electricity bill

[faza]

Just got our electricity bill $1075 not happy 

[Retropin]

HOLY COW!!!

We dont have heating in winter or cooling in summer, but my bills come in at just under $700 and to get there i shout round the house for all lights off etc... sound like a grumpy old man.
Most families at breaking point financially and yet this is a resource boom.
friggin unreal!

[philtech]

 Got my bill last week $800.00 and I am really cheesed off.
But if we are fooled into the carbon tax and then latter smart meters, $3000,00 will be the norm for the average household.     

[48]

Maybe we need to make all our pins 3 ball games? 

[Caveoftreasures]

WARNING  WARNING  WARNING.

Did u know, that electricity companies only usually read your meter 1 in 4 visits.  They usually guesstimate your readings 3 out of 4 bills and then average things back if they have overcharged on the last 3 bills, when they do the 4th bill. BUT the problem here, is that it is common for the electricity companies to guesstimate bills for dozens n dozens of bills. I got my neighbour a cheque back for over $3,000 (3grand), got my mum back $1800 and my brother got back a cheque for $1200. I got a cheque back for $900. These people also misread your meters as well. DO not trust their readings, do your own bills

Rule 1.
go out every friday night and take the meter readings in a cheap exercise book. Do this for say 12 weeks. U can then see the average weekly use u are really using.
Rule 2.
check the last bill and its readings. go out n look at your meters n see if the reading today is close to what they say the last reading was. (my mums bill said that the reading was 61,000 units, but when we looked at the meter, it was only on 21,000 units) * this is a fine example of meter and bill guestimating.
Rule 3.
ring around several electricity companies and find out their rates, but also the times they charge peak n offpeak for.
*An example of this, is that some companies wound the peak time back from 9am to 6am, and extended the peak time from 6pm to 9pm at night. So whilst the rates were good, they cheat you by moving the peak n offpeak times.

Shop around for a NEW electricity supplier, change every globe to a new power saver type, and live like its the blitz of world war 2 back in 1944, and use next to nothing lights wise and power point wise unless u have to. I followed these simple rules and cut my electricity bills by around 40 percent. 

Hope it helps. Read your own meters weekly and dont put it off.

Cavey !  .

[goodolddays]

Rule 1.
go out every friday night and take the meter readings in a cheap exercise book. Do this for say 12 weeks. U can then see the average weekly use u are really using.
Rule 2.
check the last bill and its readings. go out n look at your meters n see if the reading today is close to what they say the last reading was. (my mums bill said that the reading was 61,000 units, but when we looked at the meter, it was only on 21,000 units) * this is a fine example of meter and bill guestimating.
Rule 3.
ring around several electricity companies and find out their rates, but also the times they charge peak n offpeak for.
*An example of this, is that some companies wound the peak time back from 9am to 6am, and extended the peak time from 6pm to 9pm at night. So whilst the rates were good, they cheat you by moving the peak n offpeak times.
 Read your own meters weekly and dont put it off.

Cavey !  .

[goodolddays]

Meant to add .. Great advice Brett 

[mildflame]

Are these prices yearly? 

[48]

nah mate quarterly (every three months) 

[studley67]

vote 1 for carbon tax...not

[piesrule]

We had a smart meter fitted in Jan, then they came back the other day and fitted an aerail ( which they were meant to fit at the time but forgot) so now they never have to come here and read it again, they do it from a central location by remote.

[mildflame]

We had a smart meter fitted in Jan, then they came back the other day and fitted an aerail ( which they were meant to fit at the time but forgot) so now they never have to come here and read it again, they do it from a central location by remote.

dosen't mean they'll use the correct reading, it just means they don't need to pay someone to come out and read it!

[Caveoftreasures]

I worked out it costs apx 4 to 6 cents per hour to run a DMD pinball machine. Thank fark for that at least.  (I have a smart meter that gives me the cost of every appliance in the house in real time as I turn it off and on and gives perfect costing accuracy).

I note, 4 cents per hour is with the machine just turned on in attract mode, and 6 cents per hour with the game being played. These figures are the same over apx 30 different DMD machines. So overall, the pinball designers did a good job designing these games to save electricity use and costs whilst being placed on-site. 
 
If ya electricity bill is high and the wife blames the pinball machines for the big bill $, you can now defend yourself and your pinball machines knowing the price per hour to run them is bugger all.   

* tips to save money, set ya washing machine/dishwasher etc to start at midnight etc, when everyone is in bed and it will use offpeak rates etc , depending on what plan/electricity company u are using. The way bills were calculated say 5 years ago, are completely different to how these companies do it today. It used to be only hot water had a peak n offpeak cost, but not anymore. They now stiff you on all usages. It pays bigtime $ to study your bill and your supplier, and to really shop around. 

[goodolddays]

* tips to save money, set ya washing machine/dishwasher etc to start at midnight etc, when everyone is in bed and it will use offpeak rates etc , 

You can be unlucky though and have your dishwasher plumbing spring a leak and wake up to the sound of water running and find your kitchen flooded at 3AM  . Unlikely, but did happen to us once .

[philtech]

 Please check out the link on radiation generated from the smart ass meters and much more.