René and his wife managed to save 65 euros in one month. “And that without sacrificing comfort,” he told Nieuwsblad.
Hailing from Hasselt, a former UCL professor and his 67-year-old wife Riet tried to find ways to save money by reducing energy bills. And they finally found the solution.
“I try to turn off as much of the energy-consuming appliances in the house as possible.” Obviously, not all very energy-intensive devices are affected. It is obviously unthinkable to unplug the fridge, for example, which is one of the appliances that consumes the most.
René explains: “Using a digital energy meter, I mapped the consumption in standby mode of each appliance in the house. And here are his conclusions!
“The oven has the highest consumption in standby: 40 watts, and this only for the electronics and the clock. Our OLED TV and its decoder have the second highest consumption in standby: 18 watts. If we turn off the oven only at night, we can save 105 euros per year. If we also turn off the television and the modem at night, the profit is 152 euros per year. »
To turn off his devices, René uses smartplugs, the cost of which is around 20 euros per unit. Connected to the telephone, he can turn his devices off and on in one click.
René also lowered the average temperature of his house by one degree. And he also adjusted the boiler water temperature. Caution, however, because a certain minimum temperature is mandatory to “kill any bacteria present in the pipes”. They also swapped the bathtub for a shower.
René’s interventions had an immediate effect on his January energy bill. “For electricity, we go from 147 euros to 112 euros. For gas, we go from 239 euros to 209 euros. It’s 65 euros saved in January and that without sacrificing comfort. »