There is a need for another rethink...

...of the way we face this electricity crisis that SA finds itself in. In fact, we are facing another 20% rise in electricity costs from next month, so the need is even greater now. Currently, we go through about R600 a month in electricity, usually a couple of hundred bucks more if we have visitors for a few days. The next increase means that we will have to fork out a total of R720 for the same amount of prepaid power.

So...one of the ways I might face the power problem is by having our home rewired. Really.

We, in general (and if I'm not mistaken), have our homes wired with a set of circuits (plugs or lights) on the same breaker in serial (ie, in a straight line). This means that all the units are energised at the same time regardless of whether they are in use or not, with only a switch to make sure the individual sockets or light switches are not powered on. A drawback to this is if the serial circuit is broken at some point in the chain, on the neutral wire (which is common to the circuit), then all the outlets (plugs and switches) further on in the chain are also affected.

It is an ineffective way to control your home's usage of power. If you wanted to save power on that sequence, without switching off the circuit breaker on the main panel, then each day you would have to go and power off each and every plug and switch in the sequence to make sure that it is not using electricity unwisely.

We have all heard about the possibilities of saving electricity (and money) by installing solar geysers (which we will be doing as well), wind generators, etc, but I think there's another way by just rewiring the house a little more cleverly.

I'm going to investigate and, if it turns out to be a viable choice, rewire the house so that lights and plug points that are not generally used throughout the day (excluding fridges, tv, etc) are automatically turned off and on by a timer switch (or set of switches) between certain hours of the day. If the units on a particular timer switch are needed at some point through the "off hours", the timer(s) can be over-ridden and the plugs/lights re-energised.

Areas that have essential equipment, such as burglar alarms, or the study where computers and modems are kept, or the tv and the satellite decoder, can all be grouped onto the same circuit breaker. If it means that there is a chance of overloading the current breaker, then a larger breaker could be installed to take care of the additional load required on that breaker.

Even things like deep freezes can be put on a timer. How many of us go into a deep freeze during daylight hours between 10am and 4pm? Or even overnight? Not many, I bet. And the freezer will stay frozen for a good few hours if it is sealed properly and kept closed. And those things chow a lot of power. On top of it all, we have two freezers...one just for my fishing bait that could quite easily go on a timer as it is usually only opened once a week.

There are any number of ways the circuit breakers could be rewired to cater for items that are either to be used during the day, or not, as required. It should be a simple enough exercise to walk through the house and decide for yourself which units are absolutely necessary. It won't take a rocket scientist to make those decisions.

And to make sure you don't "spike" the power consumption when the timers kick out at their prescribed time (if there are a few to stand down at the same time), you could even stagger them to change back a few minutes apart, thereby reducing the chance that a full spike would trip your main panel and leave the house in total darkness.

One could even go as far as colour-coding the plug and light switch covers with a different cover-plate, or a label. It will help you identify which circuits are on during the daylight hours. It could even help sell your house if you could show the prospective buyers that you have installed power-saving methods into your circuitry.

All comments and suggestions welcomed...