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Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:07 am
by RetireJapan
My electric bills are much lower recently, since I bought a new fridge and A/C. New appliances are so much more efficient than older ones that it might be worth checking the consumption and seeing if you could save a bit of money (and the planet) by upgrading.
I just looked online at the maker's estimates for annual consumption for both the old and the new devices.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:32 am
by KCLenny
RetireJapan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:07 am
My electric bills are much lower recently, since I bought a new fridge and A/C. New appliances are so much more efficient than older ones that it might be worth checking the consumption and seeing if you could save a bit of money (and the planet) by upgrading.
I just looked online at the maker's estimates for annual consumption for both the old and the new devices.
Been thinking of that myself. Current fridge was a second hand one that was possibly even second before that. Mainly need a bigger one though as current one is just a little too small.
Problem is finding both a bigger one and cheap one that is also more energy efficient.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:38 am
by adamu
It probably takes a bit of effort to project what your savings would be, but once you do that you can do a simple analysis.
Divide the cost of the new appliance by the monthly energy saving, and that's how many months it takes until you've made back your initial investment. After that you can enjoy permanently lower bills for effectively nothing.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:26 am
by mighty58
RetireJapan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:07 am
My electric bills are much lower recently, since I bought a new fridge and A/C. New appliances are so much more efficient than older ones that it might be worth checking the consumption and seeing if you could save a bit of money (and the planet) by upgrading.
I just looked online at the maker's estimates for annual consumption for both the old and the new devices.
So getting down to brass tacks, how much did you save and how much did the appliances cost you?
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:54 am
by RetireJapan
mighty58 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:26 am
RetireJapan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:07 am
My electric bills are much lower recently, since I bought a new fridge and A/C. New appliances are so much more efficient than older ones that it might be worth checking the consumption and seeing if you could save a bit of money (and the planet) by upgrading.
I just looked online at the maker's estimates for annual consumption for both the old and the new devices.
So getting down to brass tacks, how much did you save and how much did the appliances cost you?
If I were a better financial blogger I could probably answer that! And I'm not sure it would have made sense just from a financial perspective. But the old appliances were very old (A/C 27 years, fridge 17 years) so we were going to replace them anyway. The electric bill being 6,000 yen instead of 13,000 was just a nice bonus
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:28 pm
by JimNasium
Maybe this doesn’t quite fit in with the topic, but I used to be really frugal with my cooling and heating. I tried not to use my AC at all, I kept blankets on during winter, etc. But my friend pointed out to me that saving an extra 1000-2000 yen a month on the bill just isn’t worth the cost of discomfort. I’m so much happier now that I can just turn my AC in when it’s hot, and keep a heater going in the winter. My happiness is worth more than 2000 yen a month.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:23 pm
by pfdsa
JimNasium wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:28 pm
Maybe this doesn’t quite fit in with the topic, but I used to be really frugal with my cooling and heating. I tried not to use my AC at all, I kept blankets on during winter, etc. But my friend pointed out to me that saving an extra 1000-2000 yen a month on the bill just isn’t worth the cost of discomfort. I’m so much happier now that I can just turn my AC in when it’s hot, and keep a heater going in the winter. My happiness is worth more than 2000 yen a month.
Completely understand you on this one. Also used to avoid using the AC at all costs, but decided to try and use it whenever I want to for one month to see how it was. Turns out the electricity bill only went up for some 1500-2000 yen, and like you said, my happiness is worth more than 2000 yen a month.
Heating on the other hand pretty much doubles my bills (a single Kerosene heater), maybe I will look up one that is more efficient.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:46 am
by Teflon
I've got a new 3LDK manshon with all the latest energy efficient AC, refrigerator, etc that I bought last year. This summer my electric bill has been between 10,000 to 20,000 yen and gas has been around 3,000. I suspect this is because in summer I have the AC on at all times in my bedroom and living room at a constant temp of 22 with the dehumidifier running at all times. Gas costs are low because I don't take hot showers in summer, especially after jogging 10k in 35 degree weather.
In winter my monthly electric bill is about 5,000 yen and gas is about 7,000. I don't use the aircon units at all during the winter. Instead I turn on the floor heating which provides enough ambient heat to keep the whole place comfy. Hence, the higher gas bill in winter since the floor heating uses hot water coils and the hot water is heated by gas. At least, that's my theory.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:32 am
by RetireJapan
JimNasium wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 2:28 pm
Maybe this doesn’t quite fit in with the topic, but I used to be really frugal with my cooling and heating. I tried not to use my AC at all, I kept blankets on during winter, etc. But my friend pointed out to me that saving an extra 1000-2000 yen a month on the bill just isn’t worth the cost of discomfort. I’m so much happier now that I can just turn my AC in when it’s hot, and keep a heater going in the winter. My happiness is worth more than 2000 yen a month.
This is a really important point. My wife and I agreed a long time ago that we would never scrimp on food, and we've used oil heaters for years now (they use a lot of electricity but are by far the most pleasant form of heating we've had here).
On the other hand I drive a 20-year old kei car that I got from my daughter (who got it from her grandmother) so we save a bit of money there. Swings and roundabouts.
Re: Electric bills
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:38 am
by adamu
Teflon wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:46 am
I've got a new 3LDK manshon with all the latest energy efficient AC, refrigerator, etc that I bought last year. This summer my electric bill has been between 10,000 to 20,000 yen and gas has been around 3,000. I suspect this is because in summer I have the AC on at all times in my bedroom and living room at a constant temp of 22 with the dehumidifier running at all times. Gas costs are low because I don't take hot showers in summer, especially after jogging 10k in 35 degree weather.
In winter my monthly electric bill is about 5,000 yen and gas is about 7,000. I don't use the aircon units at all during the winter. Instead I turn on the floor heating which provides enough ambient heat to keep the whole place comfy. Hence, the higher gas bill in winter since the floor heating uses hot water coils and the hot water is heated by gas. At least, that's my theory.
I'm guessing you're on mains gas, because with propane those gas numbers would probably be a lot higher. Whoops, this is the electricity thread.