'We're a family of 3 and I managed to get our electricity bill to less than $50'

The Melbourne dad was stoked that his sneaky tricks worked - and the bills have remained steadily low. Here's how.

Many families are grappling with the rising cost of living and looking for ways to reduce their living expenses, including their electricity bills.

Jay Aggarwal and his family have done an amazingly good job of keeping their energy bills down.

Up until May, the family of three were living in a two-bedroom apartment in Northcote, Melbourne. 

Their last quarterly electricity bill for the apartment was $56.83. This did have discounts, concessions and a credit applied, but according to their bill, their consumption was around 1/10th of what an average family of three spends.

They have since moved to a three-bedroom house in Hoppers Crossing, but their electricity bills have remained affordable.

The most recent one, from May 26 to June 21, was $49.76 and their usage was 120kWh, compared to a typical family of three’s usage of 486kWh.

So, what’s their secret?

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They turn everything off at the switch 

Jay said they’ve made a habit of turning everything off at the switch. “We’re pretty pedantic about it,” he said. “Nothing stays on except the fridge.”

“My wife and I don’t charge our phones overnight either. We only charge our mobiles until they’re about 85% and then we’ll turn it off.”

They actively monitor their consumption

Jay has an app called the Emerald Electricity Advisor which connects to his in-home smart electricity meter and sends data to his phone to track the household’s real-time energy usage.

He can see that since moving to the three-bedroom property in Hoppers Crossing, their biggest usage is electric cooking (their old apartment had a gas stove).

“We use the toaster and the kettle quite a bit, but we’ve seen from the app that doesn’t use much energy,” said Jay. “It’s really the cooking for us (which we can’t get away from).”

To track your household’s energy usage, look into whether your energy provider offers an app or consider using a third-party energy management app like the Wiser Energy app.

RELATED: Mum’s cost-saving hack dubbed ‘stealing’

The father of three was stoked with his savings and shares his tips. Images: Supplied

They rug up instead of using a heater

Heaters are notorious energy guzzlers, so Jay’s family rugs up inside, instead of running heaters 24/7.

“The thing is, when you have warm clothes on your body, the heat retains on your body,” Jay said. “If you wear warm clothes, you’re warm everywhere you go, whereas heating can be hit and miss throughout the house.”

They use hot water bottles

Everyone likes to jump into a warm, cosy bed during the Victorian winter, and Jay and his family are no different.

They preheat their beds up with a hot water bottle during winter instead of using electric blankets.

“I’ll leave it on the bed to warm it up, and then hug the hot water bottle when I get in,” Jay said. “Once you have a blanket and doona on and some warm clothes, it’s really quite toasty.”

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RELATED: Aussie’s ‘unethical’ cost-saving trick slammed

They shop around

Jay said he did his homework and shopped around before choosing ENGiE as their energy provider.

“The main thing about them was they give discounts on both usage and supply charges,” Jay said. “Some companies might offer a good discount on just the usage. 

“Our usage is very low – with the bill we got for $50 for the month, the majority of it was the supply charge, which is why it was important we got a discount on the supply charge as well.

“I think it’s worthwhile using those comparative websites and seeing what’s the best deal out there.”

They were willing to make a change

Jay said if people were willing to adjust their mindset, there was no reason they too couldn’t drastically reduce their energy consumption.

“They’re simple things, but there has to be a real commitment to changing the way you do things,” he said. “Once you get into the habit of doing it, it’s very easy.

“I had initially gotten into this not just to save money, but also to use the least amount of coal-powered energy possible.

“What I’m suggesting, some families may not want to do. But it works for us.”

Originally published as 'We're a family of 3 and I managed to get our electricity bill to less than $50'