More watts for your bucks

According to Graham Craggs, spokesperson for Budget Insurance, it is possible to cut back on electricity consumption and costs by making a conscious effort to do so.

“With budgets already tight, not many South Africans will be able to absorb the upcoming electricity price increase. Hopefully, consumers will see a price increase as an incentive to take action against rising electricity costs by cutting back on the amount of electricity they use in their homes. Prudent power management is the order of the day,” Craggs said.

Budget Insurance offered the following electricity saving tips:

•  Switch off cellphone chargers when not in use by unplugging it. If the charger feels warm when it’s plugged in, but is not attached to a cellphone, it is still using energy.
•  Use cold washes for laundry as, according to Craggs, 90 percent of the energy used by a top-loader washing machine is for heating water. A front-loader washing machine uses less water and costs less to operate than a top loader. A washing machine uses the same amount of electricity for a full load as it does for a single item, so keep dirty clothes until a full load has accumulated.
•  Use a low-flow showerhead as it uses less water per minute, which means less water to heat.
•  Save money with low-energy light bulbs by changing your traditional light bulbs to energy-saving equivalents which make a big difference. Also remember to turn off lights in bedrooms or other rooms of the house when you are not in them.
•  Switch off the air conditioner as you need three times more energy per degree to cool a room than to heat a room.
•  Optimise the energy consumption of your computer. Modern computers can be set up to be in energy-saving mode.
•  Fill your dishwasher completely before operating and use short wash cycles, rinse-only cycles, mid-cycle turn-off and other features which are designed for energy conservation as well as convenience.
•  Don’t overload your fridge as this uses more electricity. Don’t open your fridge needlessly and switch on the energy saving switch if one is fitted to the appliance.
•  Keep the freezer open for as short a time as possible to prevent the loss of cold air.
•  Defrost your food in the fridge instead of the microwave as it is more economical, or thaw it out. Use your microwave to cook small to medium quantities of food as it is more economical to cook larger portions of meat in a conventional oven.
•  Clean the lint filter in the tumble dryer after each operation to maintain full air flow and to maximise the drying efficiency. First choice would be to dry clothes outside, in direct sunlight, or use the tumble dryer in consecutive loads where possible as your dryer will be warm already and will save on initial energy consumption.