Energy Tips
Spring Forward: How Daylight Savings Time Can Be a Reminder to Save on Electricity
Daylight savings is your cue to cut energy waste, lower bills, and make the most of longer hours.
Important Points
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Daylight savings brings longer evenings, making it a good time to rethink your energy habits.
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If you’re on a Time-of-Use tariff, moving tasks like laundry or dishwashing to off-peak hours can cut costs.
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Using natural light in the evenings helps reduce reliance on lamps and overhead lighting.
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Servicing your air conditioner and cleaning filters in spring ensures more efficient cooling for summer.
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Reset timers on appliances, hot water systems, and pool pumps so they align with the new daylight savings schedule.
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Choosing the BBQ, air fryer, or slow cooker instead of the oven saves electricity and keeps your home cooler.
When daylight savings kicks in on Sunday, 6 October, we get longer evenings and more opportunity to change our home energy habits. But without a little prep, bills can sneak up on us as warmer weather and usage shifts happen. Here’s what to tweak this spring to keep your energy costs down and make the most of the sunlight.
1. Shift Your Usage to Off-Peak Hours
If you’re on a Time-of-Use (ToU) tariff, when you use electricity matters just as much as how much you use. Peak times, usually early evenings when everyone’s home cooking, washing, and watching television, are the most expensive. Running the dishwasher or tossing in a load of laundry during those hours can make your bill higher than it needs to be.
Instead, try to move those chores into off-peak or shoulder periods, like later at night or mid-morning when demand is lower. A lot of modern appliances have delay-start functions, so you can load the dishwasher after dinner, set the timer, and have it run while you sleep. The difference in cost can really add up across a month.
For example, let’s use a household in Sydney on a ToU tariff. If they run the dryer at 6:30 pm every evening, they could be paying the highest rates of the day based on their peak hours. By shifting that load to after 10 pm, or during off-peak hours, they could cut the running cost nearly in half.
Now, if you’re on a flat-rate tariff, you’re charged the same rate no matter the time of day. That means doing your laundry at 6 pm doesn’t cost more than doing it at 10 pm. But here’s the catch: your total usage still matters. Even though the rate is fixed, using multiple big appliances at once (say, the oven, washing machine, and air conditioning) can cause your bill to go up simply because of the sheer demand.
Expert Tip
To check which tariff you’re on, look at your electricity bill: it should say flat/single rate, or ToU with details of peak, shoulder, off-peak times.
So, what’s the trick if you’re on a flat rate? Spread out your usage where possible. Instead of running every appliance in the evening rush, knock out some chores earlier in the day or save them for later. This keeps your total usage manageable and helps avoid the “all at once” bill shock.
2. Bright Evenings, Lower Bills: Use Daylight to Your Advantage
Longer daylight hours mean you may not need indoor lighting until later in the evening. Because lighting can contribute a noticeable portion of your evening electricity usage, simply postponing turning on lamps and other lights can add up over spring and early summer.
Make use of open curtains and windows to let sunlight in. Arrange activities like reading, cooking, or family time outdoors or near windows during those bright evening hours. Even in areas with a lot of cloud cover, there’s still enough ambient light to reduce artificial lighting needs.
These small changes feel minor, but over weeks and months, they can add up – sometimes, drastic changes aren’t always the way to cut back on costs.
3. Prep Your Cooling Systems Early
Spring is your chance to get ahead of summer cooling costs. Before the heat really kicks in, clean or replace air conditioner filters, get seals around windows and doors checked, and consider service for your AC if it hasn’t been done in a year. A clean air conditioning unit works more efficiently and could consume less energy.
Also, use ceiling fans or portable fans when possible; they use far less power than your standard air conditioning unit, especially during shoulder or cooler evening hours.
Good upkeep now prevents “peak-demand surprises” in bills later. When your AC is turned on and left on throughout the day, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see your bill in the hundreds of dollars. Being efficient beforehand means your home is less impacted.
4. Reset Timers & Align Automated Systems with Daylight Savings
Many homes have appliances running on timers: hot water systems, pool pumps, lighting. When clocks jump forward, some of these timers often stay on the old schedule unless you adjust them manually. If those systems run during peak rates now, you could be paying more than you should.
Take time to walk through your timers and settings. Make sure every system that’s automated to run during cheaper times of the day. Even small shifts, like having the pool pump run overnight or early morning rather than late afternoon, will help.
Also, make sure any smart devices or thermostats sync up correctly after the clock change. If they’re still using a pre-daylight savings setup, they may not match your usage pattern anymore.
5. Skip the Oven, Try the BBQ or Air Fryer
As the evenings stretch out, fire up the BBQ instead of the oven when you can. Ovens and stovetops generate more heat and use a lot of electricity, especially during warm evenings when your cooling systems are also working.
Expert Tip
Try using slow cookers, microwaves, or air fryers for smaller meals; these often draw far less power.
Final Thoughts
With longer evenings and warmer weather on the way, even small changes, like using more natural light, tweaking timers, or prepping your cooling systems, can keep your bills under control.
The best part? These aren’t complicated changes. They’re relatively easy habits that fit naturally into your day and add up over time. So while you’re enjoying the extra daylight, you’re also setting yourself up for a more affordable season ahead.
Think of daylight savings as your annual reminder: brighter days can mean better energy habits – and better savings.
Author
Benjamin TomBenjamin is a utility specialist passionate about creating informative content about the energy, internet, and solar markets. With extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, Benjamin drives our unique blog posts, articles, and reviews. He is focused on breaking down the technical jargon so our readers can better understand the telco market and industry. Whether he is comparing the latest internet deals or creating unique guides, Benjamin takes great pride in creating helpful, easy-to-read content.
