Energy Efficiency
When it comes to energy efficiency, there are many ways to save money and stay warm. Here are some suggestions.
Making your whare warmer
Making your whare energy efficient may sound expensive, but it’s an investment that will save you money in the long run. It reduces emissions and plays a vital role in ensuring whānau can enjoy warm, dry and healthy homes – without increased energy costs.
For more information on making your home more energy efficient view our Smart Home website here.
Warmth on a budget
With the cost of living on the rise, costs on the rise it makes sense to and reduce energy costs whenever and wherever you can. Some ways you can do that are:
- Close the curtains at night to prevent heat loss through windows.
- Only heat the rooms you are using.
- Use the right sized heater for your room.
- Turn off lights when you leave a room.
- Make sure your clothes dryer has adequate ventilation.
- Make use of natural light and sunshine where possible.
- Use a dehumidifier to remove cold, damp air.
- Consider installing a heat pump which is significantly more efficient than traditional electric heaters.
How much does it cost to run my appliances?
- Knowing how much your heating, kitchen, lighting and general household appliances cost to run can help you make the most effective savings in your whare.
- For up-to-date information on electrical appliances and how much they cost to run them, visit the EECA Energywise website.
Energy efficiency around your whare
Beat those autumn blues
As the nights cool down, it’s time to think about heating your whare. No matter what room in the house, there’s an efficient way to heat it with electricity.
Fan heaters are a cost-effective way of heating rooms quickly and efficiently. They are compact and portable and can also be built into walls, floors, or fireplaces. Special models have been designed especially for wet areas like bathrooms. Be sure to only use these in these areas and not a standard heater.
Storage heaters hold energy overnight and release a constant background heat during the day. They’re great if you are home during the day. Because they use off-peak rates during the night, they are very economical.
Possibly the best form of heating and a great investment is a heat pump. Read below to find out more!
What’s hot, heat pumps!
Heat pumps are the most efficient way to heat your home or business. They can provide efficiency gains of three or more, which means for every kilowatt of energy supplied to the heat pump, it will provide three kilowatts or more of heat.
Heat pumps can be installed in individual rooms or ducted to several rooms, depending on their size and your needs. If you’re thinking of building or installing a new heating system in your home or office, investigate an air conditioner or heat pump. They may not be as expensive as you think and are certainly the most economical to run.
Don’t overheat your power bill!
40% of the average domestic customer’s electricity use is heating hot water. Your choice of electricity tariff can have a major influence on how much you pay for your hot water.
Most of our residential customers have one electricity meter, so they pay the same rate per unit for all the electricity they use. A way you can reduce your monthly bill is to switch to a different pricing plan that meters and charges your hot water separately. For most customers, this will not affect your level of service as we remotely control most electric hot water to keep costs down.
The Consumer Powerswitch website will help determine which pricing plan is best for you and will let you compare the different charges between electricity retailers. If you would like to change your pricing plan, please call your electricity retailer.
Waipā Networks water relays – hooked water control
A relay is a device on the meter board for properties with an electric hot water cylinder. It allows Waipā Networks to turn the hot water on and off as needed.
Why should I have a relay?
The short answer is, YOU’LL SAVE MONEY.
One of our relays controlling your hot water will reduce your power bill. Customers with a relay will either have an all-inclusive/combined charge (if they have one meter) or a controlled charge (if they have more than one meter). Both of these plans are cheaper than the uncontrolled/anytime rate.
Get in touch with your electricity retailer to discuss the difference in charges or feel free to call us with any questions about hot water control.