month * 120W/1000 = 36kwhr

Electricity bill = 36kwhr * 11.398/kwhr = Php410.328

Savings = Php307.746 total savings if you are using LED instead of CRT TV

Using LED TV will have lower electricity bill , well this is only significant if you are a heavy TV user. ( The computation presented is assumes that the TV is using its maximum rated power. In reality TV usually consumes less than its rated power, the power is dependent in other factors like brightness settings and volume settings.)

Lights

 

• Do not use incandescent lamps, they consume much power than LEDs and flourecents.
• Use LED lights as much as possible. They consume almost half the fluorescent bulb consumes.
•  Do not use “cheap China” Led bulb, it uses cheap passive circuits that are inefficient and low reliability.
• Use the lowest acceptable lights you can use. For example using a 40W fluorescent in a small room might be overkill not only on your eyes but also will led to higher power consumption. A 7-10W LED bulb is enough for a small room.
• Do not use halogen bulb, they consume 10 times greater than LEDs.

Refrigerators

• Avoid opening the doors too often to avoid cool air to come out.
• Remember, bigger refrigerator means bigger power consumption so always consider the smallest acceptable(for your use) refrigerator you can buy.
• If you do not have a frozen food like ice cream inside, set the thermostat to minimum.
• Do not put any hot food inside
• Do not open the door too long so that less cool air will escape.

Aircon

• The lower the thermostat setting the higher the power consumption so don’t set it too low
• Make sure to clean the filter regularly for maximum cool and minimum power. Dirty air filter will cause the aircon to draw more power.
• Make sure that your room is fully insulated, not letting warm air to penetrate the room and cool air doesn’t come out. Room with poor insulation causes the aircon to operate in its full power.
• Do not use any heating appliances in a air conditioned room such as electric iron and electric kettle.
• If you have a glass window, using a thick curtain will help prevent the heat from the outside from going into the room.
• Always remember any heat source will increase the power consumption of your aircon.