EDITED TO ADD WATER HEATER

Hi guys,

Need so input on electricity consumption. I just got my TNB bill and it costs me RM710.40 from 15 May to 15 June. What did I use that could make my bill go so high? Previously, in my old condo, my average bill was RM350.

Back ground information.

I just moved to alam impian in April
It is a 2 story intermediate.
Major electrical items:-

York inverter aircond 1hp x 3 sets = I only use 2 air conditioners from 10pm to 8am (10hours) and from 2pm to 4pm(2 hours) at temp 26c at the lowest fan.
Acson normal aircond 1hp x 2 sets = hardly use
Acson normal aircond 2hp 1 set = hardly use
Grundfos water pump 1.5hp = 1 set which I keep on 24 hours 7 days a week
Electrolux clothes dryer = +/-6 hours a week
Rubine brand built in oven which I use +/-5 hours a week
Rubine brand hood which I use everyday for +/-3 hours a day
Deep oil fryer (no brand) which I use +/- 1 hour a day
LCD 50 inch tv which is kept on from 8am to 10pm (14 hours) everyday (kids)
KDK ceiling fan I use 1 which is kept on from 8am to 11pm (15 hours)
Toshiba 700liter inverter fridge

FORGOT TO ADD:-
1 STORAGE WATER HEATER 35 LITERS
1 STORAGE WATER HEATER 50 LITERS
BOTH USED SPARINGLY

Those I think are the major electrical items which I use daily.
As for the lights in the house, I use 18watt LED downlights for the whole house.

Please help. I need to figure out what is causing such a high electricity bill.

Ajai@jakes[I]

This post has been edited by ajai@jakes: Jul 7 2015, 12:42 PM

What are the items you didn't have in your old condo? As far as I can tell the main hogs are the clothes dryer and fridge.

If you're up to it you can get one of these things

http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity...r/dp/B00009MDBU

and measure the consumption directly

how many hot water dispenser / boiler u have?

My idea is all the hot component electrical have very high consumption,

eg: dryer, hot water, water heater, deep fryer

Ever tried not using your oven for a month?

Get a watt meter n measure.

Hi Sah147,

The only things which I didn't have in my old condo was the water pump and the rubine hood plus the inverter airconds. I used the normal type of airconds at the condo. hence, I was expecting some savings since now the airconds which I use consistently are both inverters.

Hi Ming Yew,

I have 2 joven storage water heaters. a 35 liter and a 50 liter which are used sparingly.

hi! try removing the ground fos pump! I can tell from my experience, it consumes a lot of electricity! My dad use to have a fish pond.

I was thinking of the same thing. Maybe its the water pump. luckily I have an external switch directly to the water pump. Will try this.

Your storage water heaters should be left on 24/7 unless not going to use for a few days.

my storage water heater is only on for a maximum of 30 minutes at any one time. Whenever shower we pasang the water heaterlah. When finish shower, we off the water heater.

I thot it is better to keep it on only when we shower and off when not using?

This - the storage water heater also makan banyak, since it has to heat up a lot of water and maintain the temperature.

Your aircond easily RM400. What is your normal usage? And how many LED lights you have?

Other than that, i think it's your storage water heater and water pump. Try not to use the water pump for a month.

So what I am doing currently, which is only switching it on when using is correct right? rather than keep it on all day?
I only use the 50 liter storage water heater twice a day as I use a rain shower, hence, the need for a 50 liter storage water heater.
all the other times I keep it switched off.
my old condo also had a 50 liter storage water heater, usage is about the same as the number of people living is the same. but the bill never went up till RM400 even.

that is weird as at my old condo, I use the non inverter air conditioners. basically same usage (2 non inverter 1 hp air cond from 10pm to 8am) but my tnb bill never went above rm400.

as for the LED down lights, the whole house is LED downlights. I have about 30 plus. but all are 18 watt energy saving.

@ajai@jakes i assume you have a pond right? so its choosing either money pumping the pond or save those money!

hi..sorry. no pond or aquarium. the water pump is for my bathrooms upstairs. 3 bathrooms and one of the bathrooms has a rain shower.
So basically, the culprit for my rising electricity bill is the water pump?
but the water pump only switches on when a tap is open and I could hear the pump running. when the taps are closed, the water pump is off.
I am confused.

Your kids watch 14 hours of tv a day?

hahah. nope. but it is on for that many hours.
the wife, the maid, myself.

RM350 average looks good.

U just need to use less when possible, and turn OFF when not used.

RM350 is at my old condo.
now at my double story link it is RM700.
it doesn't look good.

there's an electricity calculator app for Malaysian household on android which i used to estimate my monthly bill and it's pretty accurate!

