[quote=“Abacus”]Actually electricity in Taiwan is quite cheap compared to other countries. The issue is that it’s 35C here and the houses/apts have no insulation.
It might be time to get your AC serviced. There should be filters for the AC but they might not be as easy to clean as smaller individual units. Another cause could be broken duct work and you are pumping AC into the ceiling. Or your AC units could be damaged. We had an AC at our buxiban on the ground floor that had been damaged. We had to run it at max AC (16C) and it still didn’t keep the small office cool. Yet the owner didn’t want to replace until the next year because of his budget. It probably cost the school an extra 1000+/mo (maybe 2000/mo) to run in that condition.[/quote]
I am perplexed as the whole system was fully serviced less than 12 months ago…I will get it checked again but I think it is simply over use !
Of course there is no cause to doubt the efficiency of the excellent tradesmen in Taiwan.
I was suggesting that as one possibility since many just keep running the unit w/o thinking of basic maintenance. It’s possible that the repairman didn’t bother looking at stuff like duct work because that’s not part of his checklist.
It could be that you simply have a big space to cool or that the AC units are the wrong size. Or that it’s a rooftop house/apt. Or that you are running multiple AC units for the entire day. There are a lot of scenarios where 9000NT/2mos is not out of line regardless of the AC type.
You mentioned ductwork, so I’m assuming this is a fairly luxurious flat by local standards.
It is possible that your AC unit cools the entire flat rather than select rooms. In that case your bill is going to be high because it consumes a lot of energy. So it looks like you have one big AC for the entire flat.
We have a rooftop apartment and our bimonthly bill is usually under NT$1,500. Electricity is so cheap here! (Not to mention water… $265 for two months?! )
Interesting thought about getting the AC maintained as on of the AC units is leaking water. Anyone had this issue? Would this be the landlord’s cost or mine?
Depends if the AC unit came with the house or did you install it yourself later on. If it came with the house and the landlord installed it (not previous tenant) then the landlord should bear the cost.
This is usually caused by the water drainage hose being plugged up or improperly installed.
I’ve worked hard to reduce our school bill down from 43K a year to about 1/3 of that… so I have some idea what needs to be done.
Block all possible air leaks (windows, open doors, …)
Turn off machines when you’re not using them
Switch light bulbs to CFL/LED (even if you have to double up to get the same ‘light’)
Turn off the hot water machine(s), if you think a fridge uses a lot, try one of those hot water pots/machines that are popular here, at 800W, it goes on/off all day long.
Clean your A/Cs thoroughly or get someone to do it for you
Replace older units with newer ones (esp. the power saving DC Inverters)… and always use a more powerful rated model than a less powerful one. I’ve had several people tell me that the machines we bought were too big… hah! The more powerful machines cool the place quicker, and then turn off or maintain the temperature. Smaller machines are on practically the whole day because they can’t reach their target temps.
Make a list of all the electricity sucking machines in your house, then check them one by one.
Don’t use ‘standby’ mode.
Close open doors, … etc.
Check your house isn’t being charged industrial or commercial rates for electricity.
It is posslble to get your bills down, but you may have to invest in new equipment and/or change your habits. Otherwise, if those don’t work, you’ll need to find out if someone is stealing your power.
Smaller AC uses less electricity but if it’s a 1 person room it still works fairly well. AC’s get more efficient the longer it runs, and it removes humidity more effectively. Oversized AC unit uses more electricity and not only that, is either colder than the south pole or hotter than Death Valley. Of course inverter units can probably be oversized because they can reduce its cooling capacity to meet your cooling requirements.
[quote=“ilikecoffee”]I’ve worked hard to reduce our school bill down from 43K a year to about 1/3 of that… so I have some idea what needs to be done.
Block all possible air leaks (windows, open doors, …)
Turn off machines when you’re not using them
Switch light bulbs to CFL/LED (even if you have to double up to get the same ‘light’)
Turn off the hot water machine(s), if you think a fridge uses a lot, try one of those hot water pots/machines that are popular here, at 800W, it goes on/off all day long.
Clean your A/Cs thoroughly or get someone to do it for you
Replace older units with newer ones (esp. the power saving DC Inverters)… and always use a more powerful rated model than a less powerful one. I’ve had several people tell me that the machines we bought were too big… hah! The more powerful machines cool the place quicker, and then turn off or maintain the temperature. Smaller machines are on practically the whole day because they can’t reach their target temps.
Make a list of all the electricity sucking machines in your house, then check them one by one.
Don’t use ‘standby’ mode.
Close open doors, … etc.
Check your house isn’t being charged industrial or commercial rates for electricity.
It is posslble to get your bills down, but you may have to invest in new equipment and/or change your habits. Otherwise, if those don’t work, you’ll need to find out if someone is stealing your power.
Best[/quote]
THIS SHOULD BE STICKIED. most people lack the common sense (or lazy) to follow these simple steps to save money and the environment.
I forgot to mention the hot water kettle. Unless you actually have enough people to use it every hour then just make people wait a few minutes for hot water.
[quote=“best_intentions”]This thread reminds me of the show Portlandia with the fictional Portland mayor trying to find out why he’s the city’s biggest energy hog.
I think the cooling costs are directly proportional to the amount of sunlight incident on the roof and/or walls of your apartment. A rooftop is receiving around 1,000 watts per square meter at midday on a cloudless summer day, and sun-facing walls are probably getting around half that in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
Half the heat absorbed by concrete is re-radiated into the rooms. Trying to cool a room with hot walls is gonna get really expensive.
7000? Gatdaayum. How are you guys paying 4000, 5000, 7000? The electric bill can be strange here. I remember when I was living in a small 10-ping studio. The first thing I did was unscrew all the light bulbs and I left maybe 1 or 2 because I didn’t need my room lit up like the sun at night. 1 or 2 bulbs was plenty of light for me. However, even though I reduced 10 bulbs down to 2, my electricity bill still came out to 1500-2000 a month. Imagine how much it would be if I DIDN’T take out the other light bulbs. That studio was running on a ticker and the landlord would go by that. I barely used the AC too, and survived using a fan. I currently live in a 30-ping studio, where I probably have the AC going at 25/26 for about 4-5 hours a day and I’m only paying 1500 every 2 months. Landlord is not involved, I just pay the electric company when they send me the bills every 2 months. 7000 is ridiculous!
Well, my first time posting here but after getting my electricity bill I couldn’t help. $20,000! Yes, you read that right! I was expecting about half of that but after seeing $20,000 I decided to venture on here to get a better idea as to why it is so high!
how big is your apartment? Is it a rooftop unit, and does it have a centralized AC?
By the way having a disproportionally high electric bill may put you under some scrutiny by the police as they may think you are growing pot inside… for example having a 20,000nt bill for a 5 ping studio!! (larger convenience stores with AC turned to the max, air blowing out all the time, several fridge units have lower bill than this)
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