5% to 10% electricity is wasted every month.

Well, according to auditors and technical experts, we can save around 5 to 10% by stopping electricity wastage every month. We can save this with a few changes in our day to day consumption behavior. Changes as small as switching off electrical equipment rather than keeping it on standby helps make all the difference. Once we stop or minimize this wastage, it will have directly help us save money.

Before we start, let us begin by identifying the appliances that amount for hefty consumption in any home. Majority of these appliances are refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, water heaters, air conditioners, microwaves, television and others. In case your appliances are more than a decade old, your consumption is more than your requirement.

We have listed a few time tested tips to help you start saving right away.

Lighting

Use natural daylight to its maximum. Using lights during the day is a classic example of electricity wasted.

When leaving the room, switch off the lights and fans. – (Savings = 0.5%)

Replace current lights with LED’s. – (Savings over CFL = 30% minimum)

Cleaning and getting rid of dust from your lighting fixtures will help to maintain illumination. – (Savings = 1%)

Use task lighting such as table or desktop lamps wherever possible instead of room lighting.

Instead of using copper chokes for tube-lights, use electronic chokes. – (Savings = 2%)

Refrigerators

A Refrigerator is probably the only device which is never turned off after being switched on. It contributes to most of your electrical consumption and can be the source of great electricity wastage.

Frequently opening and closing the refrigerator door causes some heat to enter reducing the efficiency. This amounts to wastage in electrical current which can easily avoided by opening and closing the fridge only when required.

For optimum cooling, set the temperature to medium cool. High cool setting increases electricity consumption significantly by up to 25%.

A refrigerator needs to be well ventilated. There should be a minimum distance of 30 cm from the wall. This helps in the operational efficiency and reduces electrical consumption.

Cool the items to room temperature before putting them in the refrigerator. The logic behind this is simple, it will take more energy to cool down hot items.

Electricity wastage by refrigerators is most common when they are over stuffed. When they are over stuffed, air flow within the refrigerator is decreased which in turn increases the load on the refrigerator which directly increases electrical consumption.

Cover all liquids to avoid loss of moisture. Moisture decreases the the condenser performance and causes drawing of more electricity.

At times, ice accumulates in the refrigerator. Here, this ice acts as unwanted insulation increasing the load on the condenser decreasing its efficiency. Defrosting your refrigerator regularly helps avoiding such situations.

Whenever possible, keep food items in zip lock bags. This will help to cool them better with lesser cooling as the air inside the bag will also it and the food items will remain fresh longer.

Air intake grills and coils build up a lot of dust, if not cleaned or maintained properly. This leads to the motors working harder and consuming more current. Regular clean ups and timely maintenance resolves this issue.

When not open, make sure that refrigerator is tightly closed. If a paper slips through easily, it means that the rubber seals on the doors also known as gaskets are damaged and are letting outside heat to enter the refrigerator.

There is electricity wastage in the refrigerator when voltage fluctuations and drops occur resulting in the drawing of more current. This is nothing but higher consumption and heftier bill. Ideal voltage should be in the range of 200V to 230V.

Air Conditioning

Window or Split Air Conditioning units are found in almost in every household and also contribute to good amount electricity wastage if not operated properly.

One of the most common reason why air conditioning units cause electrical wastage, is because the unit is not suited for the cooling space. In simpler terms, either the unit is under sized or over sized. Buying the correct size unit is the best way to ensure optimum efficiency.

Regular maintenance of the AC units is a common practice to obtain maximum running efficiency.

Turning the AC unit 30 minutes before leaving the room or leaving home, helps reduce electrical consumption.

Glass windows usually let heat from the sunlight enter the room early mornings or during the day. Closing the curtains on the windows helps increase the level of insulation which reduces the load on the air conditioning unit. This helps reduce the current draw depending the type of usage that you may have.

Increasing the temperature of the air conditioner could mean significant savings. Even 1 degree higher would have this effect and you probably will not notice the difference.

Replace old units with new energy efficient rated units will help you recover the investment cost in the electrical savings.

Water Heaters or Geysers

Insulating the water heater helps save thermal losses in turn saving the electricity consumed to make up for the thermal losses.

Similar to insulating the water heater, insulating the pipes is also a good idea.

Take short showers instead of baths. Reduced water requirement along with reduced operating time of the water heater helps in serious savings.

Install Heat traps. Heat traps (valves or loops) are used to stop hot water from flowing out of your tank when you don’t want it to.

Regularly maintaining the heaters/geysers is a must to ensure its working efficiency.

Lastly, replace your device if you have been using the same one for over a decade.