How muchdo your appliances cost to run?
Energy-efficient appliances can cost half as much to run as more power-hungry varieties, but most shoppers don’t bother to think beyond the purchase price.
EECA Energywise has launched a new tool, Rightware, to help consumers compare how much power appliances use each year.
The tool can be customised to reflect the way a particular household uses each appliance.
Efficient products manager Eddie Thompson said airconditioners, fridges and televisions were the categories in which there was the greatest amount of variation.
He said the tool was designed so that someone who knew they wanted something, such as a 50’ television, could go on to the tool and see that, while one such TV might cost $40 a year in power costs, another might cost $110. The tool is based on an average cost of 25c per kWh.
‘‘People can save quite a lot,’’ Thompson said.
‘‘Inefficient appliances can cost hundreds of dollars more to run over the life of the product and we want people to think about these ongoing running costs when they are shopping for a new household product. People can avoid wasting money and use less energy.’’
The running cost of a new fridge/freezer over a 10-year period could be between $600 and $2000, he said.
‘‘If people look at it they can think ‘do I really need that big side-by-side fridge or could I switch to a smaller one that’s cheaper to run’.’’
The cost of running appliances was generally hidden, he said. Many are labelled in shops to show how much power they might use in a year but a household’s own usage could alter that a lot.
The tool was designed to show people how much their own households would spend, Thompson said.
Appliances were becoming more efficient all the time, he said.
Air-conditioners had become 50 per cent more energy-efficient since 2002 and fridges 40 per cent. Televisions had also improved a lot, he said.