I just got my utility bill yesterday.
I realized my utility bill has been relatively constant between SGD75-85.
I realized my utility bill has been relatively constant between SGD75-85.
I'm wondering is that normal? Am I spending more or less than others?
So what do I spend on?
I stay in a HDB 4 room flat.
Electricity
I turn on my air conditioning at around 9:30 pm til 6:15am (approx 9 hours) only 1 room.
I don't turn on any other air conditioning.
My fridge is the usual fridge for a couple. Not those big 2 door type.
I have one fan almost always turned on to air my bedroom and dry the toilet.
My living room ceiling fan is also almost always on.
We do one load of washing almost everyday. Cold water wash.
Sometimes I use the dryer, especially these days when it's raining.
I used the dryer more in Dec than in Nov.
Modem is always on. Duh...
We take short showers, around 10 minutes or less. Instant heater.
Gas
I cook almost everyday.
We boil water daily using a normal kettle and pour it into a thermos.
Gas is cheap but it's very sensitive cos the quantum is low.
Like if I don't cook for 1 week, then my gas payments drop by like 20%.
Water
I reckon this is the most stable in pricing.
One kettle of water daily.
One load of washing daily.
One shower each.
Nothing really changes for water. Unless we come back from a holiday then we do 2-3 loads of washing consecutively.
I know neighbours who's utility expense is like SGD150-200.
I was quite shocked seriously. Cos I'm home most of the time and they aren't cos they are working.
But they do on the air conditioning in the living room when they come home.
Or they have big two door fridge, or they have a small wine fridge.
Or they have other types of water heaters.
Or they have those electric hot flasks.
Or they have a NAS on all the time. (Not sure if this is important in energy consumption)
They also have security camera on as well.
So I've come to a conclusion.
Anything which main objective is to affects temperature and is kept on for the whole day will cost you a bomb.
So like air conditioning, fridge, hot water flask (those that are always hot not those electric kettle).
I knew of someone who kept her instant heater on for like half the day DAILY. She didn't know that the power consumption was so high. I told her to off it. Her utility bill dropped from SGD200 to around SGD80. She bought me lunch.
However, if you look at fans, computers, TV, etc. These don't really consume a lot of power. Even if you keep them on for extended periods of time.
So it's like, if you feel hot, buy 6 fans and blow them all at you.
The inital purchase cost is cheaper, and the electricity cost is also cheaper.
I'm not kidding. You can buy 1 fan for like SGD30.
I also don't turn on the air conditioning when the sun is up. Cos that will make the air con work harder to bring the temperature down. Whereas at night, the temperature is already cool, so turning it on isn't that bad. (It's still power consuming, just better than when the sun is up).
Then when I read my electricity bill, I see that I'm below the Singapore average and neighbour average. WooHoo!
So I'm thinking. Where do other people spend on? What other utilities do they use? Why are their bills more than mine every month?
Like I don't think we are too concerned over our utility usage. We turn on the air con when needed, we do our laundry when needed, we use our dryer, etc. So we don't really take a lot of additional care to keep the utility bill low. Thus, I'm wondering where/how other people are managing their consumption.
Please comment below so that we might be able to better analyze our different consumption habits and how it would impact our expenses.
Thank you!!
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
So what do I spend on?
I stay in a HDB 4 room flat.
Electricity
I turn on my air conditioning at around 9:30 pm til 6:15am (approx 9 hours) only 1 room.
I don't turn on any other air conditioning.
My fridge is the usual fridge for a couple. Not those big 2 door type.
I have one fan almost always turned on to air my bedroom and dry the toilet.
My living room ceiling fan is also almost always on.
We do one load of washing almost everyday. Cold water wash.
Sometimes I use the dryer, especially these days when it's raining.
I used the dryer more in Dec than in Nov.
Modem is always on. Duh...
We take short showers, around 10 minutes or less. Instant heater.
Gas
I cook almost everyday.
We boil water daily using a normal kettle and pour it into a thermos.
Gas is cheap but it's very sensitive cos the quantum is low.
Like if I don't cook for 1 week, then my gas payments drop by like 20%.
Water
I reckon this is the most stable in pricing.
One kettle of water daily.
One load of washing daily.
One shower each.
Nothing really changes for water. Unless we come back from a holiday then we do 2-3 loads of washing consecutively.
I know neighbours who's utility expense is like SGD150-200.
I was quite shocked seriously. Cos I'm home most of the time and they aren't cos they are working.
But they do on the air conditioning in the living room when they come home.
Or they have big two door fridge, or they have a small wine fridge.
Or they have other types of water heaters.
Or they have those electric hot flasks.
Or they have a NAS on all the time. (Not sure if this is important in energy consumption)
They also have security camera on as well.
So I've come to a conclusion.
Anything which main objective is to affects temperature and is kept on for the whole day will cost you a bomb.
So like air conditioning, fridge, hot water flask (those that are always hot not those electric kettle).
I knew of someone who kept her instant heater on for like half the day DAILY. She didn't know that the power consumption was so high. I told her to off it. Her utility bill dropped from SGD200 to around SGD80. She bought me lunch.
However, if you look at fans, computers, TV, etc. These don't really consume a lot of power. Even if you keep them on for extended periods of time.
So it's like, if you feel hot, buy 6 fans and blow them all at you.
The inital purchase cost is cheaper, and the electricity cost is also cheaper.
I'm not kidding. You can buy 1 fan for like SGD30.
I also don't turn on the air conditioning when the sun is up. Cos that will make the air con work harder to bring the temperature down. Whereas at night, the temperature is already cool, so turning it on isn't that bad. (It's still power consuming, just better than when the sun is up).
Then when I read my electricity bill, I see that I'm below the Singapore average and neighbour average. WooHoo!
So I'm thinking. Where do other people spend on? What other utilities do they use? Why are their bills more than mine every month?
Like I don't think we are too concerned over our utility usage. We turn on the air con when needed, we do our laundry when needed, we use our dryer, etc. So we don't really take a lot of additional care to keep the utility bill low. Thus, I'm wondering where/how other people are managing their consumption.
Please comment below so that we might be able to better analyze our different consumption habits and how it would impact our expenses.
Thank you!!
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
RSS Feed
