Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 06, 2013 10:35 am I've just spoken to a friend who did a KDRB 5 years ago. He said his power bills went from $700/qtr to $2000/qtr Just wondering did this happen to anyone else? He's suggesting solar panels, but firstly I don't know if we can afford it (we've just hit rock so I'm assuming our site costs will skyrocket), and secondly I'm not sure whether the rebates in NSW generous enough to cover the cost of installation. Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 2May 06, 2013 11:43 am Not doing a KDRB, but electricity costs have skyrocketed in the last year... Does he have a pool, downlights? My friends who built in the last 5 years are all replacing their downlights. Downlights can be very expensive to run... Who needs all those lights on at the one time? We are getting some downlights, but they are all LED, much more energy efficient. In fact all our lights are LED . In our kitchen we have the 6 downlights but we operate them by 3 switches per 2 downlights, I think it will be rare we will need all 6 on, but two are in front of the bench, 2 behind and 2 over the oven bench. In our existing home built 25 years ago, I have one batten holder light in each area, I know in my new home I have gone all out... It is also a bigger home, I expect my electricity costs to double. Built a Hawthorne 31 with EB nessjeffdreamhouse.blogspot.com.au Building an investment now with New Living homes... We are at nearly finished... Just landscaping and driveway to go! Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 3May 06, 2013 11:49 am Excuse my ignorance, but what is KDRB? Settlement: 10.02.13 Slab: 06.03.13 Frame: 08.03.13 Lock-up: 05.04.13 Handover: 03.06.13 Build thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59555 Brisbane Photography Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 4May 06, 2013 12:01 pm Knock down rebuild Built a Hawthorne 31 with EB nessjeffdreamhouse.blogspot.com.au Building an investment now with New Living homes... We are at nearly finished... Just landscaping and driveway to go! Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 5May 06, 2013 1:56 pm 1sttimebuilding2012 Not doing a KDRB, but electricity costs have skyrocketed in the last year... Does he have a pool, downlights? Yes, actually he does have a pool. It's solar heated, but I'm sure there's a pump, so I'm not sure how much electricity that would chew through. We are going to replace all the downlights with LED's after handover to save on markup. Hopefully that will make a difference. Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 6May 06, 2013 2:51 pm Even using LED, down lights can be an inefficient way to light a room. We've used them sparingly and in most rooms have gone with pendants instead. For example, One pendant in the centre of a bedroom running a 23W CFL versus 4+ led dowlights sucking 16w each with a transformer sucking another 10 watts or so. 23 watts versus 100+ watts! Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 7May 07, 2013 7:43 am We did a KDRB in 2005, already had a pool but added solar pool heating(needs a pump to run), ducted aircon and downlights. Our previous bills were $350ish but when we sold in 2010 the last bill was $1050 and we used gas for heating, cooking and hot water. It was an open plan design which means empty wallet when it comes to heating and cooling. I think when we all build our first house we get sucked in by the display homes and want everything we see, don’t think about what it will cost in the future. I mean who needs 10 downlights in the living area. I think second time around you are a bit wiser and when we rebuilt in the Illawarra area we made many changes. We still have a large kitchen/dining/family area but added doors so it can be closed off, we don’t have a pool as the beach is 15 minutes away, we had 2 split system aircons installed instead of ducted and put ceiling fans in all bedrooms and the study(faces NW). Also, there is not one downlight to be seen and we are coping quite well especially as the highest electricity bill we have had since moving in was $382. Regards, Grumbles Re: KDRB - Whose power bills went through the roof afterward 8May 07, 2013 10:36 am That's what I'm afraid of Grumbles, and it's too late now to change back to battens. We did add doors wherever possible though i.e family room, study, ensuite. Might take a serious look at solar panels, but since they've cut the tarrifs I'm not sure how long it will take to see a return on our investment, although if money wasn't an issue, I'd install them for the environment's sake anyway. Your best bet might be to go visit the display homes and walk around in them, and take photos. Get a feel for it in person instead of deciding from the floor plan. There… 1 21436 Keen to hear from people in the area who have got KDRB done on whom they got the build from? Looking for recommendations. Thanks 0 21099 |