health

8 ways to reduce your winter electricity bill.

Do you spend all Winter stressing about your electricity bill?

It’s that time of the year, when we have to try and keep our homes nice and warm, and keep our electricity bills under $1,000. These days, it’s not easy. Electricity prices have been steadily increasing and the Electricity Ombudsman has been overwhelmed with complaints from customers.

Something needs to be done, that’s for certain. When you have families having to choose between sick kids and saving money, something’s not working.

It's hard to keep kids healthy in winter and save money on electricity costs.

The latest radical proposal to address rising electricity costs is one that suggests charging customers for "peak usage only". Households would be charged based on their maximum load on particular days, which would hopefully encourage residents to more carefully monitor their use of heaters and airconditioners during peak times. It also suggests electricity providers be able to turn appliances off during peak times.

The proposal by the Gratton Institute says this should lead to reduced electricity prices overall. Grattan energy program director Tony Wood, told News Corp the system has worked in France since 1995. "You wouldn’t even notice the difference,” Mr Wood said. The idea has been trialled in locations including Glenelg, South Australia. In the trial, peak demand was slashed by up to 37 per cent."

While government officials, regulators and energy providers debate amongst themselves as to who exactly is to blame, there's plenty you can be doing to reduce your energy usage, starting today.

Do you have any smart ways of reducing your electricity bill?

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