We all take time to scrutinize our electricity bills at the end of each month, trying to compare our power consumption with the previous month. At times, the bill keeps rising and going up, yet our power usage habits haven’t changed!
This could be caused by among other things, your home appliances. It’s important that you know which electrical appliances use the most electricity in your home. Some appliances, known as Vampire Appliances, continue to gobble up power even when they’re switched off.
They include gaming consoles, microwaves (the clock on the timer uses energy), laptops, Set Top Boxes, and so on so forth.
With these, you have to literally unplug them from the sockets so they stop being powered. But these are not the highest consumers of power in the house; they’re just examples of how we lose power at home without even realizing it. When it comes to ranking electrical appliances that use the most electricity, here’s what you need to know;
Electricity consumption is measured in Kilowatt Hours/kWh and billed in cents per kWh. Thus, in order to know how much electricity an appliance is consuming, you got to check the energy it’s consuming per hour;
- Cooling and heating system; this comprises about 47% of most domestic electricity needs, gobbling 15,000 watts per hour.
- Cloth washer and dryer; your cloth washing and drying needs consist of about 13% of all your domestic energy needs
- Water Heater; at 14%, heating water in the house consumes quite a huge chunk of energy too (around 4,000 watts).
- Lighting; your lighting system can consume up to 12% of your domestic electricity. However, this can be greatly reduced by using energy efficient lighting solutions like LED energy saving bulbs.
- Refrigerator; a typical home refrigerator consumed about 1,000 watts per hour, comprising about 4% of your electricity needs.
- Desktop; your desktop and monitor consume the least electricity in your home, around 1% of all your total energy consumption. This is roughly 400 Watts an hour. However, laptops consume more power and are often categorized under the so called vampire appliances; these are appliances that consume power even when the switch is off.
Luckily, you can take a few simple measures in order to ensure that you lower your energy consumption. For instance, switching off your lights during the daytime can help; use natural daylight even if it means opening the curtains for more light to filter in. Invest in energy saving bulbs and lighting solutions, that’s a sure way of saving on your power bill as well as reducing your carbon footprints.
When it comes to the so called vampire appliances, always unplug them from the main switch when not in use. It’s not enough to switch off the switch at the socket; they’ll still continue consuming power even in that state. Shorten your showers and make a habit of washing clothes with cold water, rather than hot. Set your refrigerator to Optimal so it minimizes power consumption.
Much as your electricity company has the most say in terms of your power bills, you too can make a difference by exercising diligence. Faulty electrical appliances in particular are notorious for gobbling up power and before you realize it; your power consumption has almost doubled.
Make use of the above tips and when in doubt, contact a professional electrician to come and conduct an inspection of your wiring and appliances.
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Checking the appliances enables you to rest assured that no owner is being lost or misused due to any technical faults. Besides, it assures you that the appliances are safe and that there’s nothing to worry about in terms of safety.