Turning Green – Bijli Bachao case study – Mr Vedang Bakshi
As we have started getting feedback from people whom we helped reducing electricity bills, we thought of starting a new series of articles called “Turning Green”. In this series we will present case studies of certain houses, with their electricity consumption in the past, changes made to reduce consumption, investment made and the final outcome in number of units. First in this series is Mr Vedang Bakshi from Nagpur with whom we started interacting in Aug 2012.
Consumption in Aug 2012
When we received his Aug 2012 electricity bill, his total monthly consumption was 417 units. His is a 2 BHK house with total of 5 family members. Considering that he did not use AC his electricity consumption was a little high for a family of his profile. His problem areas were:
- Had lot of CFLs in the house and a few tubelights (that too old ones).
- A 1 HP pump that was used daily for municipal water supply.
- A very old refrigerator (10 years old), which was always kept, stuffed.
- All ceiling fans were old inefficient ceiling fans.
Suggestions Made:
Following suggestions were made by Bijli Bachao to help him to reduce the consumption:
- Make sure that every appliance is switched off from the mains after use. This was especially for the TV set top box.
- Suggestions were made to buy T5 tubelights and replace multiple CFLs with T5 tubelights.
- Water heaters to be switched off after use.
- Switch to BEE 5 star rated appliances: Fans and Refrigerator.
Steps taken and Investment Made:
Mr Bakshi took following steps to fix the consumption:
- Replaced old tubelights and CFLs with T5 tubelights. He bought 5 T5 tubelight for Rs 1875.
- Replaced the 10 year old “Disc” meter with new digital meter
- Replaced the old 1 HP jet pump with new 0.5 HP non-jet pump. Cost Rs 2750.
- Regular switching off of all appliances from the switch
- Stopped using refrigerator more like a cupboard…i.e. throwing away all that is not required to be cooled (sic).
- Switched off TV set top box and wireless routers when they were not in use.
Results
His electricity consumption came down from 417 units a month to 309 units a month in October 2012. As a result although tariffs have increased significantly recently in his area, his electricity bills have not increased. As per the new tariffs his electricity bill could have been higher by Rs 800-900, which he was able to save. So with an investment of Rs 4625 and a few changes in habits, he is saving Rs 900 a month, which will get paid back in 5 months.
He also plans to do a few more things at a future stage as it involves more capital investment:
- Change to BEE 5 star rated Fans.
- Change to BEE 5 star rated refrigerator as his current refrigerator is 10 years old.
- Change old CRT TVs to energy efficient LED TVs.
We will wait for his response and update this when we hear back from him. Till then enjoy reading Bijli Bachao.