Finance

Tips for reducing utility bills

utility bills

“T.V. Band karo. Pata hai bijli ka bill kitna aya tha?”

This is a common dialogue in Indian households. Do you remember how electricity bills used to shoot up during summer break? My parents asked me to switch off the fan and give it a rest, as it had been working since morning. Indian parents treat machines as lying-breathing humans. But the question is, why do our parents ask us to give the electrical appliances a rest?

Is it because continuous working can hamper their life? Or is it because they want to cut down on utility bills? Can you take personal loans in Mumbai to save on your utility bills? There are a lot of questions, and merely 3 minutes to read. Let’s get started right away.

Do you know what utility bills are? If not, then let’s do the hard work for you.

“Bijli ka bill, gas ka bill, T.V. ka recharge, Internet aur phone ka recharge.”

The above-mentioned things are included in utility bills. In short, whatever bill that you have to pay apart from your house rent to keep the house running is called a utility bill.

Identify the high-usage areas

“Sabse zyada bill kis cheez ka ata hai?” 

After your salary gets credited, what’s the first thing on your mind? To get rid of these bills, right? Now, let’s assume that your monthly salary is ₹20,000. Out of this, you save 50% for emergencies and use the remaining to pay off the bills.

Out of this sum of ₹10,000, which bill makes the most proportion?

For example, if your electricity bill is more than ₹5,000, then 50% of your utility bill is dominated by electrical appliances. To reduce your utility bills, you have to gauge what you are spending on utility bills without cutting down on the usage of any appliance.

utility bills

How to calculate your utility bill?

Have you ever used a CFL Bulb? Then, you must know how much electricity it consumes. If you don’t know, then you can Google it. Now, for how many hours on average do you use that CFL bulb? And what’s the rate of per-unit electricity in your state?

If you have the answer to these 3 things, then you can easily figure out your utility bill for electricity. For example, I am using a mixer grinder, which consumes 500W of energy, and my state charges ₹7/unit. You also have to keep track of the time that the bulbs remain in use. So, my utility bill for just a mixer grinder will be:

1 Mixer-grinder * 500W * 1 hour * 30 days/month= 15,000 wh

Now, convert this unit in KWH and multiply by ₹7, i.e., ₹1050.

This will be your bill if you use a mixer grinder for 1 hour every day of the month.

You can use this formula the next time you plan to buy an appliance for your household.

Simple changes for immediate savings

Did you know that a ceiling fan uses just 10% of an AC’s energy? For example, if you use an AC for 1 hour, then the electricity consumption will be equivalent to using a ceiling fan for 10 hours.

Secondly, instead of using CFL bulbs, you can easily shift to more efficient LED bulbs. Not only do these LEC bulbs better light the room, but they are also a little easier on your electricity bill. And the most important tip to reduce your electricity bill is mentioned below.

Taking a personal loan for home renovation

By installing solar panels, you can reduce your utility bills by 62%. Surprised? Well, this information seems good, until you get to know the cost of solar panel installation. On average, the installation of solar panels on your roof or the ground can range anywhere between ₹1 lakh and ₹2 lakh.

If you are unable to make such an investment in the short term, then you can always resort to a personal loan for home renovation.

Conclusion

The internet is overloaded with checklists and detailed guides to reduce your utility bills. However, it all depends upon your efforts, whether you can reduce the bills or not. Do you agree that you can cut your spending on utility bills by 50% if you follow the practices mentioned above? If not, then let us know your opinion in the comment section below.

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