Summer energy suckers

There are some easy ways to keep cool without spending a fortune, writes Sophie Elsworth

SUMMER energy bills can quickly escalate if you don’t know the real costs of keeping your home cool.

In many locations, temperatures soar into the 30s and 40s at this time of year, resulting in Australians relying on cooling devices to keep inside temperatures down.

New analysis by Canstar Blue examined the cost of using cooling appliances and revealed a large wall airconditioner each hour chews through about 3.5kW of power and costs $0.97 to run.

Compare this with a ceiling fan, which requires 0.09kW/h and costs just 2c an hour.

Canstar Blue spokesman Simon Downes said it was important for Australians to think carefully about “conscious cooling”.

“This means you have a highlevel understanding of what the various cooling appliances cost you to use,” he said.

“Then you can think about: do you need to be using it now?

“You can have your airconditioner on for 10 hours a day but do you really need it?

“It’s that trade off between cost and comfort.”

Simple tricks to keep your home’s temperature down include closing the blinds before the heat kicks in on a hot day, avoiding using a clothes dryer and not turning on the oven, opting instead for cold meals.

GloBird Energy executive manager John McCluskey said the company had cases of customers doing silly things that resulted in big bills.

“One customer had both their heater and aircon running all the time in order to get the ‘perfect temperature’,’’ he said.

“Blocked (aircon) filters or even just leaving stuff switched on that’s not used – we all do it.”

Mr McCluskey said there were energy guzzlers and hidden costs that many people did not even realise. “Small things add up but you can’t see it until the bill arrives,” he said.

“There are so many hidden things secretly using your power while you sleep.

“Your fridge goes 24/7, 365 days a year. Pool pumps are another one and lots of things are on standby power.”

Pinpointing the right temperature when using airconditioners is important to minimise costs, Origin spokesman Stuart Osbourne said.

“Airconditioners should be set to 24C in summer – every degree below this increases energy consumption by 5 to 10 per cent,” he said.

“Cooling a single room or part of the home rather than the whole house could save households between $400 and $1500 on their annual energy bill.”

Checking the insulation in your roof is important to ensure it’s in good nick and doing its job of keeping the home cool.

Mr Osbourne said doubleglazed windows and doors “can exclude up to 40 per cent of heat (and cold) entering the home compared to standard glass”.