Are you ready to slim down your BELCO bill?

Are you ready for the latest and greatest Diet? It’s called The Energy Diet!

Saving energy is a lot like going on a diet. We all have a clear vision of the sexy body we would like to see in the mirror but how many of us have the discipline and determination to count those calories on a daily basis and deny ourselves those little indulgences we know we deserve. Well, here’s the good news — I can help you achieve that sexy BELCO bill but the bad news is you need to embrace a change in lifestyle, cut down on overindulgence and be willing to stay in this relationship for the long haul. If you agree to my terms I will guarantee you results!

This is the first instalment of a new bi-weekly column examining how we use energy in our daily lives. Once we understand the ‘how’ we will be ready to move to the next step and start looking at the more complex issues of ‘why’? 

We all like to blame BELCO for the size of our monthly bill but let’s be honest, it’s a lot like blaming the pastry chef and sommelier at our favourite  waterfront restaurant for tempting us with that decadent dessert and fine bottle of vintage wine. We knew the bill wasn’t going to be cheap when we sat down but if we had just skipped dessert and stuck to a glass of house wine we could have saved 25 per cent.

Energy in Bermuda is expensive, it always has been and it always will be. In my book that makes it a precious resource and when a resource is precious the logical approach is to use it carefully and adopt a lifestyle of conservation and efficiency (two very important words we’ll be coming back to in future columns). 

The philosophy of conservation and efficiency is nothing new to my fellow Bermudians we’ve been doing it all our lives. Where else in the world can a visitor go into a bathroom and be advised (usually via a small plaque hanging directly in their field of vision) of the flushing protocol associated with what we politely refer to as #1’s and #2’s. In general, the advice is to leave well alone after the #1 but in the case of #2, it comes down to a value judgment! If in doubt — Flush!

If only we could apply such stringent standards to our usage of energy we would be able to look at our BELCO bill in the mirror and smile with satisfaction at the lean and mean energy profile we see before us. Sadly, most of us do not apply the same enthusiasm for conservation of electricity as we do for water, which is strange when you consider that the average BELCO bill would pay for at least six loads of the precious liquid.

Perhaps the problem is that most of us just don’t understand what electricity is all about; after all it’s invisible, silent and doesn’t live in a tank under our house where we can sneak a little look at it on a regular basis. We all understand the difference between taking a quick shower and indulging in the chin deep Jacuzzi tub experience. We can see the difference and we have a tangible sense of volume. But what about when we try to compare having four separate water heaters in a house versus leaving the outdoor security lights on all night and having three TV’s, DVD’s and cable boxes permanently plugged in.

Suddenly, we have lost our sense of scale and we start making decisions based on what seems most convenient rather than on the value of the underlying resource. To compound the problem we can’t take a quick look in the tank to get a feel for how our consumption is going. Remember, this stuff is invisible. Our only benchmark for measurement comes once a month in that little white envelope and by then it’s too late.

Next time, I’ll start laying out some of the basic rules for the new Energy Diet Plan. 

Nick Duffy is the divisional manager for Bermuda Alternate Energy.