Eskom Tariff Hike Drives Power Saving

As of July 2009 everyone in South Africa is paying more per Kilowatt Hour for electricity. This is because Eskom increased tariffs by 31.3% and municipal service providers have had to do the same.

Cheap electricity is a thing of the past all around the world. While the increase is obviously not welcomed by consumers, there is an easy way to go about making homes or businesses more energy efficient in order to reduce electricity bills.

For most home and business owners the biggest problem with electricity bills is that you never know how much you have consumed before the bill arrives. By that time it is too late to reduce consumption. Moreover, it is very difficult to guess exactly how much electricity is consumed by each device in the household.

When you start looking into energy efficiency measures, you need to start measuring each device and monitor electricity consumption. Though one could safely guess that switching from regular light bulbs to energy saving light bulbs could save quite a bit, this does not calculate how much electricity your kettle, iron, television set and other devices in the house consume.

What's more, many appliances such as play stations, battery chargers, digital radios with LCD monitors, cellphone chargers and more, all have a standby mode. While these devices are in standby mode they continue to draw a small amount of power. These are called "ghost loads".

Individually these power loads don't seem like much, but collectively they do amount to a reasonably large and constant draw of power.

In a family household, people politics makes it even more difficult to save on energy. To conserve energy one needs to engage and educate all family members. However, remembering to do simple things like switching lights and devices off can prove problematic. People simply don't remember and need to be reminded from time-to-time.

An electricity monitor does exactly that. It has a large, clear LCD screen that communicates using wireless technology with a transmitter installed in the electrical distribution board. When you have a wireless device, it can be placed anywhere in the home or office where everyone can see it. When the device is constantly visible, energy conservation is brought to the forefront of each family members mind each time they see the device. It's a gentle, yet very real reminder to switch-off unnecessary lights and generally be more aware of what devices are on that do not need to be on.

For some households just the awareness of energy consumption is enough to bring about changes in how people use electricity. For others, a clearer more visible reminder of how much electricity is being consumed is needed. Enforcing responsible usage habits from the start can save you the amount you are now paying with the 31% tariff increase.

This could mean that the electricity price increase should not affect you or have very little affect on your budget.

Though not everyone can save 31.3% on their monthly bill, even a 10% to 20% saving on a bill of R500 per month could mean R600 to R1,200 savings per year. Some households, especially on freehold property, spend in excess R2,000 per month on electricity alone. Considering the security lights and other devices are often on all night, a saving of even 10% in this case is R2,400 savings per year.

Using a simple Electricity Monitor device, you don't need to make any massive investments, you don't need life-style changes, nor learn to use a complicated device. With an Electricity Monitor any household member can just check how much electricity a device is using. A monitor even tells you how much electricity you have used over a period. Our point is that this is a really simple household device that makes measuring and so managing energy easier.

Many home owners want to opt for municipal prepaid meters for their homes. The common misconception is that prepaid electricity is cheaper. This is not the case. Prepaid Electricity costs the same as non-prepaid electricity. The reason why people think that Prepaid Electricity is cheaper is because they can see how much electricity they are using and so become more aware of their consumption habits.

Installing a Wireless Electricity Monitor has the same effect on people. It's a proven fact that when people see how much electricity they are using, that they take steps to reduce the load.

An Electricity Monitor can be used in any home or business, single phase or 3-phase, whether the property obtains prepaid post paid electricity.

Whether a property obtains electricity in prepaid or post paid mode, the fact remains that one can still become more energy efficient. To do this one still needs to know which devices are consuming the largest amount of electricity so that you can choose to use them less often or replace them with more energy and cost effective devices.

In summary, even though electricity prices have increased, it is important to understand that your electricity bills can be significantly reduced and you can continue saving on your electricity bills. With electricity prices looking to go up every two years and government confirming that cheap electricity prices are a way of the past, it is important to start conserving electricity.