New home, new power usage habits

Living consciously is being aware of how you’re occupying your place on the planet. Making changes to ensure your home is running as energy-efficiently as possible can make a big difference.

Moving house means adjusting to a new environment, so it's a great time to check and improve your power habits in cost-effective ways.

From fixing your rates for two years, incentive credits and sweet off-peak deals – when your moving house, sorting your power usage is one of the upsides.

Get onboard with off-peak or time-of-use power tactics to shave dollars off your bill. Perhaps in your last home, you hadn’t got your head around how this can play out in your favour. Moving house is the perfect opportunity to switch to a power company that offers excellent off-peak rates.

Kiwi homes usually have electric hot water systems that come in a range of shapes, sizes and storage capacities.

Keeping your hot water consumption under control can be a hugely positive move to create savings. The New Zealand Building Code stipulates that for health reasons the hot water in your cylinder can reach 60°C for an hour a day and taps no higher than 55°C to avoid scalding and harm.

Tempering valves in tapware mixers will maintain acceptable temperatures. Be sure to check for hot water leaks, use insulated piping and low-flow fixtures, and ensure that built-in appliances have an adequate Energy Star Rating.

Even oven models that you’re used to have their own little quirks. As you settle in to cook your first meal in your new home, preheating the oven may be an early learning curve. Temperatures vary, but 10 to 15 minutes is the usual time to wait for the light or beep. If your meal needs a bit of prep time, try and factor this in so that an empty, fully heated oven isn’t wasting power unnecessarily.

A home that uses smart technology is a much more convenient, safe, secure and energy-efficient living environment.

High tech gadgets can robotically mop the floor and remotely control things like lighting, blinds, home sound systems and media. Then there’s all the many ways you can set the time for your appliances to turn on. Living in the digital age allows you to use all the best of technology to make your home work for you.

Modern homes in Aotearoa offer more efficient heating than their older counterparts.

Now built to specifications and standards that require insulation, double glazing and acceptably sustainable heating systems, today’s home construction has taken a huge leap forward.

In the past, our great-grandparents had to endure chilly New Zealand winters in houses built to face the street not the sun – huddling around poorly performing open fireplaces in rooms with hard wooden floorboards and draughty windows and doors.

Good heating habits in the modern Kiwi home make life much more comfy. Today’s cost-saving devices like timers or smartphone controlled heat pumps and plug-in appliances are also a big plus.

For so many households in New Zealand, the house is empty during the day.

When there’s no one home, you can save some serious cash by switching off a range of appliances and lights. Many of our more sophisticated gadgets draw more from the power supply than older, less powerful versions when sitting on standby plugged into the mains.

As we go about our daily routines at home, we create a lot of moisture. The build-up of vapour from things like showering, washing, cooking and cleaning generates eight litres of moisture per day inside the house. And it must go somewhere! Here’s some tips for keeping things drier before you switch on a heater.

• Mop up condensation from windows and sills
• Keep windows open and fans running while showering and bathing
• Use the rangehood or kitchen fan while cooking
• Dry your washing outdoors and ensure your tumble dryer is flued outside
• Keep your laundry that’s on washing racks in a separate room beside an open window
• Look at installing a ducted ventilation system (DVS) for optimum air quality

Now that the house is as dry as you can make it, the heating won’t be working so hard and for as long to comfortably heat rooms.

Using the clothesline or a rack outside as much as possible throughout the year might leave enough dollars in your pocket to add to your wardrobe!

To get family members onboard, explain that the significant costs from using a tumble dryer don’t stack up when the sun and the breeze are free.

If teenagers aren’t getting with the programme, let them know that they’re not only saving the planet, but it’s also been proven that line dried clothes last longer and stay in better shape.