Electricity Monitor

Spending thousands on a electricity saving products to save cents makes little sense, but if you're already in the market for some electricity saving products or a municipal prepaid meter to reduce your costs -- or even light saving bulbs -- consider some free tips on saving electricity as well as an electricity monitor as your first energy-savings tool before you make any further decisions.

So what if you weren't especially eco-conscious before the glaring electric bills landed in your mailbox? Now you can play the part of the concerned citizen by saving both the green in your wallet and your energy consumption in the process. If it could just be that simple.... unfortunately it’s not.

Before you spend money to save money by upgrading to the latest energy-efficient gizmos; or running to your local council to get a prepaid meter; invest some time to read about the facts and check out the list of "no-cost” tips for saving energy.

Every concerned citizen that finds their electricity bills constantly eating more into their monthly budget, starts asking the “where” and “how” to reduce their electricity bills.

There are only three realistic options (one of which carries a small un-demystified myth):

1. You try and get a “cheaper” rate – if such a thing exists. Unfortunately it doesn’t, but we will discuss this myth in a moment.
2. You monitor your spending and cut it down, which could lead to a diminishing lifestyle. Fortunately you can do this wisely with an Electricity Monitor to avoid diminishing your lifestyle.
3. You use energy saving strategies to create an electricity efficient home using all strategies available to you. These strategies will also be discussed in a short moment.The First

The First Option - PrePaid Meter vs Electricity Monitor

There is a myth and misconception that if you run to your local council and get a prepaid meter, this will reduce your electricity costs because you get a cheaper rate.

That is not necessarily true, not to mention that each council has different tariff rates, rules and regulations for different areas (it really does get complicated, but we shall simplify it). Calculating your electricity bills is extremely complicated. In your bills you may have more than one charge. For example: You get the kWh charge for what you used that month, then you have the DSM (demand site management charge) and depending on where you are you could have other fees added to your bill.

When you move to a prepaid system, all the extra charges are calculated by your local council into the rate you pay per kWh. This means that the council won’t all suddenly lose money because you installed a prepaid meter, but will in fact calculate all inclusive charges in one rate.

So why is everyone looking at prepaid electricity as a money and electricity saving mechanism?

The reason behind most people running to get prepaid is simply because once you have a display that shows you your consumption, you become more conscious of the amount of electricity used, and without even knowing it, you start cutting down on electricity consumption. You switch off some lights and try to use less as you keep witnessing how fast your prepaid money is running out.

For this reason, a prepaid meter from your local council can be very good, because you will spend less, but that is not the overall solution taking into consideration that a prepaid meter will cost you; at times; over R1,000, and in some cities over R3,000 or even more R7,000 for a three phase meter. Prices naturally vary from one municipality to another.
Before you choose the prepaid option or a route in conjunction with that, you will want to consider other options that are cheaper.

The Second Option – Monitor Your Devices and Appliances

Even if you have a prepaid meter in your home and you switch off appliances and lights to use less electricity, it will not make your devices; and use of electricity; more efficient and may even hamper on your lifestyle in the long run.

The second strategy you can use is to monitor the devices in your home; and their electricity consumption; with an electricity monitor. Using it will tell you which devices and appliances eat up your electricity and unnecessarily increase your monthly bill.

You can even track your usage and set goals for yourself to use less electricity by changing the right devices, or even installing timers on those devices that currently increase your electricity bill significantly.

Consider the following:  You may replace your light bulbs with light saving bulbs, but your primary problem; where you can significantly reduce your bill; may be your old geyser that is working 3 times more than it should because of a completely worn out or faulty heating element, which needs to work overtime to heat up the water for you throughout the day. These are problems that you just won’t know about unless you have some monitoring device which informs you of the appliances that are operating inefficiently.

The second option is hence an electricity monitor to start monitoring the devices and their individual electricity consumption in your home.

The Third Additional Option –Cost Free Strategies to Saving Electricity

Now let’s assume that you solved the biggest problem and you are using an electricity monitor to save on electricity and you know exactly where the problem points are. That said there will be some devices you just can’t get rid of; such as your washing machine, your geyser, your computer and so on. The idea is not to diminish your life style, but to create an electricity efficient home.

If you work 8 to 9 hours a day you may not be able to get rid of your dishwashing machine, because you have no time to wash dishes and you definitely can’t get rid of your computer in this day and age, unless you really want to live under a rock, which is not an option.

