This article first appeared on ntv.de
Somehow the naturalness of life has been lost. At least when it comes to the part of existence that comes through the socket. But we now know that with many little tricks, electricity costs can be reduced considerably. And that also has a financial impact, because word has gotten around that energy costs a lot of money.
The good news is that a two-person household in an apartment building can save an average of 240 euros in electricity costs per year. A four-person household in a single-family house can therefore save an average of 480 euros. This is shown by the electricity mirror for Germany 2023, which the non-profit consulting company CO2online has published. This provides nationwide valid comparative values ??for the power consumption of private households and takes into account 360,000 evaluated electricity bills. It is an important tool for consumers to check their consumption and calculate their savings potential – that motivates many to save electricity. An important consumer issue, and also an important component of the energy transition and climate protection.
In view of the general weather situation in the energy sector, private households in Germany consumed around 8.3 percent less electricity last year than in the previous year. But there is more. According to the portal’s calculations, private households in Germany can save 31.6 terawatt hours of electricity every year. That is about as much electricity as all nuclear power plants in Germany produced last year. If the savings potential were exhausted, 12.7 billion euros in electricity costs could be saved. At the same time, households could avoid CO2 emissions amounting to 15 million tons by consistently saving electricity. This roughly corresponds to the annual emissions of a German lignite-fired power plant.
In order for this to work, everyone should know their savings potential. With the electricity mirror and their own electricity bill, consumers can compare their electricity consumption with similar households and classify themselves in one of seven electricity efficiency classes. Individual factors such as the size of the household, the type of building or the type of water heating flow into the result and enable a differentiated assessment of one’s own electricity consumption.
“Many households don’t know where to start saving electricity,” says Tanja Loitz, Managing Director of CO2online. “After just a few steps, the electricity check provides an analysis of electricity consumption – and appropriate tips that consumers can use to fully exploit their savings potential.” All households can implement three particularly effective tips: switch the lighting to LEDs, switch off electronic devices completely and pay attention to high energy efficiency when buying new devices.
