Usually, most people will sign up 6 months, or 1 year contract for power at a fixed rate.
Same as in SG.
We pay, maybe $0.20 per kilowatt hour, and we just use electricity anytime without thinking.
However, we selected a billing company which allows us to buy electricity at wholesale prices.
The price moves every 5 minutes. So sometimes it is $0.02 per kwh or it could be $0.011 or it could be $0.15 per kwh.
After reading reviews, it appears that generally, the price of power is quite low, around $0.10, BUT, during summer months, it could go up at high as $9.00 per kwh. IF the demand/supply spikes and pushes the price up. But it lasts for maybe 5 minutes or just a couple of hours. But it hurts.
This is an insane amount. Cos some people in the region got hit by hundred dollar bills, just for a day usage. Cos many people live in landed properties and leave the air conditioning on for the whole day.
So on the website, I can see the current price for the period.
AND I can see my power usage for the day.
And the company projects the expected cost for the next hour. BUT the price is not confirmed and sometimes it will be more or less than the projected amounts.
Also, you can see my power usage for the day. I had a spike in power usage around 5-6pm when I turned on my washing machine and dryer for the day.
Power costs me around $0.10-$0.20 per day on average. But I had one day with a price spike and my cost went up to $0.38 for the day.
I also have to pay some subscription charges and taxes, etc.
Now that I can quite accurately determine how much power I use, I am a lot more diligent with my power usage. I turn off lights that are of no use. I make sure my washing machine is as full as possible, or I make sure that the price of power is low before I turn on the washer. Or I may set the dishwasher to run 4 hours later during the wee hours of the morning where the price of power is the lowest.
Most of the time, it's out of sight out of mind. We don't know how much our power is per kilowatt hour. And most of the time, we don't know how much we use per hour, and we don't know how much more the washing machine uses, or how much the dryer uses.
For us, we use very little power cos we just live in a small apartment, and we don't turn on the air conditioning. However, many Americans live in houses and they leave the air conditioning on for the whole day, they also run their washing machines and dryer and dish washer often. All these suck up large amounts of power.
And I realized, that for myself, after knowing how much power each appliance uses, and the cost of power, I became a lot more careful. Cos now, I can choose WHEN I want to turn on the heavy appliances, if I turn it on in the afternoon, it's more expensive than if I turn it on in the evening.
I will consider... is it so important for me to turn this appliance on NOW, or can I wait til later in the evening?
Do I need to turn on the air con NOW? Is it worth maybe $4 for the next few hours? (I don't know cos I haven't turned on the air con yet, cos the temperature is cool currently.)
But during summer, when the price spikes cos everyone is turning their AC on, I will have to choose. Do I think the price is worth it?
Cos most of the time, we don't think about it. We don't think about how much we spend on power and how much power we use.
In SG, my power bill was around S$80 per month.
In Paris, my power bill was more than €80 per month.
Cos I never thought about how much power costs. It was always out of sight out of mind.
Now, I can reduce my power usage to US$30 per month for this month of February, and I hope to keep the bill around this price, and maybe I get an increased bill in the summer months when I turn on the AC.
Using this plan, I am expecting to save around 10% as compared with IF I signed up for a fixed rate plan.
If I signed up for a fixed rate plan, I wouldn't care when I used power. I would use it as and when I wanted to do the dishes, I would turn on the washing machine at any time, cos the price of power could be fixed at maybe $0.17 per kwh, before other fees and taxes.
And I think it's interesting. Cos I've never thought about the price of power and when to use it and how much to use. I never cared if I turned on the lights or fan, or when to cook. Cos over here, it's common to have an electric stove instead of a gas stove. So, it's actually cheaper to cook at 7pm than to cook at 4pm.
I usually cook and prepare 4-5 meals at one go, so that my wife can bring lunch boxes to work and I can easily consume my lunch by just reheating in the microwave.
And now, it's cheaper to cook and do the food preparation in the evening instead of in the afternoon.
If you look at my power usage by hour again, you will see a small amount every hour even in the wee hours of the morning. This is me keeping one light on at night.
Currently, this is maybe just $0.01. But if this is $2... would I still keep it on?
So I think this experience has been interesting. Cos I am now able to determine the cost of turning on any appliance and choose when I want to use it.
Whereas in SG and Paris, I didn't even care how much power I used. After review, I realized I used so much more power in SG and Paris, just cos I couldn't see how much each appliance uses and the cost of keeping things on.
And that's quite scary, now that I think about it. Cos we never know how much each decision costs. Of course, it's affordable. It's not really breaking the bank. But when I think about it more. Maybe in SG, it costs S$2 to keep the aircon on at night, or S$2 to run the washing machine one cycle. People may be more careful about running their appliances.
So it's been fun. Cos now, I have a fair estimate of how much power each appliance uses, and I also know the current price of power. So I can choose when to use what, and what is considered critical usage during the day, and I can decide when to turn on the power to reduce the cost.
There is no more "out of sight out of mind".
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
Did you like this post? If so, could you "blanjah" me 1/4 cup of my morning coffee pls.
You may also consider subscribing to receive the articles in your email, link in the column on the right.