|
Using energy and water efficiently
Information for community agencies in Victoria, Australia
Has your client received an energy or water bill that’s higher than usual?
Looking for ways to save energy?
Looking for ways to save water?
Energy and water audits
Related EWOV webpages
More information: EWOV’s fact sheets
Has your client received an energy or water bill that’s higher than usual?
Many things can cause a higher than usual bill. These include:
- a back bill, that is, the company is billing your client for a longer period than usual
- a ‘catch up’ bill, that is, the company under-estimated the last bill, resulting in a
catch up amount when the meter was correctly read
- maybe your client didn’t pay all of the last bill and that has made the total look bigger
- your client had more people in the house than usual
- a billing mistake
- somebody in the household spending more time at home
- an energy or water inefficient appliance, for example, a refrigerator with broken seals
- a new appliance
- unusual weather, causing your client to use more heating or cooling than normal.
EWOV’s fact sheet on high bills may help you and your client to work out the cause.
Back to top
Looking for ways to save energy?
As energy becomes more expensive and we are more concerned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saving energy takes on a new importance.
Most energy retailers have sections on their websites that:
- suggest ways to save energy
- will help your client to work out which appliances are using the most energy.
See:
For more specific information on saving energy, see Sustainability Victoria’s website.
Back to top
Looking for ways to save water?
Saving water in the drought conditions we've been experiencing is also very important. And while we've not been bad at it, there’s always room for improvement. Saving water has also become more important as water prices have increased.
Most of the water companies have lots of useful information on their websites about how to save and conserve water.
See:
There’s also lots of water saving tips on the save water website.
Back to top
Energy and water audits
An energy or water audit consists of looking at a household’s energy or water use, working
out what appliances are using the most energy or water and identifying opportunities to
lower the usage.
An audit can be:
- done by you or your client—using an on-line auditing tool (see the links above)
- done over the phone—where someone from an energy or water company asks about usage, makes calculations and suggests ways to lower usage
- done on site—a ‘field audit’ is the most effective, where someone visits the house, observes the usage and the energy and water characteristics of the house and makes recommendations on that basis.
There’s a link between energy auditing and hardship provisions. Energy and water auditing
is particularly helpful where a client has a usage level that they are unable to afford—an
energy or water audit can substantially reduce usage, making bills more affordable.
Energy retailers have to offer some kind of low cost or free energy auditing; it's a requirement of the legislated provisions for hardship policies, but they don’t all offer on site (field) audits.
An offer of an on-site (field) audit by an energy retailer is likely to arise from a discussion between a customer (or their authorised representative) and a member of the energy retailer’s hardship team—when trying to find a way to make the customer’s energy usage sustainable
in the longer term.
On site water audits are less available than energy audits—but Yarra Valley Water offers
free water audits to eligible customers who hold a pension or concession card. This is known
as the Smart Homes programme. It's done in partnership with the Department of Human Services. See Yarra Valley Water’s website for more information.
Related EWOV webpages
Energy and water prices
Need help paying bills?
Water and drought
More information: EWOV’s fact sheets
High bills
Last updated: 13 June 2008
Feedback about this webpage: website@ewov.com.au
For enquiries and complaints, phone 1800 500 509 or see our enquiries and complaints webpages.
|
.gif){kind=small}
