I live in west end, Brisbane in a 2bedroom unit by myself... And 35 fishtanks, and 5 snakes that may or maynot be heated correctly at times. The hot water system is a large one which I turn on every 2nd or 3rd day AFTER 11pm at night and off by 7 am as that's the hotwater tarrif time. The place is concrete basically and holds the heat pretty well, and is a bit cooler in summer, but if its like 36 degrees, its going to be hot whatever you do. I usually wear a shirt and shorts in winter, but the fishtanks combined heat holding capacity helps out, as well as only opening the place up in the middle of the day, except if its a cold day.
If you're cold, wear extra jumpers ect, don't be lazy useing dishwashers- by hand the good old fashioned way... I wash my clothes and let them dry overnight with a fan blowing on them but if its warmer or windy I get it done then. You can get an energy audit and a few devices and lights and stuff, or you used to be able to. L.E.D lights are good and pay for themselves after ?2 years, but they last so many times longer the incandescents. Solar panels should pay for themselves within a few years... A friend and I were looking at one of the higher powered ones, and I think we figured it out to be 18mths, but he has upgradeable system and is on the earlier feed in rate.
You should look into peak times, depending on power companies and ask if there's a possibility for a discount somewhere as well, it can't hurt.
A 100% increase in your power bill is b.s, I'd be complaining to the energy ombudsman ASAP
And i tell ya what, when this idiot gets rid of the carbon tax, the power companies had fn well better drop the prices respectively or else.
My power is about $500-550/ quarter. I thought it was to be a bit higher,somehow it wasn't
But the winter bill, with the new company is about to arrive so I m curious as to how much it'll be. I was with agl but switched to a sister company that reakons a 10% discount will be comeing off the agl bill - so let's see.
