I am interested to hear how much power people consume on average in their nhouse, particularly over the peak summer period if you have an aircon. We are looking at building a house soon but we are trying to work out whether full solar power is a feasible option. I need to know what your 'average kilowatt (kW) hours' consumption is. It will be a number like 300 or 550, etc on your bill somewhere. Could you also tell me how large your house is and whether you have an air con/what type (refridgerated or evaporative)

 

Thanks

i was just looking at my bill and i have 2 numbers, one is for off peak price plan which must be my hotwater system and the other is for residental price plan. Which number are you after and the daily usage or the 90 days usage.

According to my hubby there should be something which says Average kw hours, is there a number which is around the 300-500mark?

 

Don't include the hot water if they are seperate as we will probably get a gas hot water system

Edited October 21, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

MB it depends on the size of the house too so wouldn't you want to know more the people that have the size of house that you would be wanting to build? I know when we moved from into our larger home our electric bill was more.

Yes but the main things that chew the power are the large appliances and since we haven't really decided what size house we are going to build yet we just want to get an idea of what other peoples power consumption is like. In reality the results from this will determine whether it is even worth considering it as an option.

i am not sure what your hubby is talking about. On my bill it has written how much kwh per day i use which varies form 24.8 to 33.5 depending on what time of the year it is. I have a 4 bedroom house with a airconditioner. Maybe nsw electricity readings are done different to vic.

I doubt it Deb I think iot just my other half being difficult I'll ask him what it all means, maybe it is a weekly type reading or something...

I will tell you what consumes energy in a large home the air conditioner the larger the home the more energy used, I am not sure what other large appliances you are talking about that consume a lot of energy.

That's the main one Elly, basically I would like solar buyt my other half won't consider it unless we can afford a unit which allows him to havwe his beloved air conditioner :hap:

Well I can tell you it jumped a lot when we went from a 1000 square foot home to a 3000 square foot home, I know that is a huge jump and I am sure energy is different here in price. We rarely use our air conditioner but I think wher you live it is much warmer throughout the whole year.

Hi MB

 

I refuse to put on our Air Conditioner. We bought our 3 bedroom unit off friends and were looking forward to using the airconditoner as it is ducted and can be used through the whole house. That was until our friends told us that they had used it constantly day and night for a few days over Christmas and their electricity bill shot up to $1100.00 for the quarter. Also my husband and I own a shop and needed to use the air con for a few weeks during summer and our shop electricity bill almost doubled. There are definitely days we will need to use it for our customers comfort (we have a hifi, home theatre business and have listening and viewing rooms) but if I can get by without it I will. Sorry for the long post.

It depends on the type too, a regrigerated system uses heaps more power than an evaporative system

you need an air con for the 1 day a year we have over 40? I hate melbourne weather, Its October and I'm freezing! Not as bad as the blue mountains though I guess snowing in October? Global Warming... tsk tsk tsk...

Yes but the main things that chew the power are the large appliances and since we haven't really decided what size house we are going to build yet we just want to get an idea of what other peoples power consumption is like. In reality the results from this will determine whether it is even worth considering it as an option.

 

Go SOLAR! :bump:

 

I mean, isn't there a system whereby you can set up solar power and 'sell' it to the grid so as to offset the cost off running major appliances like the air con. I think the way it works is that during the day when the solar unit is in full swing if it's generating more power than you're using that goes to the grid as credit and then you can draw on that when you have the air con running.

 

And aren't individual air con units cheaper to run than fully ducted? I know we have a unit in the bedroom and it's a much cheaper option, also since we insulated the roof the inside temperature is cooler by 5C in the summer and warmer by the same amount in winter.

 

Any way good luck with your research!

Edited October 22, 200816 yr by renee

Um... read my first post again Renee, that's what we are investigating :bump: It is quite expensive to install a solar unit so we have to work pout whether it is financially feasible. As well as that many solar set ups won't cope with the extra strained caused byt an air con. We wouldn't be selling to the grid as if we installed one it would be because nho mains power was available (we're buying in the bush)

Um... read my first post again Renee, that's what we are investigating :bump: It is quite expensive to install a solar unit so we have to work pout whether it is financially feasible. As well as that many solar set ups won't cope with the extra strained caused byt an air con. We wouldn't be selling to the grid as if we installed one it would be because nho mains power was available (we're buying in the bush)

 

Sorry! I didn't know you couldn't sell to the grid in the bush. :mellow:

You can't sell to the grid unless you areactually connected to the grid :bump:

Edited October 22, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

63 days = 1989 units = $293.30

mine hasnt got a 300-500 type reading.

This is over the winter period with a new baby and running his clothes through a dryer a few times a week, couple of chestfreezers, fridge and barfridge plus the usual.

 

At the old house we had a refrig and a evap cooler in the walls (kitchen & lounge) these were run all the time over summer and a fan and also a refrig portable aircon unit in one of the rooms plus 2 fridges and a chest freezer... going over some of the old power bills it was about 3-400 for the 3 months

 

This house is brick 3 bedroom much cooler already without aircon, but we have an evap on the roof running into 5 rooms, I will let you know what we are using in a few months!! Our aircon will be run pretty much 24/7 over summer

 

Do you have an idea of what sort of aircon you will have? How often it will be run? Also you will need to be able to get enough power over winter to run what you need ( have known people to set it up then find their isnt enough 'solar power' to run over winter)

I have friends that are running on solar on their place if you have any questions, I havent spoken to them for a while but am friends with her brother down the road- we were talking about their setup the other day.

If you are chatting to the could you ask if they have an aircon and if they know what kilowatt rating their system is?