Terry saves $1300 a year by switching to electric at home

01 August 2024

When Terry Teoh bought his double brick Edwardian bungalow in Melbourne in 2008, it was draughty and connected to gas. It was difficult to heat in winter and cool in summer.

So, Terry made improvements, starting with insulation and draught-proofing the house.

"My advice to someone who's contemplating going all-electric is to have it all planned out," he says. "Start with the simple things that are not that hard, and you can do at low cost. Sometimes, they are things you can do yourself."

As a first step, Terry insulated the ceiling and installed honeycomb blinds to improve the thermal efficiency. He also sealed the gaps between the floorboards and skirting boards to prevent air from getting in and out.

Next, he installed a five-kilowatt solar unit connected to a six-kilowatt-hour battery. The battery allows the household to save surplus energy generated during the day and use it as needed.

The next step was to replace the gas heater with a split system and the hot water system with a heat pump for hot water.

Last to go was the gas cooktop, which he switched to induction.

"I certainly had apprehensions about whether I'd have the same style of cooking and get the same outcome," he says "It has been a wonderful journey going to induction. The heat is powerful, it's responsive, it's controllable and the results are delicious!"

The investments have been worth it. Terry now pays about 80 cents a day for electricity, saving $320 a quarter or around $1300 a year.

While the initial renovation retained the gas connection, including heating, hot water, and cooking, Terry now sees that it would have been better to go all-electric then.

"As part of our renovation in 2012, we chose to retain our gas connection, but we would have been better off going straight to electric because our bill savings would have commenced straight away."