Winter energy consumption planning

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Last year, because of the dry winter and its concomitant effect on hydroelectric energy generation, New Zealand burned its way through a significant portion of its coal reserves, resulting in the release of significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. At the household level, because of massive pressure on household winter energy consumption, winter energy bills shot through the roof, leaving families across the country out of pocket if they didn’t plan ahead and budget.

It’s one thing to prep yourself for minimising your energy bill during summer, but it’s quite another thing during winter, due to the the increased demands on a household of the various winter appliances. Most energy use is reactive, in terms of reacting to cold temperatures, rather than involving any level of planning or conscious effort to reduce power consumption. Even solar power, if you have it, is all but useless, often producing a fraction of the equivalent summer time energy generation, due to the shorter days and reduced amount of sunshine.

For all these reasons, as we head into winter, it makes sense to start planning ahead for how to reduce your power bill. But is it really possible to plan to reduce your winter energy consumption?

1. Identify the key offenders

Some household appliances make up a disproportionate amount of your household energy bill. During winter, it’s not uncommon for heaters to make up around 75% of the household kWh consumed.

2. Get to grips with your power bill

Learning to read your power bill is a useful skill to have. Understanding the difference between the various charges can help you to figure out in advance how much that unexpected bill is going to hit you for, and to plan against it happening as far as necessary.

You can just as easily go from reading your power bill to reading your smart meter if you have one.

3. Measure the individual inputs so that you know how to rationalise your consumption

An ammeter is a great tool to get your head around what each appliance may be contributing to your household consumption.

4. Look at alternative methods for achieving the same result

Let’s face it – a main challenge during winter is to maintain a high body temperature, and most people achieve this by inefficiently heating spaces and taking extra showers. But have you considered buying thermals for each member of the household? A once off investment in thermals, currently selling at $20 at the local Otaki Kathmandu outlet, can save hundreds of dollars across the winter months by reducing the need for you to rely on your slow burning electric heater.

5. Use appliance timers

Many retailers offer lower prices per unit for off-peak power consumption. Switching to a day and night meter can be an excellent idea to give you access to cheaper off-peak rates, which can work nicely with the use of a timer and an electric heater. Take advantage of off peak rates to warm up the household between 5am and 7am before you get up. This will reduce your power bill considerably, and due to the relatively off peak time when the power gets used, will also likely help to reduce the level of emissions because at that time of day you will likely be consuming surplus energy from mostly renewable sources.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to look at some specific ideas that some people have had in terms of reducing household energy costs during winter. While not sexy, not even remotely, unless you think winter thermals are your thing, they can add hundreds of dollars to your back pocket and also help the country get on track for reducing its emissions heading into 2020.

I also plan to write an Otaki Motel winter energy savings plan, outlining how I plan to reduce emissions between the motel units and the manager flat. As well as being a valuable exercise for our business, I’m sure it could be used just as well as a template for other households or businesses.