With rolling blackouts likely to be with us for the forseeable future, Id like to share our experience with you. In 2007, as part of a Kitchen make-over and anticipating future electricity supply problems, we had a solar geyser installed and a gas hob (nb electric oven) fitted to the new kitchen. The cost at the time, with no Eskom subsidy available, was +/- R 20,000. The result was a reduction in our electricity consumption from 660kwH pm to around 400kwH pm. Gas costs work out to around R 30 pm and have hardly changed in the last 7 years. A 9kg gas cylinder lasts us about 6-7 months. The benefits are, that we can cook (on the hob) without electricity and even when we had a 36 hr blackout a few years back - we could still take a hot shower. After your geyser and stove, the next biggest consumer of electricity in the average home, is your fridge & freezer. Make sure the seals are good, that theyre de-frosted regularly, that the panel (radiator) on the back of the fridge is cleaned regularly and most importantly! that the thermostat is set at its optimum. If its set too high (a lower temp) itll chew electricity without making much difference to temp inside the fridge. Experiment to see what works for you. Also, you can set it slightly higher (lower number) in Winter than in Summer because of the lower ambient temps. When replacing - look at the Energy Star rating. A+ or A++ will use less than half of the electricity of older appliances - and you start saving from day one!!
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:27:08 +0000
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