Can you share which app? I can download on my Samsung note now. hope its a free app.

it's called My Electricity Calculator by Lazing

wow....

Btw inverter aircond only works best if the place is closed and not open air, also affected by the room size.

This post has been edited by WaCKy-Angel: Jul 7 2015, 01:36 PM

thanks. I found it. Will donlod shortly.

Lets convert to daily usage

- 2x1hp, x 12 hours usage, assuming you are using 0.4 (assuming 60% the time is off), and ac is 900watt = 8.6Kwh / day
- Grundfos, how long it usually run? Lets assume you run 1.5 hours a day. That about 700Watt * 1.5 = 1.05 Kwh / day
- Cloth dryer, what is the model? Lets assume is 2,200 Watt. you use 6 hours a week. = 6 x 2,200 / 7 = ~1.9Kwh / day
- Oven, what is the wattage? assume 2,200 watt. = 5 x 2,200 /7 = ~ 1.58Kwh / day
- Cooking, what is the wattage? how many burner you use? Lets assume average is 700watt per hours, = 700 x 3 hours = 2.1Kwh / day
- Oil fryer? how many watt? These stuff usually > 1,000 watt. Assuming is 1,00 watt. use use 1 hours. = 1kwh / day
- LCD x 14 hours, assume is 50 watt x 14 = 0.7Kwh / day
- KDK Fan, 15hours x 30watt (assume) = 0.45 Kwh / day
- Storage heater, lets assume you use total of 1.5Hours a day in total of 2 storage = 1.5 x 3,000 watt = 6.0Kwh / day

That already using 23.38 unit per day. Yet to include your fridge, lights, computer, charger, Water boiler?

If your A/C are in open area, meaning it will run longer, can be running 100% all the time too.

Did you switch off the heater when not use?

And how many burner did you wife / maid use during cooking? more burner mean more electricity.

Remember, convenient and comfort come with cost.

You can first cut the use of dryer, that is one, and start switching off storage heater when not use. Also reduce the A/C usage. It help keep you healthier too.

ok can you please provide the units consumed in old condo and now in new condo? what was the 6-mth average?

Hi Wei Kee,

My inverter air conds are all in the bedrooms whereas my non inverter air conds are in open spaces like living room and dining room. my bedrooms are +/-250 square feet, hence I am assuming the York inverter 1hp should suffice. I am using the inverters in the bedrooms on a daily basis for about 12 hours a day.

as for the storage water heater, I only switch on when I intend to use and will switch off after taking a shower. it is never on 24 hours 7 days a week.

the only item which is switched on 24 hours 7 days a week is the grundfos water pump. but the water pump, after talking to zheine, only switches on when the taps are open and will auto switch off when the taps are closed.

in terms of burner, my hob is a 3 burner but uses gas, not electricity, so I do not think there is any electrical consumption going on.

My lights are the square 6 inch LED 18 watt downlights. I have about 30 plus but I don't switch on all of them at the same time.

What can I do to cut down my RM710 tnb bill?

yup, cutting down on the dryer cause now landed property, so less usage definitely.
storage heater only when using. when not in use will always off.
the air-conditioning..i thot using inverters would be cheaper, I guess I am mistaken as I am basically using the same number of hours at my old condo and my new place but my old condo never went above RM400 for the tnb bill.

i suppose your meter is the digital type?

i share the same concern as you for high electricity usage/bill.
if possible monitor your meter on a daily basis. say you take a reading at 7am, do this everyday at 7am. Then each day you only use certain appliances. I think you can figure out which is the main culprit

to pay more than Rm300 for one particular utility is really ridiculous

This post has been edited by idoblu: Jul 7 2015, 03:48 PM

I don't have my old tnb receipt from the condo anymore.
As for my new place, I have been there for only 2 months.
but my first month consumption was 1234KWh and the bill was 586.

yup, meter is the digital type. new housing area in alam impian. it flashes all the time.

Unlike fish pond, the pump function here is to increase water pressure and it just turn on and off on demand only, I believe

now that is a really good idea.
I will keep a log. 7am every day.
hopefully can see a spike somewhere.
will also get my wife to tell me if she uses any of the heavy electricity usage stuff.

yup. that is correct. I checked with my seller zheine from builders hardware on the grundfos usage.

Other than your appliances, the other major influence that was not mentioned is the space itself. Compare to previous place, how much space difference and how well insulated or confined the space between the two. Inverter or not, this can be major factor of electricity usage by air-conditioner.

I'm not sure why you need to use storage but since you switch off after use, it is not main problem. Leaving it on can make huge difference.

