NSW households have been hit with a 17 per cent increase on water rates with gas companies announcing they an extra $84 on your bill a year. Gas retailers will induce the price rise from the next financial year, so it’s time to get water smart so you can keep that bill under control! With summer officially here… Water fights to a minimum!
by Anna McDougall, Money Maven
AGL, which services customers in Sydney, the Hunter, the Illawarra and the Central Coast, proposed a price rise of 10.4 per cent – an average of $84 a year. According to news.com.au Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal chairman Peter Boxall said retailers suggested the price rises were necessary to absorb distribution costs and to offset the carbon tax.
Not the carbon tax!
Ten Top Ways to Save on Your Water Bill
1. So we all know the 3 minute shower rule, but if you really want to cut costs: Turn on the water only long enough to wet your body, turn off the water to soap, and cleanse and turn back on to rinse off. Same goes for hair-washing and leg shaving (ladies!)
2. Use low-flow showerheads. They can reduce water flow by as much as 40 percent.
3. Did you know two minutes of running water uses roughly 2 – 4 gallons of water? Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.
4. Don’t flush the toilet unnecessarily! For example if you use the toilet bowl as a bin for your makeup wipes, don’t flush just for one tissue. And you know the saying, if it’s yellow…
5. Save your laundry until you have enough to load your washing machine to its recommended capacity. Don’t wash small or medium loads unless your washer has water level settings for such loads.
6. Avoid unnecessary rinsing of dishes if you’re just doing to load them in the dishwasher anyway. Scrape off leftover food, place them in your dishwasher, and let it do its job.
7. Use a pan when washing vegetables and fruits. When you have finished, use the water to water plants. Reusing water is like getting double value for your water dollar.
8. Run your dishwasher only when it is full. The same amount of water will be used regardless of the size of the load.
9. If you have only a few, small pieces of laundry, wash and rinse them by hand in the laundry sink rather than the machine. Don’t let the water run continuously while washing and rinsing.
10. Repair dripping faucets. A slow, steady drip (100 drops per minute) wastes 330 gallons of water in a month. That’s nearly 4,000 gallons per year.
