‘How much does that electric blanket cost to run?’ and other winter power questions
It’s the season of higher power bills, but just how much are your appliances costing to run?
No Stupid Questions with Susan Edmunds has looked at some of the questions many households have about electricity costs through the cooler months.
Hot water
Hot water makes up about a third of the average household’s power bill. Powerswitch general manager Paul Fuge says there are ways you can cut that down, though, including when you shower - or how you heat your water.
He said most people would shower at peak times for electricity use, first thing in the morning or in the evening. As that hot water is used, the hot water cylinder starts to heat up its replacement.
If you have a power plan that charges you less for use in off-peak times, you could find there is an opportunity save money by either showering off peak, or setting your hot water cylinder to heat up during off-peak times. Fuge said he set his own water cylinder to only heat after 10pm and that was enough to get teenagers through their morning showers.
Heat pump hot water cylinders can be expensive to install, although some banks offer interest-free loans for them, but can save you money in running costs.
Heat pumps
It’s often debated, but Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority adviser Gareth Gretton said most people would not save money if they left their heat pump on low all the time, instead of turning it on when they needed it.
“The extent to which it’s more efficient is going to depend on how draughty your house is, probably as the number one thing.
“If you’ve got a draughty house, leaving the pump on all the time is just going to lead to a lot of heat being blown out of your hosue when you’re not actually at home. Really the efficiency benefit for the heat pump itself of running continuously at a low level is relatively small compared to that.
“So for your average New Zealand house, definitely you’re going to save money by only using it when you’re home or as a kind of slight alternative to that, you know, preheating your house so the heat pump comes on an hour before you actually get home or an hour before you get up in the morning… that’s a pretty good way to approach it as well.”
Vacuuming your heat pump filter can help it to run more efficiently, and you may be able to save money by only setting it at a temperature you can live with comfortably rather than having it cranked right up. A temperature between 18°C and 22°C in living areas is probably ideal.
Holding on to heat is cheaper than making it, too, so if you can insulate your house and shut your curtains when the sun goes down, you might find it stays warmer without costing you more.
Heated towel rails
Heated towel rails have a reputation for being expensive to run, but Consumer NZ estimates that they cost about 61 cents a day if you’re running an 80 watt one all day, or about $3.50 a week.
That’s probably not huge for most households, but you could reduce the cost by having yours on a timer, or only using it in the coldest parts of the year.
Related to that, electric blankets cost about 4c an hour to run. If you turn yours on to heat up your bed, then turn it off when you get in, the cost should be minimal.
Should we turn things off at the walls?
It can be a good idea to turn things off completely when you’re not using them.
Consumer NZ said some models of printer it tested were costing about $23 a month in standby mode. Some microwaves could cost about $14 a year.
Turning them off might allow you to divert your power use to things that actually benefit you - like boiling the jug for a cup of tea, which Consumer said would cost about 5c per boil.
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