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Archive for July, 2008

Power talk

July 21st, 2008 at 12:12 am

abeautiful day, hard to believe we are in the middle of winter - it is almost like spring, with the primulas coming out. We have been very lucky with the weather, a gorgeous Indian summer and a mild winter, apart from one very nasty week of sleety stuff. If this is global warming, bring it on!

When I say I work for a power company, peopele immediately start moaning about how high their electricity bills are. Of course they are all convinced they don't use much power. If they were to go around their house and make a list of all the items they have that run on electricity, they would be surprised. Since beginning this job I have learned the importance of reading the meter daily. Once you know what your usage is, if you find you get a higher use (mine is at weekends) then you can think about what you are doing differenctly.

And if you're still convinced that it's not you - there's something wrong with the meter, here's a test you can do. Go round and switch off all your appliances, incl your hot water. Then switch off at the mains. Wait for 10-15 mins and the little disk should stop moving. If it's still going there may be a fault with the meter, but usually faulty meters slow down or stop. Switch back on, then plug in your applicances one at a time, checking the dial between each new one. If you find the dial really speeds up when you plug something in, you need to look at getting a more efficient model. Hope this advice helps.

Still around

July 18th, 2008 at 02:38 am

Even though I'm only working 20 hours a week, I find it very tiring and don't have much energy for anything else, which is why you haven't heard from me for a while. However. I'm getting used to the job, and my bank account is looking much healthier. $4180 in my EF, plus over $1000 in my billpaying a/c, and $600 in my home repairs a/c. I paid $260 to get the garden all tidied up. Next month I'm flying up to Auckland for the National Conference of my support group, airfare paid for, so I only have to find $100 for accomodation. I also bought 2 pairs of shoes for work from the Warehouse, one for $19.98, the other for $14.98. Working is good as I have less time to wonder round the shops, but I'm getting a bit lazy about cooking for myself. Too many purchased sandwiches. There is a challenge on The Money Man to spend nz$21 a week on groceries. I will give it a go.