Top of the list was the electricity bill.
I'm with a supplier that nattily tracks our expenditure and compares it to our average. Now I appreciate that we've all been home and winter is upon us, but dear god, how could we spend so much?? In March and April, it was $30-40 a week, but in June, it just kept going up until we cracked $100. Now there's a PB no-one should be proud of.
The real mystery was why were the weekends less painful than weekdays when given our routine, every day is pretty much the same. Here's an example.
The obvious culprits when the weather turns are heating, hot water and the dryer - but to add to the mystery, in our house, those three are gas.
I rang the energy company and discovered that the price of electricity during 'peak demand' costs more than DOUBLE off-peak. Added to the explanation is that 'peak' runs from 7am until 11pm. That's not PEAK - that's pretty much all of my waking hours!!
I believe some companies also have a 'shoulder' but I'm guessing when it's all said and done, it evens out to be the same; ridiculous!
And we might even pay higher rates in winter. I Googled that and couldn't find a clear answer.
Can I just point out this is only electricity and that our solar is currently putting almost zip back into the grid.
In an attempt to stem this hemorrhaging of money, I:
- Reprogrammed the bathroom floor heating and pond filter to go hard between 5am and 6.50am
- Ran the dishwasher from 11pm
- Used the 'delay' button on the washing machine to run during the night (I'd wondered what that was for! Poor Gary the cat sleeps in the laundry and may not appreciate it - but as he's making no financial contribution to the household, tough luck!)
I have also attempted to get people to turn off lights as they leave a room - but that's still a work in progress.
Anyway, just with those changes, here's what happened! We've whittled $20 off it. And saved some carbon.
Not exactly a holiday but better in my pocket than theirs!
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