Gas and Electric Bills
Winter is just around the corner and the holiday season is approaching, heating and lighting expenses see an upward trajectory at this time of the year usually. But keeping your gas and electric bills in check is the need of the hour (with the global hyperinflation) to keep your budget in check.
The global oil prices forced the component prices to skyrocket as well and we’re experiencing some of the highest rates for oil derivatives across the globe. This has pushed up the transportation cost, and in countries highly reliant on thermal energy, the gas and electric bills have generally gone up too.
Not all is gloom and doom though, there are ways you can easily control your soaring gas and electric bills, and that too without too much effort on your part.
Everything You Need to Know About Gas and Electric Bills
If you don’t know it already, gas and electric bills are not linear. This means that as you consume you may either be subjected to a steeper rate or a lowered rate.
We’ll break it down for you. Say you’re travelling for the whole billing period and don’t consume gas or electricity; chances are you’ll still be charged a certain fixed amount.
This fixed/flat amount is meant to cover the maintenance costs of the distribution infrastructure and is sadly a global practice. Easy to understand? Not really! There are other factors in play too.
As you consume more and more, you might be subjected to a different (usually higher) per unit rate to discourage excessive burden on the national distribution network. This practice leads to confusing charges and unpredictable expenses at the month end.
How to Save On Your Electric and Gas Bills?
Understanding the electricity bill is the key to minimizing it, but more on that later. There are a few inexpensive workarounds that you can employ that will help you keep your electric/gas bills down.
We’ll make a shortlist for you:
- Use blinds and curtains to preserve indoor heat/cold.
- Use maximum sunlight and avoid active lighting.
- Keep furnaces/HVAC systems maintained.
- Avoid using inefficient appliances.
- Try using LED decoration for special events.
- Replace the air conditioner filters frequently.
- Wash only when full loads of dirty laundry.
- Air-dry the washed laundry.
- Keep dishwasher use at minimal – Try hand washing the dishes.
- Turn off the appliances especially air conditioners and air purifiers when not in need.
The list isn’t exhaustive and there are a ton of things that you can do, but we’ve enlisted the top ones that do not require further investments, but rather involve minor adjustments to your everyday routines.
If you’re ready to save some cash and want a solution that won’t force you to take care of these petty issues, then switching to solar can go a long way in ensuring a greener planet and significantly lower or zero electricity/gas costs.
How is the Bill Calculated?
As we discussed earlier, gas and electric bills usually involve a complex calculation and it isn’t usually linear. Understanding the bill is more than just knowing the rates; it ultimately requires you to know your unit usage. As a general rule of thumb, some companies use the following formula for calculating the total bill:
A base Charge + (Per Unit Charge X {Number of Units Consumed}) + Taxes = Total Expense
If you just want to have an estimate of your total bill, including usage of every appliance, without any taxes you can follow the below mentioned steps:
- Convert the wattage into kilowatts by dividing it with 1000.
- Multiply the answer with the number of hours the appliance usually runs in a day.
- Multiply it now with 30 days to know the average KWh usage of your appliance.
- Multiply it with the rate of your utility provider to calculate the cost contribution of the appliance in the bill every month.
- Repeat the steps for every appliance in your home and add them to get an estimate of your total bill every month.
