The government has raised electricity prices by 8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), effective July 16. This is the fifth increase since the second quarter of 2022. With the summer season just around the corner, many people are worried about their electricity bills. Especially, it’s easy to get hit with a ‘cooling bill bomb’ if you run the air conditioner just because it’s hot, so knowing how to use it correctly will help you save money.

Check the air conditioner’s ‘constant speed/inverter type’… Turn it on strongly at first and then cool down.

Regardless of the type of air conditioner, it is most efficient to turn on the air conditioner 메이저사이트“hard and low” when the temperature is high for the first time.

After the temperature drops, it is better to turn it off when you feel cooler and turn it on when the temperature rises again in the case of a constant-speed type, and to leave it on when you feel cooler in the case of an inverter type to save electricity.

The difference between constant speed and inverter type is the difference in the ‘compressor’ motor. A constant speed motor literally means that the speed at which the motor spins is constant, whereas an inverter motor has adjustable speed.

Because the speed is constant, the air conditioner will run at the same speed whether you turn it on hard or soft, so if the temperature drops, it’s better to turn it off and on for a while.

With an inverter, it’s much more energy efficient to just let it run slowly, rather than using energy to turn it off and on again. It’s like when you step on the brakes in a car and then step on the gas to get more power.

Experts say that if you’re only going to be gone for an hour or two, it’s more energy efficient to leave your inverter on.

Most air conditioners these days are inverter-type, but it’s worth checking before you buy.

How much can you save by using 1 kWh less?

So, how much can you actually save by saving and saving? Here’s how the KEPCO calculates it.

When you save 1 kWh, you save about 260 won. If you use a product with energy consumption efficiency class 1, you will save 1.08 kWh per day, which means you will save about 32 kWh per month. That’s about 8,400 won.

If you compare the annual consumption of products with high sales volume with the annual consumption of Grade 1 products, you can see that the difference is quite large. Even if the price of the product is higher, it may be more beneficial to buy an appliance with a higher consumption efficiency rating in the long run.

Although not shown in the table, rice cookers, microwaves, and toilets use more power than you might think.

For rice cookers, you can save about $5 a month by leaving them on “keep warm” for 9 hours a day.

In addition, on a monthly basis, you can save about KRW 1,500 (0.19 kWh/day) by letting food defrost naturally when using the microwave, KRW 780 (0.1 kWh/day) by turning off the heating function of the bidet, and KRW 700 (0.09 kWh/day) by collecting laundry and running it through the washing machine.