Singapore Expats

Hi Everyone,

I'm wondering if I could get some advice on the electricity bill (or maybe similar experiences). Is there a premium price for electricity within the CBD? I live in a studio unit, although we have 3 air conditioning units, we only use one, only at night-time from around 11p to 8a, and we keep it on economical mode. Also, we turn off the water-heater, except from around 7pm to 11pm at night. I also keep my computers off when I'm out, and lights off. Yet, each month our electricity bill is around $220-$280. We've tried everything to keep the bill down. We hear friends who also live at condos, they keep the aircon on all the time, but the bill never even hits $150. I'm wondering if anyone could provide some advice, or is it possible that there is a mistake at SP services in reading the meter?

Thanks!

You should be able to see on the bill what is eating the electricity, the aircon would depend on the output, size of room, it does appear to be quite high, though it could also be an estimate! It's easy enough to work out, if you have doubts contact them for an explanation. My guess is the wattage of the aircon is quite high, so you need to regulate the temperature even more, and set it on the timer for 1 hr at bedtime..

ksl wrote:You should be able to see on the bill what is eating the electricity, the aircon would depend on the output, size of room, it does appear to be quite high, though it could also be an estimate! It's easy enough to work out, if you have doubts contact them for an explanation. My guess is the wattage of the aircon is quite high, so you need to regulate the temperature even more, and set it on the timer for 1 hr at bedtime..

And a dirty aircon eats a lot of power, and a freezer stacked to the roof sucks it, and a fridge crammed with everything does the same

and, yah, forgot, the metering is - 1st x unit at say 5 cents, exceeding that, the price 'jumps' and exceeding the latter, multiples .. not fair, but that's Singapore, so those who manage their usage pay least, and those who dont care, not don't just end up paying more, but they pay more X more X more

Also, if you have a home entertainment system that's left on standby (like a wide screen FP TV, these thing consume 25% of full on power when in standby. Also, if you have a water heater (storage type) these regularly draw more than the instant types as the instant type are only on for 10 minutes at a time. If you have a 15 or 20 litre storage tank it take a lot to keep it hot.

On the back of your utility bill in the lower left corner you will see a graph of your usage charges for electricity and water. There is a line through it at some point that represents the national average for a home of your size. You will also note that usually every other one has a * beside it. That is an estimated bill. There is a note there where you can do a manual reading and give it to them by phone if you desire an accurate bill.

gocanucks wrote:Also, we turn off the water-heater, except from around 7pm to 11pm at night.

I find that those immersion cyclinders heat up very quickly. So I'd get up, switch on the heater, have breakfast and 10-15 later minutes switch it off and have a shower. It might depend on what temperature you like your showers, but that was good enough for me.

Edit to add:
After SMSs comments about TVs on standby I checked the specs in the handbook for our TV. Power usage is:
On 95W
Standby 0.19W
Off 0.18W

So a saving of just 0.01W/hr using off instead of standby!

(using standby for a whole year = the same energy as a 1200W hairdryer does in 4 minutes )


My feeling is it has to be the air-con. What temp setting are you using? And this 'studio', to what extent is it open plan, i.e. how large is the studio room?

What temp is your a/c set to? Having it run for 8 hours a day can seriously chew electricity. I have only a sheet on my bed (no blanket / duvet) and keep the a/c on enough to cool the room down (26'C). If I leave it on overnight then it is on the economy setting.

We'd sleep in t-shirts and pajama shorts. Leave the windows open (bedroom and en-suite so as to get air-flow) and have a floor-standing fan (cost c. $50, from Courts) on all night. We'd have a blanket on the bed just in case (if a squall passed through and the temp dropped off).

I think that your mates who are telling you $150 are full of crap.

A kilowatt hour in Singapore costs 28 cents. Your aircon will pull about 1.5 to 2 kWH per hour. This means that running aircon for 8 hours costs about $5.

Next most expensive thing is your dryer... also about 50 cent per hour... then your water heater... about 50 cents per hour... but less than 1 hour per day.

and what fridge/freezer you got? new type that are more energy efficient or old dinosaur type?

Running your aircon all night will be responsible for most of your bill. You should set the timer for '1 hour off' to make things more economical while you sleep.

Do some simple sums by using the usage per kw per hour for your devices and multiplying it with the electricity rate prices and see if you are in the same ballpark. If not, call SP to read the meter.

150-250 is an average monthly bill for 1-2 bed units. Although remember that newer technology is more energy efficient.

We averaged $150pm for a 3 bed 1200ft unit, but essentially never used the aircon.

JR8 wrote:We averaged $150pm for a 3 bed 1200ft unit, but essentially never used the aircon.

Guess yours was mostly cooking huh, Delia?!

Compared to British gas + electricity + council tax portion for waste collection, personally, I think SP services is good value....

BillyB wrote:

JR8 wrote:We averaged $150pm for a 3 bed 1200ft unit, but essentially never used the aircon.

Guess yours was mostly cooking huh, Delia?!

Compared to British gas + electricity + council tax portion for waste collection, personally, I think SP services is good value....

Yeah, it was having my PC on 12/7/365 day and the baking of many many cakes (and roasts)!

Agree SPS is great value compared to the UK. But then SPS doesn't have to comply with the bonkers and expensive UK and EU legislation.

For comparison, for our 3 bedroom apartment, our PUB Bill, with atleast two rooms freezing worse than Alaska, and hot water on Gas + cooking gas with extremely long frying done atleast twice a week or more ..

The average bill is between 250 $ to 290 $ ..

i had those big 2 doors american fridge freezer and it was zapping the electric like no tomorrow. had it changed to a more eco friendly fridge freezer. does make a different to the electric bill. missus wasnt asking for more money each month.

p/s nigella for me. she got massive....










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