Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Is it Possible to Lower Your Electric Bill? (& Updated Electricity Cost Calculator)

It's a new year, and time to build new habits.
If one of your goals is to lower your electric bill (truly an admirable goal!), I hope you'll find this post helpful.


One of the best ways to lower our electricity consumption is AWARENESS.

Pay attention to the electricity used throughout the day in your house, and find ways to reduce it - that's the only way to save money if you aren't installing solar panels...

This goes beyond lights that we leave on - the best way to control your costs is to know what's driving your electric bill up, and find ways to reduce your usage. This is why it's good to have an idea of what each electrical appliance we own costs to run.

But how can we know?

It's not so hard - the cost is determined by the appliance's KW usage and how long it runs!

I asked my tech guy 😉 to make a calculator a number of years ago -- it's designed to help everyone get an idea of how much different appliances cost to run. I've posted it before, but now I'm reposting it with an update to reflect the current cost of electricity. VAT is included (so if you're in Eilat, this calculator will overestimate your bill).

This calculator was updated to reflect the current rate (effective January 1, 2021)


Here's how to use the calculator:
Simply choose which appliance you want to calculate, choose how long you'll be running it, and then the app (below) will tell you how much this particular appliance is costing you to run! 

This app is specifically designed using the IEC's current tariffs for residential customers, including VAT (this is for people who pay the same rate 24 hrs/day). 
(NOTE: On January 1, 2021, the IEC adjusted home electricity rates. The current cost of electricity is approx 51 ag per kWh including VAT.If the IEC rates change, we will do our best to update this app!

So bookmark this page, and be sure to share it with anyone in Israel who might find this information useful!

Please let me know what you think!


Electrical Appliance Cost Calculator:

Choose an appliance and note its "usage unit" in parantheses after it. Choose how many units you would be using it for (for example, a fridge has "day" for its usage unit, a dryer has "1 load" for its usage unit, and a hair dryer has "10 minutes" for its usage unit - these are listed next to the appliance name), then click "calculate my cost" to find out how much that appliance costs you to run for the amount of time you usually use it!
 
If your appliance doesn't appear on this list, you can find its kilowatt rating on it somewhere. Multiply kw/H by number of hours used, and then multiply that by the current price for a kilowatt of electricity (approx. 0.51 nis) to find out how much it costs you to run it!




Select an appliance:
Number of usage units:

Range: 0.00 ₪ — 0.00(depends on your model)



I'd love to hear if you found this handy webapp useful. Will it help you change any of your habits? Personally, this helped me realize that since we'd be boiling our kettle multiple times per day, we were really using more electricity than needed. Now we know it's best to fill the thermos after we boil a full kettle in the morning.

What changes are you making?

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