RetireJapan

StockBeard wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:46 am

Tomthumb16 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:18 am Everyone is doing great so all good on that front..except that I got my Electric and gas bill and it came to a whooping ¥51,000!!!
It’s usually about ¥25,000.
We live in a two bedroom house...my wife is on maternity leave so the electric is on more than usual I get that... but ¥51,000!!!
Is this average for other members with young kids on this forum?

Genuine question for comparison purposes: are those bills for 2 months or one month?

Looking at our energy bill: (family of 5)
when we used to live in a 80 sq. meter manshon, this was 11'000 yen on average per month (electricity + gas)

We've moved to a 130 sq. meters, 4 bedrooms home in July (wife is stay at home, our youngest is 3). Here, our average energy bill is 10'000 yen per month so far (100% electricity). It's worth mentioning that I haven't seen the bill for January yet, and December was significantly above other months at 12'000, so I'd say the heater can indeed increase the bill significantly. I wouldn't be surprised if January goes to 15'000. We keep the home relatively cold. I like it, my wife thinks it's too cold. We keep it at 19C in the morning from 5am to 10 am (using a timer on the heater), then stop the heater around 10 am. The house then cools down throughout the day and I'd say it goes maybe down to 16-17 by evening (haven't checked actual temperature). We're in an energy efficient house (or supposed to be, at least), so I would expect our bill to be on the low end of the scale considering the size of the house.

With all of this being said: If 51'000 yen is your bill for 2 months, and you had the heater on constantly, this does not seem too surprising to me (25'000 per month is high but could be explained by the heater: friends with typical Japanese homes tell me they spend between 15'000 and 20'000 a month in summer or winter).

If 51'000 yen is your bill for one month, I cannot begin to explain how and where you would use so much energy. The usual suspect is insulation. If you own your place, consider having it checked by experts for advice on where you could insulate more (usually starting with the roof and/or the attic is the right place). If you rent... consider moving to a better place?
Or, maybe your appliances are faulty to some extent? Even my friends who have "typical" (not properly insulated) houses don't go to such an insane bill.

Then, for the obvious advice: Fridge, Aircon, TV, oven, and desktop computer are the biggest energy users in our household. We do not use a dryer for clothes, I'd assume this thing uses a lot of energy too. You can't stop the fridge but might be able to lower its energy use by setting it to a "milder" temperature (which might be ok in winter). Aircon, well you just said you wouldn't change that, so just make sure the baby is in the most well insulated room, and if you have poor insulation, don't keep the aircon "on" when humans are not in the room, you'd be just heating the outside. TV: if you have an old plasma TV, consider getting a new "LED" one. Desktop computer: don't leave it on for "convenience". These things suck a lot of power (I have a lot of friends who use those as plex servers, and keep them on all day long for the convenience of having the plex server on when they get back home in the evening... probably an expensive choice). As much as possible don't leave these appliances in "sleep" mode as this can be surprisingly huge on your bill. And turn off the lights when you leave a room. None of this will help dramatically, but in aggregate, good habits can significantly reduce the bill.

Last but not least: pick your fights. I've been in fights with my wife regarding energy use (in particular aircon use in winter and summer), and those are not pretty (it's easy for me to criticize, I'm not at home the whole day except on weekends, so I don't really know how cold it can be or whatnot). How much effort/fights are you willing to go through to reduce your bill, by, say, 30% for the rest of the year? (rhetorical question. That's for you to figure out on your end, ha )

Also, not sure if electricity rates are different depending on where you live? It might be worth asking friends/neighbors/colleagues as well.

Tomthumb16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:10 am the drier in our shower room is on for about 3 hours a day drying clothes.
Constantly compromising with my wife on hanging them outside rather than using the drier in the shower room....

StockBeard wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:53 am

Tomthumb16 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:10 am the drier in our shower room is on for about 3 hours a day drying clothes.
Constantly compromising with my wife on hanging them outside rather than using the drier in the shower room....

Arguably, hanging the clothes to dry in your main room (bedroom?) would work, since the heater is already on, and it would give you some moisture that lots of people appreciate around here as winters are dry... Maybe it's a dumb suggestion, but definitely the kind of stuff I would personally try, ha

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:58 pm We dry in the living room (or outside on the balcony if it is clear).

Roger101 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:32 pm you asked about advice.

I don't know how old your fridge is, .... but if its more than 5 to 7 years old I would check out how efficient it is (kakaku.com or google)

and then do the same with new ones. I did this just before the tax went up and I was surprised that our new fridge uses about 20% less power
I know this won't dent your big heating bill much but at least this saving will be all year round

just a thought