Managing Costs: reducing the bill

This section looks at home audits, which always find easy wins for saving energy, Smart Meters, which display accurate energy use information inside the home, and Community Groups creating local energy reduction projects.

Costs:

• The average Victorian energy bill is $1800 annually.

Understanding the bill:

1. Ave Daily Use: on the bill there is a chart showing average daily energy use. A high energy bill is around 23 Kwhrs per day. A low energy bill is around 9.5 Kwhrs per day.
2. Carbon Dioxide Emissions: a chart on the bill will show the greenhouse gas emissions for the billing period. in Victoria our electricity comes from the worlds most carbon intensive energy source, brown coal. The average Victorian home produces around 12 tonnes of green house gases annually.
3. Seasonality: It is worth looking at the bill in different quarters to see where the spikes in electricity use are. Is the bill higher in winter or summer? Find out and focus your conservation efforts on the area that needs it the most.
4. Peak and off peak power: we pay less for power overnight. Electric hot water systems are not prohibitively expensive because they heat our water overnight. It is important to realise that whatever the rate, the greenhouse pollution is the same.