Just a few simple adjustments can help keep your bills in check
By Siti Rohani
Electricity tariffs have increased in Singapore this quarter – making this the third consecutive quarter that tariffs have gone up.
It now costs 23.65 cents per kwh, up from 22.15 cents, to power up your appliances.
This will lead to an average increase of 6.9 per cent in monthly bills.
A family living in a four-room HDB flat will likely be spending $5.61 more a month on electricity.
Coupled with the water tariff hike that kicked in on 1 July, households across the country will be looking at much higher monthly bills.
With the hike, households that use more than 40m3 of water per month will be charged a premium of $3.69 per m3, compared to just $2.74 per m3 if you can keep your usage to under 40m3 per month.
A cubic metre of water is equivalent to 1000 litres.
If you don’t want to see your bills skyrocketing, heed these tips to keep usage under control.
1. Use energy efficient appliances
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More than 75 per cent of the electricity used goes to just three appliances: air conditioners (36.7 per cent), water heaters (20.9 per cent) and fridges (18.5 per cent).
According to Energy Efficient Singapore, switching to a 5-tick air conditioner system can save you $270 a year, if you’re the sort who uses it for eight hours daily.
You can also save $75 a year if you switch to a 3-tick refrigerator model.
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2. Set your air conditioner on a timer
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You can save several hours of air-con use per month if you just put it on timer till 3am instead of letting it run the entire night.
Keep the fan on to circulate the cool air in the room.
You should also clean and service your air-con units often to ensure they run more efficiently.
3. Switch off your water heater when not in use
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This is one instance when forgetting to switch off your electrical appliance can cost you big bucks.
Storage water heaters continue using energy as long as they’re switched on.
According to Energy Efficient Singapore, accidentally leaving them on all day, every day, will cost you $110 a year.
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Electricity tariffs have increased in Singapore this quarter – making this the third consecutive quarter that tariffs have gone up.
It now costs 23.65 cents per kwh, up from 22.15 cents, to power up your appliances.
This will lead to an average increase of 6.9 per cent in monthly bills.
A family living in a four-room HDB flat will likely be spending $5.61 more a month on electricity.
Coupled with the water tariff hike that kicked in on 1 July, households across the country will be looking at much higher monthly bills.
With the hike, households that use more than 40m3 of water per month will be charged a premium of $3.69 per m3, compared to just $2.74 per m3 if you can keep your usage to under 40m3 per month.
A cubic metre of water is equivalent to 1000 litres.
If you don’t want to see your bills skyrocketing, heed these tips to keep usage under control.
4. Use the half flush function more often
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It may seem like a small gesture but using two half flushes and two full flushes a day, instead of four full flushes, will save three litres of water.
That’s 90 litres of water a month per person.
Get everyone at home to do this and you’ll save even more.
5. Cut down on your showering time
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You’ve probably seen the humorous signs that say, “Save Water, Shower with a Friend!”
You may not need to resort to communal showering just yet but the point behind the cheeky saying still stands – use less water while in the bathroom.
And that can be done simply by cutting down the amount of time you spend showering.
According to Singapore water agency PUB, an average person uses 151 litres of water daily, of which 29 per cent (almost 44 litres) is for showering.
Just being more mindful of the time spent in the shower, and turning off the shower head while you lather up and shampoo, can help you save water and money.
