article About JB for petrol? - (all-vga-corner)

Update: The latest changes on the new Toll Rates for Johor Causeway effective 1 Oct 2014 is reflected in the calculation.

50% cheaper?

Did someone tell you that Malaysia's petrol is at 50% discount as compared to Singapore?  It is as attractive as the Great Singapore Sales (GSS)!!!

With this belief, many are faithfully and patiently queuing up driving north just to top up petrol believing that they are saving money especially when the exchange rate is at Singapore's favour.  Especially now with S$1 = RM 2.61.

Indeed, petrol is termed as the black gold and the world's supply of petroleum is now lower than the world's demand.  Though Singapore is a world famous refinery centre of oil, the selling price of petrol is more than twice of its neighbouring countries.

Unfortunately, this may not be true if you check your wallet at the end of the month, the saving may even be LESS. Why?

Worth or not?

While you stop and move in jams when coming back to Singapore, have you wondered if it is worthwhile to drive up just to pump petrol and back?  Are they worth the 3 hours (inclusive of dinner) you spent in jams?

Every cars are different but the transport costs are similar:

1. Travel from home/office to JB and back still consume petrol for the car.  If you stay in Woodlands, consider yourself lucky but for those who stay in Changi, you are paying more to drive to JB;
2. Costs of tolls in both Singapore and Malaysia customs (PLUS card).  For second link, you have to pay again when you are driving back to Singapore;
3. 3/4 tank legal requirement for Singaporean vehicle driving out of Singapore; and
4. Fuel efficiency of your vehicle plays an important part especially if you are caught in jam.  With engine and air-con running, petrol are still being consumed even if the car is at a halt.

So there must be a purpose if you wish to drive north for petrol else the cons might outweigh the pros.

Classic examples

For instance, Alex (blog: http://loganized.blogspot.sg/2011/05/pumping-petrol-in-malaysia-how-much-do.html) was surprised that he had a saving of S$3.13 for a May trip in 2011.  If you look closely, he is gaining virtually nothing as he failed to factor in the toll charges imposed by both customs (~S$2.50).

If he wasted 2 hours in the jam, there is literally no saving if we factor in the depreciation of the car and its parts in the long run. There are many who have similar experiences and continue to drive in like Alex.  Are you one of them?

Some employed tilting of cars in attempts to pump more petrol (URL: http://www.sgwayoflife.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1536).  It claimed that pump attendants said the total saving is S$1.30 to S$2.20 for small/mid cars and S$4 for MPVs.  Is this working for you?

In Perspective

Instead of guessing and listening blindly, it is good for us to know what are the actual savings we have if we just go JB for petrol.  We are pleased to offer you a one-time offer to calculate your savings by entering your details below.

Please give us 3 working days to get back to you as we are not working full time on this blog.

Know your mileage. Know you savings.  We hope everyone can benefit from this exercise.

article About Increase in Electricity rate - (all-vga-corner)

UPDATE: Click HERE to download the file for easy calculations.

Household electricity consumption

I have covered the topic on how to measure your household electricity bill in my last article in May 2008. Since then, SP services never fail to increase electricity tariff for four consecutive quarters. Starting in April, our new rate will be 23.56 cents/kWh or an average increase of $2.47 in our monthly electricity bill in four-room HDB flats as reported by Straits Times. The latest reason cited is the increase in oil price over the past three months from US$99.38 to S$102.95 per barrel.

Ranking of power hungry household appliances

The best power saving method is NOT to switch on anything. We know it is impossible so how can you maintain or reduce your electricity bill? Identifying the most power hungry appliances and reduce its consumption is the best approach. Below is the typical list:

Ranking	Household Appliance	Power Consumption (W)
1	Bathroom Heater	2000
2	Induction Cooker	1200
3	Cloth Iron	1000
4	Water Boiler	750
5	Air Conditioner	600
6	Rice Cooker	500
7	Fridge	200
8	Desktop PC	160
9	CRT TV	135
10	Fan	60
11	Notebook	55
12	Light bulb	40

 
As a rule of thumb, appliances that heat up or cool down in the shortest time consume the most power. Bathroom heater tops the list with 2000W of power consumption while light bulb only consumes 40W. Appliances worthy of mention are Induction Cooker, Cloth Iron, Water boiler and Air Conditioner which are power hungry. To get a realistic feel of how much they are consumed, we need to know the hours of usage to get the monthly bill.

Household Appliance	Power Consumption/ unit (W)	Hours of usage/ day(Hrs)	Monthly Bill with GST (S$)	Ranking
Bathroom Heater	2000	1	15.13	3
Induction Cooker	1200	1	9.08	6
Cloth Iron	1000	0.5	3.78	8
Water Boiler	750	0.5	2.84	10
Air Conditioner	600	8	36.30	1
Rice Cooker	500	0.5	1.89	11
Fridge	200	24	36.30	1
Desktop PC	160	8	9.68	4
CRT TV	135	9	9.19	5
2 Fan	60	4	3.63	9
Notebook	55	4	1.66	12
3 Light Bulbs	40	5	4.54	7
Total Electricity Bill			134.01

 
After punching in the average consumption per day, we get a realistic power consumption of the appliances. Fridge and Air-Conditioner top the bill charges while notebook tails behind. To effectively cut down on the bill, we explore how to reduce the usage time of the appliances. Bear in mind that basic necessities such as fridge cannot be touched. Below are some suggestions:

1. Use fans instead of air conditioner;
2. Cut down on using Induction Cooker and use gas instead;
3. Reduce the frequency of using bathroom heater;
4. Iron cloth every fortnight. FYI, heating up the iron is very time consuming;
5. Refrain from using water boiler to keep warm and use vacuum flask instead;
6. Adopt standby or hibernation mode for breaks exceeding one hour; and
7. Sleep early so watch less TV programs.

Household Appliance	Power Consumption/ unit (W)	Hours of usage/ day(Hrs)	Monthly Bill with GST (S$)	Ranking
Bathroom Heater	2000	1	15.13	2
Induction Cooker	1200	0.25	2.27	8
Cloth Iron	1000	0.05	0.38	12
Water Boiler	750	0.25	1.42	11
Air Conditioner	600	3	13.61	3
Rice Cooker	500	0.5	1.89	9
Fridge	200	24	36.30	1
Desktop PC	160	6	7.26	5
CRT TV	135	6	6.13	6
2 Fans	60	12	10.89	4
Notebook	55	4	1.66	10
3 Light Bulbs	40	5	4.54	7
Total Electricity Bill			101.47

 
After changing the consumption pattern, only fans cost more due to longer period of usage. If the fridge is your top list, then you have near to your target. Revised bill is $101.47 which is a 24.28% reduction in power consumption.

Conclusions

There are some devices (S$150) sold in the market which promise to save your electricity bill. The basic operation is to optimize the inductive and capacitive powers (correcting the power factor) which exist in any power supply due to different appliances used. This is especially useful for Air conditioner, washing machine and other inductive devices. In Singapore, the effect is noticeable for 5-room flat or bigger units but less significant in smaller HDB units. Suppliers claim that the savings vary between 5-25%. If you are interested, please attend computer show as they are always participating in such shows. Watch out for mini-sun or power save booths.
Now, you can save your pocket money and environment at the same time and preserve a greener earth for our future generations. I must talk big because cutting back on what you are currently enjoying is painful. Trust me