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This article was not reviewed by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) or any other relevant authorities.
With COVID-19 still doing its world tour in 2021 and people staying at home most of their time, it is very likely many of us have been experiencing an increase in our utility bills.
According to an article by The Straits Times, there has been a 16% increase in our electricity consumption from the months April to July 2019 to the same months in 2020. As these months were during the circuit breaker period, the rise in energy consumption is very likely due to the increased amount of people staying at home.
Are there any habits you have at home that have been causing you to consume energy unnecessarily and unknowingly? Are there ways to save your increasing utility bills? Maybe these 5 simple hacks can help bring some light to it.
1. Avoid Vampire Power
What do we know about vampires? Besides sparkling under the sunlight (twilight reference), they suck your blood in discrete right?
Similarly, vampire power refers to your electrical appliances sucking energy even when they are switched off! According to several studies, 5 to 10% of your total electricity consumption is due to vampire power!
Hence, with your appliances switched off but still plugged into your sockets (on or off), they are still leaking energy.
One very common example would be leaving your phone charger switched on but not plugged to a phone.
What do I do?
- Unplug your appliances from the sockets when not in use
- At the very least, switch off your socket plugs when not in use
2. Use a Cup When Brushing Your Teeth
When you let your water tap run for just 2 minutes (which is the average amount of time you need to rinse your mouth when brushing your teeth), you are already wasting 12 litres of water.
As compared to using a mug, you would only be using 0.5 litres which means you save 11.5 litres of water!
3. Leave as Many Things in your Fridge
As with air-conditioners, your fridge serves to keep your food cool by regulating the temperature in it. However, whenever you open your fridge, cold air escapes and hot air enters, resulting in your fridge using more energy to regulate the temperature.
What do I do?
- Leave as many things in your fridge to minimise temperature fluctuations
- Or simply, don’t be like Mike:
4. Set Timer to Off for your Air-Conditioner
Living in a hot and humid country, air-conditioner is indeed a boon. However, use it mindlessly, it will be a ji-ba-boom to your utility bills.
According to many sleep experts, you gain a better quality of sleep if you sleep without waking up in the middle of the night. So, why not make use of technology to help you wake up feeling like Beyonce AND save you money?
If you set your air-conditioner to switch off just 1 hour before you wake up every day, you would already be saving $30 a year.
5. Install Blinds or Curtains to Keep your Room Cool
If you simply have your blinds or curtains drawn during the day (especially a hot one), you would be reducing your energy consumption in 2 ways:
- With the temperature at home reduced or maintained, you can avoid the need of switching on your air-conditioner.
- If you die die really need to switch on your air-conditioner, having your blinds or curtains drawn would also save you money because your air-conditioner do not have to consume a higher amount of energy to regulate the temperature in your room.
