Winter bills

Get ready for winter

During winter we start to use more energy by keeping the lights on longer and ourselves warm. Higher energy use means higher electricity bills, which is entirely normal for the winter months.

An average household in the South Island could use almost twice as much electricity in winter while a household in the North Island can use an average of 1.5 times more*.

Why not check how much power you used the same time last year? If it’s similar, you know that it’s the colder weather that’s increasing your usage. If it’s a lot higher, then there may be other factors such as:

• New appliances in the home, including televisions
• Additional people staying or living in the house
• Sustained periods of particularly cold weather

For some handy tips on how to help keep your power usage down, check out our Energy Efficiency advice.

* Figures based on an average annual usage of 10,069 kWh for South Island and 8,540 kWh for North Island for the period 2007-2009. Figures may differ depending on particular plans and areas. The above numbers are representative of Meridian’s base only.