According to USwitch.com — which offers UK-based price comparisons to consumers — leaving lights on in empty rooms is the most common argument that families have about household bills.
Around half of families argue about leaving the lights on, with more than 40 arguments over wasted electricity annually.
Parents turn off 338 lights in empty rooms every year on average, USwitch found.
Leaving a 4.2-watt LED bulb on for an extra four hours every day costs £1.75 or $1.95 extra over the course of a year, USwitch said, pointing out that other cost saving measures have a greater effect on power bills.
Other power related issues argued about in British households include leaving TVs on while nobody’s watching, and thermostat settings.
Of course, there’s a certain satisfaction in doing something, anything to reduce power bills — whether at home or at your place of business, and there’s really nothing easier than turning a light off.
In the UK and wherever you are reading us, high power bills and the cost of living are concerns.
There can’t be a soul in Guam who objected to the monthly $100 credits to our business and residential power bills while those credits lasted.
The Guam Power Authority also has helpful power saving hints on its website, such as, “Turn off your water heater between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. and use the hot water you already have in your tank.”
If your water heater is outside your house — as ours is — I am not sure how many people are running out (especially in the rain) to turn the water heater on and off. Sounds like a potential source of argument in Guam to me. What if you forget to turn the water heater back on again and cold showers result?
Also listed on the GPA site is the latest “potential outage schedule” for February.
The timing of outages on Guam has been unpredictable, at least where I live. And sometimes mercifully shorter than the hour allocated. So rather than crank up the generator, in the Maratita house, we are grateful for our gas range, and post-typhoon Mawar (when you could barely find batteries) have now restocked our variety of battery-operated devices to light wherever we may need to be in the house.
Meanwhile, down at the 37th Guam Legislature, the Journal has been kept informed of the recent bickering between senators over this and that and “he said” and “she said” releases, to include whether GPA can see procurement requirements waived and get its diesel units up and running.
I agree with Sen. Joe San Agustin who told this paper if you can do something, do something. The senator was referring to ongoing issues with the Guam Department of Correction’s aged and over-crowded prison and his bill to increase seed funding so DOC can get a loan for the needed new building.
We’ve written several times about the prison, to include the much-delayed Request for Proposals for a new one. And then there is the issue of where to site a new hospital in Guam, which may also keep us busy for possibly as long as the power outages are going to last.
And now — if you’ll excuse me — I’m going to “do something” and turn a light off. I’ve just realized we have two lights on in the lounge. mbj
— Maureen N. Maratita is the publisher at Glimpses Media. Publications at Glimpses Media include the Marianas Business Journal, Guam Business Magazine, The Guam Guide, Wave 105.1 FM and Power98.