Energy usage device saves on electricity bill

This home-owner is happy because he can track hourly rate of usage, detect appliances left running
Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper 4 Oct 08;

HE has saved an average of more than $220 a month on his electricity bill, thanks to a device that tracks his energy usage.

Mr Tommy Ng, 50, a financial services consultant, had the ETrack installed in early July as part of an energy savings competition on TV that was sponsored by the National Environment Agency (NEA).

On its own, the device does not save electricity, but it helps users manage their power usage and cost.

Based on his September power bill, which shows consumption for the past six months, Mr Ng was paying an average of $480 a month for his power use from April to June.

From July to September, this fell to about $260, despite the electricity tariff going up by 5 per cent. The tariff has now gone up by another 21 per cent.

Air-conditioners in each of Mr Ng's nine bedrooms were responsible for the biggest proportion of his bills.

Mr Ng lives in a condominium penthouse unit with 11 others - his mother, his wife, their four children aged 12 to 22, a maid and four children of overseas friends who are studying in Singapore.

He has a budget for his monthly electricity bill and he monitors his weekly usage to see where he needs to cut down.

'Say my monthly budget is about $200 - I expect to chalk up about $50 each week. If it exceeds $50, I will take action such as cutting down air-con usage,' he said.

For example, he'll implement a 'no air-con before 10pm' rule or set the timer for the air-con to switch off about one hour before his children wake up.

'After seven or eight hours of air-con, the room temperature will be low enough. Anyway, if they start to feel hot, it would serve as an alarm clock,' said Mr Ng.

He added that it was important to educate his family members, and the ideas to save energy came from his children.

For example, a note reminds the family not to open the fridge door for too long as this will make the fridge use more energy.

Mr Ng said: 'With the rising prices, we will continue to find out other ways to save electricity. Maybe we will try to reduce the number of rooms using air-con at night.'

Since ETrack was jointly launched by NEA and local electrical equipment developer Bridex Harwal in August, about 100 units have been sold.

There are similar devices available overseas but Bridex Harwal president Lawrence Lee said his company is the first to introduce one in this region.

Besides providing the monthly electricity usage in dollar value for overall usage, ETrack can also individually monitor three other distribution lines or channels, namely for air-con, lighting and power supply via thesockets.

The four-channel model retails at Home-Fix stores for $200. The retail price includes cost of installation by a qualified technician.

The device, which consumes less than 1watt per day (this comes up to about 22cents per month), is installed at or near the electrical box.

Appliance alert

As this is usually near the entrance of most HDB homes, there is an added benefit of ETrack helping to alert you if an appliance has been left on when you head out the door.

Suppose the hourly rate of usage is 10cents per hour when everything is switched off.

If you notice that the hourly rate is significantly higher than that, this means something has not been switched off.

A quick look around will show you what it is, for example, the bedroom light.

Industrial companies have been buying ETrack for their own energy projects, too.

Mr Eric Tan, executive director of Energy Partnership, which does energy management for corporate clients, said the industrial meters he had come across were not user-friendly as ETrack is.

'With ETrack, the clients themselves can monitor their energy consumption.

'Even before the Singapore Power bill comes, they know how much savings have been achieved.'

Inventor wanted to know his own energy usage

MR Lawrence Lee, 36, came up with the idea of ETrack because he wanted to know what his family's energy usage patterns were.

He said: 'I was spending a lot on electricity.

'Since installing ETrack, I've saved 20per cent on my bills simply by minimising usage of air-con and switching to fans.'

Mr Lee thought of making a domestic energy consumption tracking device about three years ago.

He made a prototype late last year and, within two months, had something that he could show to the National Environment Agency.

A spokesman for NEA said ETrack empowers households to manage their electricity usage and practise energy saving.

He said: 'NEA worked with Bridex Harwal as we saw the potential for the device to motivate households to be more efficient in their electricity usage.

'Reducing electricity wastage is a direct way for households to mitigate Singapore's greenhouse gas emissions and help slow down climate change.'

He added: 'Together with the energy saving tips on our website (www.e2singapore.gov.sg/

energy-saving-tips.html), the ETrack can help households save on their electricity bills.'

Mr Lee said most people don't calculate energy usage because it can be technical andtedious.

'ETrack is an educational tool to change behaviour of people.

'You can buy an air-con with four ticks for energy efficiency, but if it is on 24 hours a day, it defeats the purpose.

'Reducing usage is the most productive way to save energy,' he said.

Depending on what changes are made based on usage patterns shown by ETrack, users can offset the cost of the device through savings on their power bill within a year, said Mr Lee.

A six-month ETrack pilot project was started in North West and South West community development council in August.

It involves installing ETrack in 200 residents' homes for free and monitoring their usage patterns.

Readings will be taken every month and compared to readings for residents without ETrack.

Bridex Harwal sales manager Frederick Goh said: 'There are no concrete comparisons yet as it has only been two months. The project aims to increase awareness of usage so that people can be less wasteful.'