Electricity has become part and parcel of our life. It’s very difficult to survive without it in this modern era. Many of us have no idea or have some idea about the electrical consumption and its billing by the Electricity Utility Companies. It helps us immensely if we can save some money legitimately by reducing the monthly electrical energy consumption to the extent possible. The energy bill is not calculated only on the basis of electrical consumption. It also includes other statutory duties etc that vary from state to state and country to country. Further the charges may vary as the electrical consumption of the consumer increases by certain units per month. This article is meant only to provide the basic information for household usage of electricity.

One unit of electrical energy equals 1000 watt hours. Using a 100 W bulb for 10 hours equals 1000 watt hours or 1 kilo watt hour (1kwh). The Electricity Utility Company charges approximately Rs 3/- per unit in Andhra Pradesh, India for domestic consumers. A 40 W fluorescent tube light provides better light emission than a 100 W regular filament lamp, which is an eye sore for reading. Further the ambience of the room looks bad. Usage of a fluorescent lamp is somewhat expensive when compared with the cost of a 100 W filament lamp but saves energy consumption by 60% and as such the energy bill gets reduced drastically. Usage of a 26 W energy efficient day light bulb in place of a 100 W filament lamp or a 40 W fluorescent lamp is a much better option for saving energy consumption. Energy efficient bulbs are much more expensive compared with the cost of filament lamps but save plenty of money and energy consumption in the longer run. They also have longevity of life and can last up to 5 years. There have been many occurrences of adverse weather conditions of late due to global warming. Use of energy efficient bulbs by each and every one of us, in addition to resorting to certain other measures, saves electrical power in bulk and helps in reducing the global warming to some extent.

The normal domestic fan can be considered as equal to a 60 W filament lamp for calculating the billing. Electrical consumption of a refrigerator depends upon its capacity. Further a thermostat is provided in the refrigerator for maintaining the required temperature. As such it is difficult to give its exact wattage. However we can consider it as equivalent to a 400 W filament lamp for a 180 litre refrigerator. The duration of its usage may be taken as 6 hours per day for calculation purpose. Its energy consumption per day can be worked out as 2.4 units. We may consider TV as equivalent to a 150 W filament lamp. Similarly the consumption of an electric iron, geysers/ water heaters and air conditioner depends upon their capacity in watts and their usage. The fans continuously operate for 12 to 13 hours a day. So the energy consumption of one fan for 13 hours per day equals 780 watt hours. It means 78% of one unit. The monthly energy consumption can be calculated in this way.  We should remember that regular usage of appliances like geyser, air conditioner, refrigerator etc. results in high billing. The amount of the energy bill is directly proportional to their usage per day.

Many unnecessary lamps are kept glowing in the offices, factories, Banks, shopping malls and other establishments etc. It is nothing but sheer wastage of electricity and also wastage of money at the same time. We can conserve a lot by keeping off the unnecessary lamps. Many lamps are found to glow outside the apartment complexes during broad daylight and sometimes even street lamps are seen glowing during broad daylight even though these lamps may be provided with the sensors. It means that the sensors are not working at all. The concerned officials should take proper action under such circumstances. Each lamp may be of 200 or 300 wattage. Its use for 1 hour amounts to 0.2 to 0.3 units depending upon its wattage.

It appears that many establishments generally use one switch which controls many lamps for the ease of working. It’s not a good idea. It results in switching ‘’ON’’ unnecessary lamps also when not needed. As such it amounts to the wastage of electricity. Even in our homes we tend to keep lights and fans ‘’ON’’ in one room and sit in some other room while doing something else. We should avoid such incidents as far as possible so that our energy bill gets reduced and also helps in saving of the electricity.

It is very important to go in for the earth leakage protectors like miniature circuit breakers in independent homes or ownership apartments. These miniature circuit breakers protect a person from getting an electric shock due to the improper earthing of home by tripping i.e switching off all the lights and thereby protecting the person from getting the shock. The necessity of the earth leakage protectors is felt more during monsoon when the walls of our homes get wet. As such there is every possibility of getting an electrical shock. It is always in our interest to have proper earthing system rather than repent later.