Ways to save power?

Our power bill this month is $499.11

Any ideas on how to cut down the cost of power? We only run Kylahs heater 24/7

TIA

EEEK, I asked DP the same question and he said stay off the computer Yeah RIGHT!

Maybe you could look into getting a heatpump in?? They dont use much power at all. What kind of heater are u using at the mo?

Quick showers instead of baths
No dishwasher use
No dryer use
Dont wash clothes in hot water
Anything that heats munches up power so heated towel rails and stuff like that is best avoided
Switching everything off at the wall


Lol or when people wonder why you havent vacumed your floor.. "oh im saving power" and when you look at that pile of dishes "better save power!" hehe

We have a 5 star front loader that heats its own water, so no worries there. The dryer was getting used ALL day EVERY day. Iv just knocked that on the head and cut the plug off.

The hot water cylinder is leaking, we have contacted the landlord a million times and have heard nothing back, not a call, letter nothing. The taps in the bathroom leak from a) the pipes and b) the bottom of the tap. Both toilets in the house leak from the pipe. GRR.

There are 3 plugs that are faulty in this house.

We use a 5fin oil heater in her room.

Towels rails are only 60w so are no more expensive that running a light bulb.
Leaking cold water won't matter (price wise, obviously not great for the environment) but leaking hot water will cost you a fortune.
You will probably notice a massive change with not using the dryer as they use so much money its not even funny.
Make sure you turn appliances off completely and don't leave them on standby. It costs as much money for a tv to be on standby as it does for it to be switched on, as standby means that everything is being kept ready to go, same with not switching computers off properly etc.
Oil fin heaters are super expensive but are cheaper than fan heaters and probably the only real option you have. Have you asked your landlord about the cleanheat thing, they might be able to get a heatpump put in for you.


Neoshasmum, if you are on day and night then you will have two meters but easiest way is like Kylayhsmum said phone and ask your company. If you want to change then it costs about $50 to have the extra meter added.

We're on night rate and run the washing machine and dishwasher at night and if need be thats when we put the dryer on as well, but we try to never use it.

yip you on the first step to saving.. knock the dryer on the head.. we only used it once last month and we saved about $50 :)
if you water temp is too hot will be costing you money aswell :)

First step good idea getting rid of that dryer!

Second - your power bill is MASSIVE! There is no way it should be anywhere near that by the sounds of what you are using, so it must be something to do with the leaking bits.

Are you through an agent through your landlord? If so go to them. If not try him again and if you can leave a message saying we are desperate as our power bill was this much so we are going to have to go to the Tennancy tribunal if you dont contact us - surely that will get him to return your calls!

What power company are you with? We are with Empower and find them great.

We are with meridian.
We are not through an agent, this time i wish we were at least they fix things.

Tenancy tribunal might have to be it or we just wont pay rent and fix the stuff and keep the reciepts.

hmmm isnt there someone you can ring.When I was in my first flat we were having huge bills like $500 a month for two people working full time with no washing machine or dryer lol. DP called someone out and they checked everything in the whole house and it turned out to be a faulty hot water cylinder sp? It was free and thats all i remember lol not sure if it was the power company???

I thought towel rails used so much more than that. We switched ours off and stopped using the dishwasher and only washed washing once a week and BAM our power bill dropped by $80 a week and stayed that way.

With the whole tenancy tribunal thing does it matter if you have no agreement, mums been here 4 years and never had a tenancy agreement?

I agree with Marisa - talk to the tenancy tribunal straight away coz you/your mum should have a tenancy agreement, otherwise you don't have a legal leg to kick the landlord with.

As for the $500 power bill That sounds like something is definitely not right! I use the dryer every day, usually 2-3 loads, we have a dishwasher (but heats it's own water), and we have on average 2 baths a day plus 2 showers and our bill is still only around $200 odd.

One thing - do you need to run Kylah's heater 24-7? Can you put it on a timer or something? Also, how old is the heater, coz if it is an older one it might not be running as efficiently.