This cost of living crisis isn’t fun, aye. Nobody wants to cosplay as a 1930’s man called Mr. Misery who can’t afford $50 cucumbers or his rent. Nobody out here is stoked that they’re Googling if they can fill their car with tears instead of sky-high-priced petrol. Your power bills might have also become more of a stressor in recent months, as our climate crisis coal continues to get exported instead of making electricity cheaper here.
However, if you’re in NSW, the government has a program in place that might make your electricity bill a whack more affordable. It’s called the Energy Savings Scheme, and it’s been around since 2009. Recently, you can use this program to replace a traditional electric hot water system with an energy-efficient electric hot water system. So here are the facts that you’re wallet may want:
Why Is an Energy-Efficient Hot Water System Better?
Cameron Evans, the national business manager for the energy company Chromagen, believes that this aspect of the Energy Savings Scheme will be a game-changer for many families’ budgets.
“The scheme will now fund the entire cost of replacement of a family’s traditional electric hot water system, bar a few dollars, to a completely new state-of-the-art energy-efficient electric hot water system,” explained Evans. “Not only is the replacement a cost saving of thousands of dollars, but the energy savings will also amount to thousands of dollars over its years of use.”
But how much money are we talking about here? “Under the NSW Government’s Energy Savings Scheme, households can upgrade their traditional electric hot water system to an energy efficient one for as little as $33.00,” said Evans. “The recommended retail price of this is a whopping $2,950, so this scheme is literally saving families thousands of dollars.”
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Moreover, energy-efficient electric hot water systems are surprisingly, energy-efficient. As Evans explained, “In a four-person household, the cost of heating water using a traditional electric hot water system over a period of ten years amounts to around $12,265. On the other hand, the cost of heating water using an energy-efficient electric hot water system over the same period is only around $3,190.” This means over ten years you might save around $9,000.
If you want to know if this scheme is right for you, obviously Chromagen wants your business. However, they are not the only ones offering this service. Australian Hot Water and NSW Hot Water Upgrades also offer these upgrades.
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