Switch off and save up to 50% on power bills
Sewa saves 40MW per day through Peak Hour switch-off campaign
Awareness level increased considerably and it reflects in the electricity we are saving in just one hour daily, official says |
Families that are at home during peak load time can save up to 50 per cent on their power bills by switching off unnecessary lights and appliances for an hour, particularly between 2.30 and 3.30pm, which is the peak hour of power consumption, said a senior official at the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority.
Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the second annual Sewa Partners meet yesterday, the authority’s chairman, Dr Rashid Al Leem, said the authority’s Peak Hour campaign has proved that small changes in behaviour can make a big difference in conservation of resources.
This year, since the campaign began on July 1, Sewa has managed to save up to 40 megawatts of power on an average per day, up from 21 megawatts last year.
“The awareness level among the consumers has increased considerably, which reflects in the electricity we are saving in just one hour daily, which is 40MW. We can do much better if we get greater support and more people make the behavioural change required. With a little bit of effort, we can make a big difference; what we need is the realisation of how important saving our resources is,” said Al Leem.
He added that the word is spreading and a lot of families are showing great enthusiasm in making the effort.
“We have seen that a lot of families are very enthusiastic about this and some of them have been able to save up to 50 per cent on their electricity bills,” added Al Leem.
An estimate puts an average household consumption in the UAE to around 20KW of electricity per day and 40MW is sufficient to power up to 2,000 UAE homes for a day.
According to Anisa Farhan Al Jallaf, head of the Awareness Section at Sewa, with a little bit of planning and staggering of their household chores, people can make a lot of difference.
“What happens is most people [government employees] return home between 2.30pm and 3.30pm and they use all their appliances at the same time, which puts enormous load on the grid. Apart from keeping the AC at 24 degrees Celsius, what people can do is to use their appliances at different times and avoid the peak hour. You don’t have to use your washing machines, blenders, iron all at the same time. All you have to do is to stagger your chores,” said Al Jallaf, explaining ways to reduce consumption.
Sewa’s Peak Hour campaign is part of its efforts to encourage behavioural change. The campaign started two years ago and this is the third year of the campaign. “We initially started locally and last year we went to the other emirates and this year we even reached out to other countries in the region to create awareness. We need to raise awareness not just locally but at the regional and global level as well,” said Al Leem.