MY MONEY WHAT ARE YOU PAYING?
KEEPACLOSE
EYEONUSAGE
AND COSTS
Name: Ryan
State:NSW1
What is he
paying?
Ryan and his family use about
450kWh and pay $178 a month
after switching to Powershop, an
online power company that offers
100% renewable energy. He is a
new customer and expects that
number to come down. “The first
week I was seeing some very
strange results as Powershop
was trying to learn our usage but
was overestimating it early on.
With more time and better usage
data we should be able to see
more definite
savings.”■ Callout
Have you optimised part of your
budget and want to share it with
Money readers, or maybe you
need some help cutting costs?
Email [email protected].
au. We’ll be covering car insur-
ance, eating out, internet, home
and contents insurance and
financial planning.2
How does he
do it?
Switching has helped Ryan save
$35 to $75 a month. He has also
replaced every light in the house
with LEDs and set the air-condi-
tioners at constant temperatures
over long periods to prevent large
heating/cooling cycles. “This
made a small but noticeable dif-
ference to our usage.” To make
the most of Powershop, you need
to get hands-on with your elec-
tricity costs. “The real benefit is
to be an engaged consumer. You
need to be entering your power
meter readings regularly and
buying power from their
‘shop’ on a daily, weekly
or monthly basis to
match your usage.”
For Ryan, who lives
in a strata com-
plex, this meant a
trip to the meter
in the basement a
couple of times a
week to enter the
energy usage into
the app. He now
has a smart meter to
streamline this process.MONEY’S TIPS
- Understand your usage and
where you may be able to cut
back. See energymadeeasy.gov.
au/benchmark. - Run energy-intensive appli-
ances such as the washing
machine or dishwasher during
off-peak power. - Install a programmable ther-
mostat or timers on heaters and
air-conditioners to heat your
home only as needed - Only fill your kettle with the
water you need, to avoid boiling
an entire jug for one cup of tea. - Consider replacing applianc-
es more than 15 years old;
newer models are likely to be
more energy efficient. - Close off sections of your
home so you’re only heating
the room you’re in. - Unplug appliances when
they’re not in use. Have a
beer fridge that only gets
used at Christmas? Leave
it off until then. - If you work from home,
remember to claim a portion
of your energy costs on next
year’s tax return.
SHARYN McCOWEN
3
How you can
do it
Ryan’s tips- Be engaged! Energy expenses
are likely to be costing most fami-
lies several thousands of dollars a
year and the established power
companies read your meter once
every couple of months (at best),
estimate your usage and then
send you a bill. If you start to sim-
ply monitor your usage and know
how much you are spending each
day, then you will start to look at
ways to pay or use less. This is
better for you and better for
the environment. - Replace lights with LEDs.
- Maintain consistent tempera-
tures at home to avoid large
fluctuations and expensive bills.
Energy bills
E
LE
C
TR
ICITY^ C
ONS
UMPTION
*S
ou
rce: (^) el
ect
rici
tyw
izar
d.com
.au
18kWh
verage
electricity
consumption is
per day*
A
15kWh
Ryan is
using
per day
When Sydney man Ryan became fed up with
high energy bills that gave little insight into
consumption and cost, he went looking for
a better option.
“I had begun looking at some of our financial
products and larger household expenses to make
sure that the providers we were using were giv-
ing us the best value for money,” he says.
Ryan lives in Sydney’s inner west with his wife
and two-year-old twins, and the family was
spending about $3000 a year ($250 per month)
on power. “I didn’t like that our original provid-
er was essentially a ‘black box’ sending us a
quarterly bill with no real insight into what the
cost drivers were and showing no initiative to
help us get the better value I was seeking.”