Oh, thank goodness!!

I have been dreading getting my winter electricity bill. I've been anxiously checking my mailbox - well, the kids have for me - knowing it would be on its way soon. I've been reading and hearing horror stories as to some of the big bills received! Now, we do have gas that we use for cooking, our water and a gas heater in our family room, but we had decided this winter to use our ducted r/c air-conditioning to heat overnight. We'd turn it on during off-peak times only, and usually only for a couple of hours to keep the chill off the air.

When DD was in hospital when she was 10 days old for bronchiolitis , the pediatrician we spoke to recommended the air temperature that littlies breath be 18 degrees or above. And we made a concious decision that it would be cheaper to heat the house than pay any potential medical bills should the kids get sick.

Last winter, we used a large oil heater to heat the kids room, again using off-peak electricity. We could close off the hallway, leave the kids doors ajar, and it would successfully heat all their rooms. But hubby and I didn't tend to heat our room, or only on the very coldest of nights. So this year we went the air-conditioning route.

Well, big sigh of relief! Our bill was $417.55. We used just 70kWh per day more than this time last year, and this bill was only $20 more than this time last year, despite TWO rises in prices. I'm relieved! Our off peak usage was definitely much higher than the previous year, but our peak usage has remained about the same.

We probably weren't as vigilant as we could have been with turning off things at the powerpoint either, but I only used the dryer on about 10 occasions over winter, as I simply couldn't fit all our washing on our undercover line and keep up with the clothes, sheets and towels.