It can be tempting to throw a few dirty clothes in the washing machine on their own, or run the dishwasher before it鈥檚 full. After all, these habits couldn鈥檛 be wasting that much power, could they?
With BC Hydro鈥檚 suite of online electricity tracking tools, you can now find out exactly how much energy you鈥檙e using every month, as well as what that costs you.
By logging in to 聽on the BC Hydro website, you can聽to help you understand your energy bills. These include graphs that inform you of your hourly, daily, weekly and monthly electricity use, comparison tools that show your home鈥檚 electricity use compared to similar homes nearby and information about how outside temperatures affect your heating and cooling costs.
This information gives insight into your electricity use habits, which might lead you to think twice when you run the dishwasher before it鈥檚 full.
To take control of your energy use, check out this quick overview of some of the tools鈥� features and how you can use each to adjust your consumption habits and save on your energy bill.
Track your electricity use
Households in B.C. are billed for each kilowatt-hour used, which are affected by things like how often you run appliances. Reducing electricity use begins with understanding your home鈥檚 current usage, and then making informed decisions about how your family can cut back.
聽your household鈥檚 BC Hydro online account to see 聽Select the 鈥淰iew detailed consumption button鈥� to view energy use tracking details down to the hour, allowing you to view the highest usage hours in your home and make adjustments to your habits accordingly. That might include hang drying your laundry or switching off the lights when you鈥檙e not at home. 聽about how to understand and interpret your electricity use on BC Hydro鈥檚 website.
By comparing household usage to your previous year, you can also analyse both increases and decreases in energy use within your home.
Compare with similar homes nearby
聽can provide information about the energy use of similar homes nearby, making it easy to see if you鈥檙e using more or less energy than others.
Monitor outside temperatures
The detailed consumption information shows you how the outside temperature affects your electricity bill. On colder days when you crank up the heat, you鈥檒l see correlating increases in your energy consumption. In warmer months, when you鈥檙e not using electricity to heat your home, you鈥檒l typically see a drop in energy use.
Be sure to set up reminder alerts to check your electricity use on a regular basis. You can also use the tools to monitor your home鈥檚 electricity use when on vacation. If you see spikes while you鈥檙e away, consider asking a family member or neighbour to check on your home and see if you left something on that shouldn鈥檛 be on.
Identify household culprits
If you start tracking your home electricity use regularly, you鈥檒l notice that on some days of the week 鈥� such as laundry day 鈥� there are spikes in electricity use. Cutting back on just one load of laundry per week can save you up to $30 per year. Further energy savings can be made by switching to washing exclusively in cold water and by hanging some washed loads to dry. For more tips visit .
Standby power, which is power supplied to electronics that are not in use, can result in added costs on your energy bill. Items like video game consoles, electronic chargers and even small appliances like microwaves can contribute to additional energy and money.
If you鈥檙e looking to reduce power usage by changing your energy use habits or ridding your home of inefficient products, BC Hydro鈥檚 website offers many resources to help you get started. And by using their 聽on a monthly basis, you can see just what a difference simple energy saving strategies can make to your overall energy use.
