I like to think of a motel as one big eternal cost-cutting operation. The way we can afford to pay our staff more is by keeping overheads as low as possible.
This forces us to be as innovative as we can be when it comes to saving money. It also has a beneficial side effect of reducing carbon emissions.
Winter thermals
I didn’t come up with this idea – the original thinker behind this one was the Australian journalist Greg Foyster.
But the math stacks up – using a few pairs of thermals to get us through winter could save us $3-4 per day in energy costs.
As Greg rightly points out – why do we spend so much money heating spaces when we have awesome clothing technology that is comfortable, breathable, and that makes you feel like a toasty marshmallow all the time?
I had to get my whole household to buy into this one, which means thermals for each person plus a few hard conversations. (I just show them the latest bill for anyone who needed extra convincing.)
Right now the Kathmandu outlet store in Otaki is selling breathable thermals for just $20 each which was a deal and I couldn’t resist buying a few.
Day/Night meter
Switching to a Day/Night meter is a great way to structure your energy use to reduce your overall energy bill and even your carbon footprint, no matter what time of the year it is.
Switching to Day/Night gives you access to the nighttime energy rate. For us, the night rate is 8.5c per kWh plus GST. This is roughly a third of our daytime rate, which is 24.3c per kWh plus GST.
The cost to switch to a Day/Night meter with our company (Nova) was just $50 inc GST.
Using timers for our heaters
We spent $30 for two programmable timers which we’ve attached to both our heaters.
The timers activate at 5am and fill up the room with heat, and then promptly deactivate at 6.59am, just before the switch to peak daytime energy rates.
Using off peak rates we pay roughly a third of the unit cost of heating.
If your property is insulated, it should be able to hold on to much of this residual heat for the better part of the morning.
Upfront cost
So we’re looking at around $40 per person for a couple of pairs of thermals. Because we already switched our power meter over to Day/Night earlier in the year, we don’t have to do this, but usually it would cost $50. Plus $15 per heater for a programmable timer. For a three person household, this should come to $150 upfront.
Estimated savings
So, how much does this process save us, and how do I justify my relatively clickbaity claim that we can reduce our winter heating bill by 67%?
It’s simple. We currently own two 1.8 kWh heaters. Our typical usage pattern is to run them both for 1.5 hours in the morning, and then for 4.5 hours in the evening, for a total usage of 12 heater hours.
12 heater hours times by 1.8 kWh comes to 21.6 kWh. At peak rates of 24.3c per kWh, this comes to $5.25 per day.
The alternate model presented above would instead rely on off peak rates for morning heating. For two 1.8 kWh heaters, this would come to 2 x 1.8 x 2 (hours) x 0.085 (cost per kWh) = around 61 cents.
By relying on thermals, we can cut our heater use in the evening as well. Instead of heating the whole house, we might heat one insulated space for a total of 4.5 heater hours in the evening, using the timer to switch on and off intermittently. At peak rates of 24.3c per kWh, this will cost us $1.09. Combined with the cost of morning heating above, this would come to $1.70 per day. (Or we could take it even further. By relying on thermals and learning breathing techniques such as the Wim Hof method we could cut out winter heating altogether.)
I know this sounds like a lot – but I strongly suspect it is actually on the low side for what we’ll end up saving this winter from heating costs.
It’s also realistic – in my view – when taking into account heat pumps. While heat pumps are more efficient than electric heaters, producing 3 watts of heating for each watt consumed, there is an efficiency loss during peak cold periods because the heat pump cannot rely on existing heat in the air.
So the net daily savings ($5.25 – $1.70) would come to $3.55 per day. Across 4 months of winter this plan would likely save us $431.68 in energy bills, paying off our initial investment in less than 1.5 months. Factor in $64.75 for GST (not included above) and you’ve got an easy $500 cash in hand for making a few small changes. Very handy if any unexpected maintenance problems creep up.
