Less power, more savings
We’re all familiar with the ups and downs of Tassie weather – blazing sunshine one minute, snow the next.
With such extremes between summer and winter, it can be tricky to get your energy usage just right. We’ve put together some tips from our member rewards partner 1st Energy on how to get the most out of your power and more savings in your pocket all year round.
Around the house
• We know cranking the heating sounds tempting, especially when Mount Wellington is covered in snow. But did you know that each degree over 20°c on your thermostat uses around 10% more energy? With this in mind, in the colder months try setting your thermostat between 18-20°c. In summer, set your cooling thermostat to between 25-27°c (each degree under uses around 5% more energy).
• Remember to close doors inside the house and only turn on the heater or air con in the rooms you’re using.
• Get into the habit of turning lights off when you leave a room. Your wallet will thank you!
The top three areas of energy usage in the average Australian home are heating and cooling, hot water and appliances.
In the kitchen
• Whether you’re making a hot cuppa or boiling fresh pink eyes on the stove for that summer potato salad, only fill up your kettle and pots with as much water as you need.
• Don’t run a half-empty dishwasher. Running a full dishwasher saves energy, money and water.
• The ideal temperature for your fridge is between 3-5°c, while your freezer should be sitting somewhere between -15°c and -18°c. If the seals on your fridge or freezer have seen better days, get them replaced as your appliances are probably working extra hard to keep your food cold. And as the winter months set in, the extra fridge in the garage for excess Christmas food probably isn’t needed, so turn it off.
In the laundry
• Wash your clothes in cold water and only run the washing machine when you’ve got enough clothes, sheets or towels for a full load.
• The sun and breeze is free! If you can, hang your washing out to dry on the clothesline outside instead of using a dryer.
In the bathroom
• Challenge your family members or housemates to take shorter showers. Keeping a clock or a timer in the bathroom can be a helpful reminder for those who spend longer than needed.
Saving with our Group CEO
Our Group CEO Mark Mugnaioni made the switch to 1st Energy when he moved to Tasmania from Queensland. Living in South Hobart with a young family, there’s a lot of consider when keeping the home comfortable and energy efficient.
Some of Mark’s bonus energy saving tips are:
• We try to take advantage of natural heating and cooling as much as possible. Even in winter, the Tassie sun is strong, so we keep the blinds open during the day for that natural heat, and then close the blinds at night to keep it in.
• After moving into our new place, we replaced our old inefficient light bulbs with newer energy efficient ones.
• We’re getting into the habit of turning off our devices at the wall and unplugging our phone chargers. Any device with a little light and even phone chargers that are plugged in but not charging are using power. By turning off power at the wall, we’re saving up to 10% of our household energy usage.