Too much of switching on and off is also wasting electricity. Pump start stop use more energy vs constant running. A pump that run 60 mins non stop use less energy than a pump that run 1 min, stop 1 min for 60 cycle.

well, I was staying in an old 2 story condo with many many trees which afforded enough protection from the sun. my new place, there is hardly any protection from any sun plus, since it is a double story link house, the insulation is somewhat affected as the sun directly shines to our roof, whereas previously, we had the penthouse above us.

in terms of room size, the size is about the same, give or take a couple of square feet.

I am now trying to figure out what is causing the huge jump...

I cant do much about this Wei Kee as the grundfos pump is designed that way. everytime a tap opens, the pump switches on. everytime a tap closes, the pump switches off.

For example, when I open the tap to wash my hands, I can hear the pump switching on and when I close the tap, I could hear the pump becoming silent.

250sqft with 1 hp? Underpower lah. My master bedroom is 20x12, and using 1.5hp. Just ok only.

Ignore the stove, since is using gas.

Also hood also take up some consumption. Hot water? Especially Instant Hot water dispenser take lots of usage too.

Vacuum cleaner?

For me, i usually switch it off, until need to use like bath, and wash toilet. Don't need to use pump just for washing hand right? or bidet? Problem i faced when the pump remain on for long is the hose also burst. Frequently switching off actually save more money because less replacement of hose, and electricity.

I supplement the York inverter 1hp aircond (26c and lowest fan) by using the normal ceiling KDK fan.
the hood is a 1500 watt hood. I guess you are right. that would take up electricity especially if I use it all the time for cooking.
no instant hot water dispenser. I do have those electric kettles plus a deep oil fryer. both of which I think takes up a lot.

fair enough. you have a point here. will try your suggestion to keep it off unless for bathing purposes. for minor stuff like washing hands nor mal pressure would suffice.

i have similar bill as yours Mine around RM660, the lowest was RM450 if we use with concern.

and also staying in a double storey semi D.

my usage:
1.5hp york normal aircond = 10hrs a day
1hp york normal aircond = 5hrs a day
1hp york normal aircond = 10hrs a day
water boiler = standby all the time.. once reboil 2200w
1 ceiling fan always on 24/7
1 water pump for upper level = always on
1 water pump ground floor = always on
3 other aircond = seldom on

I realize what consuming electricity compare to my previous RM350condo bill

Setting of aircond in my master bedroom if difficult to reach the ideal temperature will force aircond work more and consuming more electricity.

Water boiler also taking lots of electricity.

My LED light only 7-11watt for standby

minimize usage of other downlight coz once turn on will automatically connected with 4 other light

PC also quite consuming.

light might look like small but if u realize once u switch on it will trigger 3 other light as well (unlike condo)

aircond will work harder to cooling bigger area

turn off pump if unnecessary

remind your maid to use aircond wisely

PS: GST in the bill already RM 50 easily!!

i think my biggest makan letrik appliance is the aircon
then comes the washer/dryer
fridge is next

but man i wish i can on all my aircon 24x7 for a fixed amount of money macam all you can eat buffet

Maybe is only me. I find the room cooler without Fan.

Hmm... Possible but not in legal wah

your tnb rate is better than mine considering the number and type of appliances you have. my air conds which I use consistently are inverters and I only have 1 water pump and I only use the hot water storage sparingly. and even then, I use a ceiling fan to circulate the air in the bed rooms which I switch on the inverter airconds.
will keep in mind on the usage of downlights and yeah, you are right, 1 switch connects to a few, in my case, 1 switch connects to 2 downlights.
as for the maid, as far as I know, she does not switch on the aircond, but I could be wrong.
will also start switching off the water pump unless it is for bathing purposes.
Don't have a pc in the house. heheh..IT illiterate.

The difference is the condo and the double story terrace.

I figure that the condo unit you stayed was not the roof unit. So, basically your floor and your ceiling were cooled and insulated by your neighbors. In case of terrace house, your room upstairs is poorly insulated just like most terrace, semi-D or even bungalow in Malaysia. The ceiling and the roof is where you can heat water without electricity

Unless you insulate the ceiling like the houses in 4 seasons countries, you can never reduce the electricity. I can confirm this is the main culprit. If all your room are downstairs but unfortunately they are not

same here. I think the biggest culprit is the aircond. I am trying to figure out how to manage it.
the dryer not so bad not since I am on landed property so usage have cut down by 90%.
Fridge only 1 700+ liter fridge. but inverter tech.
I will have to monitor my meter lah like this.

you have a point here. but the thing is, the air conditioners are only switched on at night from 10pm onwards, I doubt whether the heat from the sun could result in the room being difficult to cool down at 10pm at night. but I could be wrong.

