How to Reduce Your Electricity Bill Part 2

Have you got your residential electricity bill after the new tariff rates was introduced on 1st January 2014? If your electricity consumption per month is more than 300kWh, you will be charged according to the new tariff system and the surcharge for Renewable Energy Fund revised from 1.0% to 1.6%.

In other words, if you maintain your monthly electricity consumption below 300kWh, you will not be affected by the new tariff rates and you do not need to pay for the 1.6% Renewable Energy Fund. I've previously posted about tips on reducing electricity, this time I'll concentrate on home lighting. Nowadays, our houses are typically litted by fluorescent lamps, such as downlights and 4' T8 fluorescent tubes. Over the past few years, LED technology had become popular in home lighting.

LED lamps consume less energy, generate less heat and have longer lifetime than fluorescent lamps. However, the price of LED lamps is normally double of fluorescent lamps. The price gap is smaller now as more and more LED lamps are manufactured. Today, you can get a branded LED downlight from RM 25 and T8 LED tube from RM 55 in the market.

Let's see how much we can actually save by changing the lamps from fluorescent to LED:
Scenario 1: 12pcs 15W downlights switched on everyday for 12 hours,
Scenario 2: 6pcs 42W 4' T8 fluorescent lamps switched on everyday for 12 hours.

	Fluorescent Lamp	LED Lamp
Scenario 1	64.8 kWh	25.92 kWh
Scenario 2	90.72 kWh	38.88 kWh
Total	155.52 kWh	64.80 kWh

The total monthly electricity consumption for LED lamps is reduced from 155.52 kWh to 64.80 kWh, almost 60% reduction as compared to that of fluorescent lamps. Assume that the total monthly electricity consumption ranges from 301 to 600 kWh before implementing LED lamps, total savings by would be RM 46.81 per month.

Total cost = RM 630 (Assume RM 25 for LED downlight and RM 55 for T8 LED Tube)

ROI = 13.5 months

In conclusion, it is recommended to switch to LED lamps as the price is more affordable now. You can start by changing the lamps that are frequently used and you can notice the difference from electricity bill.