Learning to use energy more efficiently and more responsibly is simple, and it is best to start at home.

These energy saving tips are designed to cater for households with different levels of income and electricity use:

• Many households use electricity mainly for lighting purposes. The best way in which such households can save on electricity costs is to use energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL’s). These cost more but last much longer than the old bulbs and use less power, therefore are much cheaper in the long term.
• Households that use electricity to heat water, need to save costs on geyser use. In these households, water heating for laundry, cooking, dishwashing and bathing generally makes up between 30% and 50% of a household’s electricity bill. It is important to make sure the geyser is set at 60°C. More money can be saved by installing a geyser blanket and insulating hot water pipes. Also, showers use much less hot water than baths. One can also consider installing the Solar Water Heater under the Eskom Rebate system – where Eskom subsidises the cost of purchase and installation.
• Some households use electricity to meet a lot of needs. For these households, energy audits can be done to find out how much electricity is being used, which will give them an indication of how much can be saved for the different electrical appliances used in the home. The Eskom website provides more detailed energy saving tips (www.eskom.co.za/dsm).

Involving the entire family in the cost saving process can make it fun. It might even help to challenge friends and neighbours to beat those efforts.