Finally, although not with any warning, the men came the other day....to connect a new inverter to our system, as the original one was faulty.....I would never choose this company again...They stuffed me around so much....and until I told them I had a meeting scheduled with Consumer Affairs.....that work finally got done.....I'm still not happy though, as I wasn't aware that they were coming out to install it, and I wasn't home....a neighbour told me they had been.....so I have no idea how to read the inverter...and no idea what any of the data means......the company told me that someone would 'explain it all to me'.....Pfttttt!!
I do know though that I have started decreasing the amount of 'standby' all our appliances have.....
I, like many others are trying to reduce our electricity bills....
It seems that every time we find a way to cut our costs and usage....we here of another price increase in the use of our electricity....it's so frustrating......
A few months back, I bought a wind-up torch for early morning rises....(I wind it up during the day though) and night time snail hunting in the garden...amongst other uses.....I have also bought another wind-up torch with a built in radio....so now I can listen to the radio while I am out in the garden.....for free......which I like...Batteries are sooo expensive...and I prefer to use re-chargeable batteries too...but I only have a limited supply of them, and they are always being used, like in the smoke alarms, and wall clocks...even in the remotes....
I recently bought a device that allows me turn off multiple electrical items in one go.....the idea is, each power board that is being used....plug it into one of the adapters, then plug the adaptor into the wall socket....
Each night now I go to the computer, press A1 to turn off everything.....
I then go to the tv unit, press A2 to turn off everything......
I then go to the back lounge-room where the boys hang out.....press A3 and turn off everything.....
All with the one remote.....we now don't have anything left on standby...so less electricity...I'm sure it will be a huge savings....but will need to wait to find out....another great thing about this....I can use up to 20 different combinations....as they come in packs without the remote as well.....These ones are from Bunnings, and for the three switches and one remote...it cost me just under $30.
I have also been turning the dishwasher and the washing machine off at the wall for a few weeks too...as they also have a standby light on them......I just need to get a few more...as I want to plug one into the microwave....as we don't use it that often any more......
Another idea which I got from Rose......We have a night-light that is plugged into the bathroom socket, so we don't need to turn on the big light....I am thinking about sourcing a few solar lights...and placing one in the bathroom....thus removing another item being plugged into the wall.....We have a huge skylight in the bathroom, so I'm pretty certain that it would get charged through the night.....
I'm really pleased with these decision....does anyone else use something like this...If so, have you noticed a difference in your power bills?
