With rising cost we all need to conserve as much energy as possible. This can be done with just a little effort and it can mean a lot of savings on your electricity bill. Simply put, you are charged for electricity by the unit and one unit is equal to one kilowatt hour. A kilowatt hour is the amount of electricity consumed when a device rated at one kilowatt, or 1000 watts, is operated for one hour. Similarly a light bulb rated at 100 watts, consumes one kilowatt hour if left on for ten hours. All appliances around your home are rated in watts and you can use the above example to calculate their consumption.
Use our handy calculator to see which appliances are using most electricity

Ekurheleni Municipality charges for 2010 are 97.8 cents per kilowatt hour in Winter, and 78.8 cents in Summer.

A 100 watt light bulb will cost 9.8 cents per hour if left on in winter and the new energy saver equivalent, 13 watt, costs about 1 cent per hour.

A 1.1 Kilowatt pool motor will cost around R1.00 per hour to run in winter.

A 4 kilowatt geyser takes about 3 hours to heat up to 65 degrees celcius and costs about R12.00 to do this.

Things you can do around your home:

• Repair all leaking taps. This prevents water continuously streaming through the geyser and removing the heat.
• Electricity prices increase around the beginning of winter and decrease again in summer. Limit your usage during this period
• Avoid the use of electric heaters, dress warmly instead.
• Open curtains to let the sun shine in and warm the room up naturally.
• Appliances that are switched off using the remote control still consume up to 80% of the original electricity in stand by mode, turn them off at the button.
• If you have to use the oven, tumble drier or other hot devices then do so in the evening and benefit from the warmth.
• Close doors to rooms not to be occupied, it is much easier and cheaper to heat up the rooms you are occupying when others are closed off.
• Keep the fins behind your fridge and freezer clean as this will improve the efficiency of the appliances
• Have showers instead of baths