Star ratings
When you are buying household appliances, you should always look out for the water and energy star rating labels. These star ratings will help you save energy – the more stars, the less energy the appliances use. This will save you money on your electricity bills.
Running costs
Calculate running costs yourself with our easy instructions:
- Find the wattage on your appliance
Wattage is the measure of electrical power. Sometimes this wattage will be clearly labelled (like on a light bulb). The wattage is usually printed on the actual appliance or on the packaging. To turn your wattage into kilowatts just divide by 1000. So if your heater is 3000 watts then the kW would be 3 kW. Or for example a 50 watt light bulb would be 0.05 kW. - Calculate the cost
As an average, multiply your kW (above) by the time the appliance is used, to get the kilowatt hours (kWh) consumed for that period. Then multiply your kWh by an average cost of $0.22 (retailers’ tariffs will differ so just use this as a guide) to get the cost. For example your 3 kW heater used for two hours consumes 3x2=6kWh and costs 6x$0.22= $1.32 to run, or $0.66 an hour.
You can also use an online calculator, for example the greensavingscalculator.com.au
Minimising stand-by power
If appliances are not turned off at the wall, they can still be consuming power. Consider getting a stand-by power controller and connect multiple appliances to the one unit. When you turn off the main device such as a TV, the power is cut to the other appliances too. Check with your local council to see if you are eligible for a free stand-by power controller.