How many people in your house? Are all the room occupied. If you can use the room downstairs for a while, you can see the difference. Now hot season. It makes it even worse. Actually, night or day, the ceiling in Malaysia is not insulated. The "coldness" loss through conduction is still significant, I believe. The wall is another direct heat radiator. It has no insulation at all

Anyone here do ceiling-roof insulation?

The heat build up in the room during day time will need some energy to cool it down. For me, I have a ventilation fan that usually switch it on to suck the cooler air from outside to my room, than to the roof. This way I cool the roof, and also cool the room before switching on the AC.

If rainy season, I just switch on the open up the windows, Vent + Fan, this will be very cooling.

Inverter or not, if its open frequently it will take up energy. 700L is consider a big fridge.

mine cannot do la....
500L fridge ok or not? i can't seem to find how much my fridge consume

one thing about LED bulbs, I tend to leave it on nowadays thinking "aiyah its only 7 watt each"

This post has been edited by idoblu: Jul 7 2015, 05:39 PM

Tak tahu tuan. Semak menu

7x744=5208

This post has been edited by weikee: Jul 7 2015, 05:50 PM

Yea I am facing this bill increase as well. My first two months when I moved in the bill was around 400-500 each month. Just last 3 months, it jumped up to RM1k, RM900, and RM 850 per month... crazy.

most electric consume will be aircond , can set it timer off after 6 hour , then set ur fan auto on after 6 hour , i don't think u need the aircond when it reach 5-6am morning , that could save u alot if u open 6-7 hour aircond per day

900 how many kWh per month?

That is crazy man, like a office turn on 5 units 2hp Aircon at least from morning 8am till 7pm.

This post has been edited by kimsim: Jul 7 2015, 05:55 PM

Last month 1813 kwh, RM916.92..
I was suspecting it is my York inverter aircond, the compressor broke down 3 months back, and despite that I still turned it on, and it was not really cooling, so I had to turn on like 24 hours. Do you think this is the culprit?

I do have 5 adults living in the unit tho. 1 being my maid. But on weekdays, all 4 of us are not at home till 5pm onward.
Things that 24/7 on are my wine chiller, fridge, water dispenser(coway).

This post has been edited by billylau: Jul 7 2015, 06:04 PM

omg! and you are in a condo! dun scare me man

This post has been edited by idoblu: Jul 7 2015, 06:04 PM

24hours Ac, what's temperature setting? And HP?

Depend of your Ac running non stop because of setting or is really the faulty unit.

This post has been edited by weikee: Jul 7 2015, 06:11 PM

Inclusive of gst or not?

2.5 hp, setting at 18 celcius, and it just blowing wind. not inclusive gst.

Seems like Gas leakage has some time already, just needs Aircon servicing will help.

Usually 2.5hp set to 25C good than enough.

18c sure lah. How can you achieve 18c, even inveter will run forever. Usually 23 is good. If run full-time for a month, you for to pay almost 700 bucks.you running server room?

If only blowing wind, not cool air very likely gas not enough. Time to service and check.

my room aircon 2HP i put 26C also cold like anything
my living and dining room also i put 24C only

mine are panasonic inverters given by the developer. recently both my living and dining aircon leaking gas. when the two indons (developer side) came and service, they told me must set it to 16C then only cold. i said you gila ka? mau saya jadi ais batu?" And they set everything to Auto (louvers, fan speed etc) - the cold air takes damn long to come on

if blowing air only, most of the time its the capacitor. got one big ass cap at the compressor end that kicks start the compressor.
if service men sure charge Rm250 to fix. I go buy from aircon shop only like Rm12. I then call the service people to clean my aircon. pay them 60 to clean and replace the cap for free.

something with digital tnb meter causing high reading or is it just me? the reading keep increasing with same numbers of appliances, over time.

Anyway to check the tnb meter calibration? Im on ~700-750kWh per month and its already painful. Big ticket items are 2.0hp and 1.0hp normal Daikins each 5hrs per night. Others are per normal people.

If cap faulty, compressor won't run and will not drain energy.

Not really, mine using digital almost 4 years, reading always the same.

No way to reach 16c if sizing are correct or just bit oversize. Unless outside is super cold like <24c, and room are seal tight.

i know no way, but these buggers set it to 16C so it gets the coldest and I don't complain them lor.
btw i use this Econavi thing. It can detect where you are and got activity or not etc and then adjust the settings accordingly. see la my next month bill how

my induction, oven and hood not use yet summore.

