I've Got The Power!
By Cherry.G
So today’s little snippet is about my power bill. I previously owned a very old cottage, with one double & two single rooms. With an ever-increasing power bill due to no insulation having ever been done, and a heater in every room, my power bill spiked to over three hundred dollars per month for an adult and two toddlers. So I endeavored to fix my little place, after I got over my mild heart attack!
The government released a ‘warmer homes’ package. Given that a high number of New Zealand homes are making their occupants sick with breathing problems from mold, and general illness due to cold and draughts. Clogging up the hospitals with ‘sick homes’ related illnesses. An average night at the hospital costing the tax-payer around a thousand dollars. So I had my house fully insulated in the roof and under flooring..
Another scheme, replacing old 'open fireplaces' included a subsidized heating appliance - a freestanding fireplace or heat pump. I chose the biggest fireplace, worth around four thousand dollars, subsidized it would cost the homeowner about five hundred, fantastic! The one I chose you could cook on the surface if you so wished, and to save even further it would have been wise to choose the ‘wet-back’ option – if my house hadn’t been so small I would have chosen it as well. Yes, it made a difference to our family’s state of health. In the winter around three hundred dollars all up in firewood was our payment for heat. Also the ‘feel good’ factor came into account having the center of the home pumping and roaring away, warms ones heart. Not to mention the household pets that hog the space in front of it, with glowing contented fuzzy faces.
The clothes dryer, which seldom was used but spiked my power bill up to an extra eighty dollars each month from the moment it was plugged in, was sold! I swear I could hear it at night not even in use going, ‘gobble, gobble, gobble.’ The fire now dried any damp washing in the winter. The old radiant heaters in each room, which were given to me, but also kept spiking my power months after insulation, were hastily thrown in the dump, and finally my power bill began to stabilize. Fantastic. The power bill was still not at a place that I considered reasonable, this in part being from the Lines Company, whom charges more than the Power Company in the Waikato area. Many a disgruntled article has been written over them in the 'Waitomo News' local rag, but that’s another issue.
So I was energy conscious, doing everything to lower every ounce of power used, lights off, wrapping the cylinder etc. Yet my power was still not coming down any further. I didn’t have any extra appliances, just the very basic, and the house couldn’t sustain them, as it was old, it only had one power point in each room! (Sadly, no heated spa pool going day or night!)
Power saving energy light bulbs bombarded the T.V, which made me change my ordinary lights to eco friendly, dim and pointless in an old house with high ceilings. However, with so much back whipping over this issue, this must be the problem, surely? No change, in fact my power went up slightly!
My power had hit equilibrium. It was at a hundred and forty dollars each month. Now a lot of you out there will be thinking “Are you nuts?! That’s fine for a power bill! Come on!” However I am a single parent, with, at the time two pre-school aged children. Any money I could put into my pocket and not the lines companies in particular, would go to the benefit of sustaining our meager existence! I racked my brain, and tackled the last thing on the list, a thing that is hidden away – the hot water cylinder. A hot water cylinder is like your jug. It has a thermostat and flicks itself on when the water starts to cool. It does this all day. It does this all night. Thirstily gulping away on your power, like a hippie on a porch sucking repeatedly on his joint. It seems incredulous to keep an item on for twenty-four hours, that you only use around an hour each day! Really, who would keep their kitchen jug boiling ALL day and ALL night, for the convenience of having a cup of tea handy when they felt like it? So I began to test this area. I left it off for forty-eight hours, and then I turned it back on to see how long it would take to heat. Around an hour twenty I had hot water for my shower! I began to turn the cylinder on only once a day, for our daily requirements.
The next power bill I got, my jaw dropped. It had gone from one hundred and fortyish, wait for it... to my power dropping to forty-two dollars! Yes, that’s right! Take a moment to think about that. (I thought, “Bug**r these dim energy saving light bulbs!”) Now because I was saving money, the powers that be couldn’t handle that. I told people who could do the same and put their own money back inside their own pockets. The resistance was:
“You shouldn’t do that, the cylinder can’t take it” and "Just turn the heat down on the thermostat, that should be enough”“ and "The cylinder will break, if you do that!” I asked; “where does that come from? Who told you that? Has it ever happened to you?"
Their reply was; “from the power companies.” This speaks for itself doesn’t it?
I have been doing this for a few years now and had no problems at all. However, do bear in mind cylinders get old and need replacing every ten years as stipulated on their stickers. In theory if you only use your cylinder two hours out of twenty-four hours each day, it should extend its life shouldn’t it?
Read Reviews on this story here; I've got the Power by Cherry G Green Ideas Magazine.
Update: In winter I also move my children into one room together, with one five-fin oil heater, instead of trying to heat every room in the house, and shift them back in summer!
After repetitive electric blankets breaking due to 'made in China,' no matter what brand I purchased, We gave up on them and instead, each use Wheat Packs heated in the microwave, which heat the bed quite quickly.
I also doubled up on my curtains! Yes, that's right. I string up a second cheap pair on the white cord that hold the Nets, and just gather them to the side by a tassel in the mornings. Double curtains have blocked out a lot of the cold.
If washing is still slightly damp, I iron it dry. It's quite therapeutic, while watching TV.
If you are the sort of person who feels the cold 'in their bones', try getting into a sleeping bag and then into bed, with duvet on top. It wont be long before you are roasting!
If you own your home, get and electrician to wire the hot water cylinder cord to a plug, and plug this into a timer switch, setting it to your daily routine, this saves you manually switching it.
I hope this helps every one out there, you have to help yourself to get things done! All the best!
Cherry.G
Copyright 2014 (C)