Nowadays, modern society is highly dependent on electrical power supply. To live and make our life comfortable, we use number of appliances or gadgets at our residences or offices. Because of this, the demand of electricity consumption is also going high that results in high electricity bill.
We all want less electricity bill but most of us don’t know how to reduce that. This article will discuss the ways thereon.
Thumb rule of ARE-R to reduce electricity bill
The first alphabet “A” means Avoid use of electricity when not needed or when not in use. Second alphabet “R” means Reduce use of electricity (Use gadgets smartly). Third alphabet “E” means Energy Efficient (Replacement of gadgets with energy efficient gadgets). Fourth alphabet “R” means Use of Renewable Energy (Solar Energy). Steps to be taken:
- Avoid use of electricity when not needed or when not in use: We mostly do these silly mistakes in our daily routine life i.e., we switch on lights or fans or any other appliances for doing our work then go away or leave that room without switching them off. This seems to be small mistakes but just because of this, not only our electricity bill goes high, but also electricity goes waste.
For Example: Lights ON in empty living room (figure 1).
- Example for the calculation of waste of energy in bulbs: Suppose we are using two standard incandescent bulbs of 60 W each in our living room or any other place. And we switch ON those incandescent bulbs without any reason or use for 5 hours per day (for assumption point of view) for calculating the waste of energy of 1 month.
Wattage of 2 standard incandescent bulbs if switched ON for 1 hour = 2 x 60 x 1 =120 Watt-Hour (Wh)
120 Wh of energy is used in just 1 hour. So, if it is used for 5 hours then this energy will be =120 Wh x 5 = 600 Wh energy wastage in just 1 day.
Let’s take an average calculation for a month (30 days) = 600 x 30 = 18,000 watts (Means 18 Unit/Month).
Just because of these 2 standard incandescent bulbs of living room (only 1 place), there is energy wastage of 18 Units/Month and for one year this becomes 216 Units/Year.
- Reduce use of electricity (Use gadgets smartly): One more example, we have a good habit to Iron our clothes & this can be avoided in winters especially for shirts as we cover them with another heavy cloth like jackets (refer figure 2).
- Example of waste of energy in electric iron: The wattage of an electric iron lies between 500 watts to 2000 watts, so let’s take the average value of electric iron is 1200 watt.
Let’s assume we will use this electric iron for 15 minutes every day for 2 months (Peak month of winter session).
Hence, we can calculate the daily, monthly, and annual power consumption of this 1200 watts clothes iron.
In this case, wattage is 1200 watts and operational hours are 15 minutes (0.25 hours) in a day, i.e., 7.5 hours in a month. Therefore:
Daily power consumption of a 1200watts electric iron (15 mins) = 1200 watts X 0.25 hours = 0.3 kWh
Similarly, the monthly power consumption of a 1200 watts electric iron (15 mins/day for 30 days) = 1200 watts X 7.5 hours = 9 kWh (9 Units).
Thus, you can see, 9 units/month is wasted in using electric iron for ironing your clothes.
We should always use gadgets with appropriate manner in which we feel comfort. I have seen many people use blanket while using the AC, Every AC has thermostat setting through which we can control its temperature. We have to use AC at our comfortable zone. We have to keep our thermostat setting at 26°C, which is our comfortable zone. It is not necessary to run your AC at 21°C & wear blanket (refer figure 3).
Always use gadgets in smart way, it will help you in reducing your electricity bills. All small changes in the usage will definitely make your pocket happy and help the society in reducing the global warming contribution.
- Replacement of out-dated gadgets with energy efficient gadgets: With the advancement of new technology, now many efficient appliances are available in the market. Replace your old appliances with more efficient appliances that consume less power but will give you the same or more output.
Example of energy efficient appliances – a 60-watt standard incandescent bulb may be replaced with a 15-watt LED bulb (It reduces electricity consumption by 75%) refer figure 4. We can reduce energy consumption by 40-60% by using efficient appliances.
- Use of renewable energy (Solar energy): We can reduce our energy consumption by ARE (Avoid, Reduce & Energy Efficient) through which we can reduce our electricity bills – but the next “R”of thumb rule is totally different from these. The fourth alphabet “R” means Use of Renewable Energy (Solar energy) i.e., solar PV at rooftop of our house (refer figure 5).
We all know very well that most of the energy is generated by coal burning processes that generate energy as well as CO2 that is harmful for our mother earth. Also, coal is limited, definitely it will get emptied in future. If every family becomes generator of its own energy – means every family generates its own energy by itself, then our mother earth can be saved easily. At the same time, each such family can save in its electricity bill.
Advantages of solar energy:
- Solar energy has become a viable solution
- It is cost-effective
- All its components are easily available in the market
- It needs low maintenance
- With battery storage, we can give away our electricity connection (No bills)
- It can be installed on rooftop of any building
- It can be used independently even for a household
- Sunlight can be found everywhere on earth, no need to move on.
- Due to all these advantages, we should adopt solar energy as soon as possible.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar Arora obtained his B. Tech. and M.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi. He completed his PhD in grounding system design from UPES, Dehradun. He is also a certified Energy Manager and Auditor and has worked in 400kV and 220kV Substations for more than 14 years in Delhi Transco Limited (DTL). He has also worked as Deputy Director (Transmission and Distribution) in Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). Presently he is working in D&E (Design and Engineering) department of DTL.