These TNB meters are the only thing that no independent firm can check their calibration. Seriously TNB can set it to run fast all they want and get away with it. If a seller use a weighing machine to sell things based on weight, I am sure it has to go thru some certification and calibration before they are allow to use it. Why not TNB meters as well?

I switch off that function. If sleep it didn't detect movement it increase the temperature at least 2points. Making my room stuffy.

i think it detects infra red as well not only movement
so far mine ok with econavi turn on

Mine, nope. It make room stuffy.

Walau eh, your 1mth bill even higher than my 1yrs total bill.

Do note that tariff increase exponentially. If aircond consume 100kwh and heater also 100kwh,but when total up, you have to pay differently.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Like s'pore would be different all flat charge

Bill Summary Jun 2015
Your current account balance of $150.21 will be due on 14.07.2015

Usage Comparison
Your Usage All Neighbours National Average
Usage* Usage**
Electricity Usage 470 kWh
Water Usage 16.5 Cu M

We have 3 units Aircon for 1hp x2 units turn on 8 hrs per night, also 1.5hp for around 5 hrs per dally.
Water storage tank 25L turn on around 3-4 hrs per day, dryer heat pump daily + FL washer daily + hair dryer + Pana inverter fridge 600L & the rest bla bla.

Actually like auto gate non DC & water pump + 2.5hp Aircon may cost you more than average usage
Also non LED lighting too

This post has been edited by kimsim: Jul 8 2015, 08:10 AM

You can verify it by checking whether the compressor is running non-stop at full speed.

Inverter that always running 100% full speed, won't save you any power compared to non-inverter.

Your maid may switch on the air-cond non-stop when you are not at home.

Any appliance involving heat exchange one normally consume plenty of electricity, eg water heater, boiler, air-cond, fridge etc.

some readings
1) Usage Cost of Electrical Appliances at Home

http://www.tnb.com.my/residential/energy-s...es-at-home.html

2) energy saving at home

http://www.tnb.com.my/tnb/application/uplo...Domestic_EN.pdf

3) how to read your energy meter

http://www.tnb.com.my/residential/billing/...ergy-meter.html

4) home enrgy calculator

http://hec.tnb.com.my/

This post has been edited by enduser: Jul 8 2015, 09:47 AM

Kawan, yours is old rate.

New Rate is on the Right side. http://www.tnb.com.my/residential/pricing-...riff-rates.html
- 301Kwh - 600Kwh is RM 0.516 + 6% GST
- 601Kwh - 900Kwh is RM 0.54.60 + 6% GST

Autogate don't use much electric, where you get the autogate uses lots of energy? A backup battery can last up to 2 days, if it eat energy, you need a car battery for it.

Non LED, CFL is way better efficiency compare to LED. Lumen / Watt, LED no where close to CFL. And did you factor in Switching power losses?

Not too sure my close to 10 yrs old auto gate non DC type may drink more energy, has few time the fuse broken end out put few copper wires added for extra power, till now never broken fuse already.

If not mana boreh tahan, each time come to servicing and pay for Rm80 just change fuse only

That is motor issue, noting to do with AC or DC autogate, even DC if motor have issue you will blow the circuit board. My mom house using AC sliding Autogate with two AC motor. Everyday using so many round no issue, and hardly notice any high consumption.

But still works fine.. Ya same on both side has motor on ground.
Just wait till can't works then replace to DC motor also slient work.

Look at wattage of the motor will tell the story how much the motor needs to "drink".

Gate motor generally only work for a few second of mins, even the motor is 1000watt (about 1.5hp), it won't consume much electricity bill, as your electricity bill is counted in KWH

If total a month time, the motor work for 2 hours, the total consumption will be 2KWH, at the highest rate of 0.546, the bill will be 2 x 0.546 = RM1.09.

Wow so cheap only

Only two rooms occupied plus maid's room which pasang kipas only.
the 2 rooms I just reset the settings to 26c with lowest fan.
I also decided to switch off the water pump at night and only use it during the day.
whatever appliances which is plugged but not in use I have unplugged.

now I am keeping a log on my usage. I took my tnb meter reading yesterday at 7pm and this morning at 7am. later today will check again reading at 7pm. will do this a few days to have a rough estimate of my usage, then see how or what to cut down.

I am also going to keep a log on usage of deep fryer and oven. just for comparison.

normal island and peninsular house. I went up to the roof when we did the renovations, no insulation. at that time, no budget for insulation cause of costs overrun and lousy contractors who messed up stuff.

only my bathrooms and kitchen has the ventilation fan. did not think to put it anywhere else.

for ventilation, normally what we do is keep the fan on for a short while and open the windows to circulate the air. its not effective but no other way unless I spend big to do ventilation fans and insulation.