Help, my energy bill is ridiculous!

25% or more energy bill increases

Have you just received your latest energy bill and been shocked?

Bills have typically gone up 20-25%, but many who were on good deals have found their discounts cut heavily and for these people the increase is often even more (up to 40%)!
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Well, what can you do about it?

Plenty of Information but is it relevant for me?

If you google for example ‘reduce energy bills’ you will get pages and pages of energy saving ideas, but are they relevant to you? Some will be relevant, but most won’t be (or will have a miniscule impact).
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There is no silver bullet, and whatever you do it is going to have to be a combination of savings in different areas. But as an example, our total energy cost for this year was less than $135. Yes, that’s right, $135 for the year!

Now that took many years and there are reasons I could cost effectively reduce my energy use that low. However I can make a dramatic difference to your energy costs. see Energy Audits.

Whether an idea will work for you depends on:

• The size of your bill
• Your cost of energy
• Where you live
• House design
• How you operate your home
• The number of people in your home
• Whether you are at home on most days

​But how do these affect your energy costs?

Do you understand where your energy is going?

The first thing is to understand what is using your electricity and gas.

The chart shows typical household energy use; however, you aren’t the average person and your use could vary dramatically (up or down) from the pie chart. Hence you really need tailored advice.

Anything requiring heating or cooling for an extended period is likely to contribute significantly to your energy costs.

For example, room heating and cooling are usually the biggest single energy users for most people. On average, 40% of home energy use but it could range from less than 20% to over 70%. Especially if you have whole of house heating or cooling this should be a big focus for your energy saving efforts. surprisingly, for most Southern Australians, Heating is a bigger energy demand than cooling. See also More on keeping warm 

Another big item is hot water, typically 25% of energy use.

Appliances are typically around 30% of energy use. However, if you have a spa or swimming pool it could be much larger.

If you have LED lights, lighting energy use is quite small. (If you don’t, it is worth only buying LED replacement globes where feasible.) If you have halogen downlights, that is a complicated problem, which will need to be the subject of a future post.​

What works for most homes

Because heating and cooling energy use is so large, keeping the heat in in winter and out in summer are likely to give worthwhile savings.
See:
More on keeping warm
Winter comfort
Stop air leaks in your home
Get insulation right
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Another action worth doing is checking you are on the best tariff. Beware of comparison sites that are set up to make money, it is better to use a government site like Energy Made Easy or in Victoria https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au

What only works sometimes

 Hence you really need tailored advice.​Advice like ‘have your hot water system on a timer so it only heats at certain times’ could save on hot water heating costs, but this depends:

• If you have gas water heating it is irrelevant
• If you have a decent sized solar system and a heat pump hot water system, it could save heaps if you set it to come on at 10 or 11am, provided the water is fully heated before the sun goes down.
  • If you are thinking of solar, find out how to ensure it is right for you, and where to get quotes from reliable installers here. As I said above my total annual energy cost was $135.)
  • Note, beware of dodgy marketing, there are some companies encouraging people to buy solar when it doesn't make financial sense for them. Get tailored advice.
• If you are on a time of use tariff scheduling it to come on when you have cheap electricity makes sense.

Although for many people solar energy has cost effectively reduced their bills, it depends on many factors and some aggressive marketing can lead people to believe they are going to save cash from day one, which could be true, or more likely be false. Again, you need tailored advice.

What should I do?

Well, you can work through all the hundreds of ideas out there by yourself or you can get an audit done by an experienced auditor who will sort through the options and give you a manageable number of options that will work. See Energy Audits.
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Get tailored advice