To further save electricity read more tips listed below:

1. Unplug unused appliances - Some appliances have what is called a “ghost” draw. They are drawing on your electricity even though they are not in use. A simple example is to look at the small lights on your TV, PC, Play Station, WII, etc... They all have lights that “ghost” draw on electricity when the devices are not in use.
   Take also into consideration that by doing this you may also save your device from a short lived life in Africa due lightning storms and power surges, which can all cause damage to the devices unless you have protection against this (most people don’t because these measures cost money). So, by switching of the devices that are not in use, you keep the devices safe and you save more electricity. It costs you nothing to do this, and you save on electricity costs.
2. Geysers - All geysers have a thermostat; that is how a geyser knows when to switch on and off and that is how it knows how hot you want your water. Though we probably all know this by now, there is a missing link in energy saving and it is right in front of us. How about lowering the temperature on your geyser so that it lessens the time to heat the water and hence lowers the electricity consumption. If a geyser needs to reach 70 degrees celsius it will work longer than one that needs to reach only 50 degrees celsius, and so forth. This also costs you nothing to do and saves you more on electricity. Yes, you can also purchase a timer, but depending on the use of electricity, a timer can cost you over R500 whereas just lowering the temperature may just get you to the same amount of saving. This is why you have to evaluate and work wisely on making your home electricity efficient.
3. Washing machine and similar appliances - A washing machine is a wonderful convenience these days. We need washed clothes; we just wash constantly because we don’t do the work but rather let the washing machine do it. Because it is such a convenience and we can’t live without it, we often just wash half-loads instead of full-loads. If you reduce even one washing a week by washing more clothes and not half-loads, this will reduce your electricity consumption. It costs you nothing to do this, and saves you on your electricity bill.
4. Heaters and radiators that use electricity – this is a big one. If you just have a look when winter time is around the corner, you will see that all retail shops sell electrical heaters. Why do you think they do that? Because people buy, otherwise they wouldn’t stock them. An electrical heater in the winter consumes massive amounts of electricity – that is a fact.  For that matter you can buy a gas heater; gas is still cheaper than electricity and will continue to be so as long as electricity prices keep going up.
   But let’s say that you already have an electric heater, maybe even more than one and buying another heater is not an option. Then consider this: When you heat a room, keep it closed for the heat to stay in and once it reaches the desired climate, switch off the heater. Don’t leave windows and doors open in spaces you want to heat. If the heater uses a thermostat it keeps switching on to reach the desired climate and works harder, therefore uses more electricity. This is another cost free way to reduce the electricity consumption; and with electrical heaters the consumption is very high.
5. Air conditioners – they work much like geysers. They also have a thermostat and try to keep the climate to what you set it. This means that if you keep the climate lower, it will work less. In other words, if you want the air to cool down, don’t programme it to cool down too much or it will work longer. If you want to heat the room, don’t programme it for too hot, as it will work longer and harder to keep that climate and hence use more and more electricity. This is another cost-free way to save electricity and money.
   That said, with air conditioners these days there are more options such as using an inverter to also save on electricity. These are new technologies and though it will cost you to install, if your electricity bill is massively high or you have offices, a large home or even a B&B with more than one air conditioner; the investment in an inverter may be very worthwhile to significantly slash your electricity bill.
6. Programmable Thermostats – if you are not home most of the day and you have high electricity consuming appliances and devices, you may also consider; if it is worthwhile; to buy programmable thermostats. This will keep the devices and appliances “off” for the time that no one is present to use them or when people in the home are sleeping. Again, we do suggest before buying anything that you monitor your home electricity for a while so that if you do need to invest in energy saving products you do it wisely, not just throw your money away without knowing if it is necessary.

A typical household uses the bulk of its energy for heating and cooling -- up to 44% of the electricity bill, according to the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN).

In the above list we only gave you some strategies to save you electricity. There are many more; just put your head to it and start writing down what you can do. Think about your lawnmower: if it needs replacement, maybe you should consider a petrol one. It doesn’t use electricity at all and lawnmowers are also massive electricity chewers. The more you think about saving electricity, the more solution you will find. Ceiling fans use less electricity than air conditioners and it was found that they cool down the air by 2 degrees. Compact fluorescent lamps were found to use up to 75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer; and the list goes on.

So, can you save on your electricity bills? Can you reduce them by 20%? Maybe even 40%?

Start by monitoring your home electricity usage. This will give you an idea where to start and where your problems are. It will also save you spending more money on stuff you don’t need.

Anything else you can do; such as the tips and strategies written in this article; start right away and see your electricity bills reduced month by month. The bill won’t ever disappear, but you will reach an electricity efficient home and if you keep at it; and don’t rest on your laurels; you will always save more, and when you buy devices you will buy the most electricity efficient ones, which will keep you saving many years into the future.

Read more about Electricity Monitors such as the the E2 and Elite Electricity Monitor to start saving money on your electricity bills.