Building an energy-efficient home

With the weather constantly changing, an energy-efficient home can positively impact your savings. Making bright choices in appliance purchase   and usage at home can help minimize your electric bill cost.

With most family members staying at home, more electrical appliances are at work and for longer hours, resulting in more energy consumption. Practicing energy-saving habits can decrease that. These are some factors that can affect your energy use at home and how you can remedy them:

Unclean filters
Leaving your air conditioner filter unclean can lead to clogging which will make the motor compressor work harder. This leads to an increase in your power consumption. Cleaning your clogged filter frequently can lower your air conditioner's energy consumption by 5% to 15%.

Refrigerator as shelves
Do not use the top of your refrigerator as storage just because it offers extra space. Placing cereal boxes or food containers can prevent heat from escaping. When the heat from an appliance is compressed, it might add up to your electric consumption.

Out with the old, in with the new
Compared to older appliances, the newer ones can consume electricity more efficiently. To better understand the efficiency of different appliances in terms of electric consumption, the Department of Energy (DOE) promotes the use of Energy Labels. Check this guide on how to properly read Energy Labels on appliances.

Teamwork makes the dream work. Encouraging your family to adapt to an energy-saving lifestyle while staying at home might help lower the numbers in your electric bill.

Understanding your electric bill also helps you manage your energy consumption better. To further help Filipinos with this, Meralco made reading their electric bill easier. Here’s what you need to know:

The new electric bill now has a consumer-friendly layout. The contents were separated into sections for better understanding.

Headings are made more readable and given a conversational tone. This allows consumers to read their consumption and payment details easier.

The important information comes first. Your total amount due, Customer Account Number (CAN), and due date are grouped together in a refreshing, eye-catching sky-blue color. To improve readability, the fonts were also made bigger. 

You can now fully compare the difference between your energy usage this year from the previous one. This is shown via the "Your Monthly Consumption" Section. It has expanded into a 24-month comparison to see the trend on your electric consumption depending on the season. There are also explainers about your average monthly and daily consumption.

Going cashless is now made easier with the newly included QR code. You no longer have to type in your 10-digit Customer Account Number (CAN) when paying via authorized online channels. A quick scan of your QR code will immediately encode your CAN during payment.

Stay up to date with your payments! On the back of the page, you can see your payment history in detail, including your unpaid bills. Your last six transactions, along with the total amount, date and location of payment made are available for viewing. Meralco also allocates your payments to your oldest outstanding bill by default.

Want to know more about the new Meralco bill? Click here for a more detailed guide, or watch the video below:

More information means #MorePowerToYou. This 2022, Meralco aims to help build more energy efficient households by making it easier to manage consumption through their new bill and giving out more energy-saving tips. You can browse through their very own Bright Ideas page here.

You may also reach them through the residential hotline 16211, business hotline 16210, or email customercare@meralco.com.ph.