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Great thread!

 

With the high cost of electricity, I am more deliberate in using electric home appliance and electric devices. Now can someone tell me if those plug-in power saving devices advertised on TV really work? I mean, really help you cut down on the consumption of electric power? What is the principle behind it?

 

Thanks!

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good day bos masi!

 

can you be specific on that TV ad?

 

what I can remember is the one being shown in ch. 13/9. the white one that looks like a mouse that you plug in a wall socket. bad news sir. it doesnt save you that much. the thing has a capacitor inside that explains how it can provide short bursts of power during a power interruption. if you plug it in before your ref/washing machine - it would save a little power. although the price of the thingie would not justify the savings you get from it. if you plug it like what the commercial does, (which was anywhere) you introduce things in your home that you don't want - overvoltage, for one. harmonics is another.

 

the only energy savings devices are certified by our very own Dept. of Energy. if someone is selling you one of those thingies, call the DOE to verify if it was approved by the DOE. better yet, provide them a sample so that they can test it. most of these thingies I've encountered so far put all sorts of company logos on their boxes. then a very fine print saying that the product was DEMONSTRATED to these companies, they don't say that these companies actually USE them. ingat lang, Sir.

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good day bos masi!

 

can you be specific on that TV ad?

 

what I can remember is the one being shown in ch. 13/9. the white one that looks like a mouse that you plug in a wall socket. bad news sir. it doesnt save you that much. the thing has a capacitor inside that explains how it can provide short bursts of power during a power interruption. if you plug it in before your ref/washing machine - it would save a little power. although the price of the thingie would not justify the savings you get from it. if you plug it like what the commercial does, (which was anywhere) you introduce things in your home that you don't want - overvoltage, for one. harmonics is another.

 

the only energy savings devices are certified by our very own Dept. of Energy. if someone is selling you one of those thingies, call the DOE to verify if it was approved by the DOE. better yet, provide them a sample so that they can test it. most of these thingies I've encountered so far put all sorts of company logos on their boxes. then a very fine print saying that the product was DEMONSTRATED to these companies, they don't say that these companies actually USE them. ingat lang, Sir.

 

 

thanks for the info, robbie!!!

 

you are correct, those devices look like a mouse that you plug into a convenience outlet. The ads were Taiwanese dubbed in English but I think lately RJTV has been airring a local version. I will check tonight.

 

So, it's one of those "too good to be true ads" pala!!! And those devices are not cheap!!!! Thanks for the tip!

 

Ingat ka rin, bro --- mahirap na "kuryente" ang usapan!!! :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...

as a public service, here is a miniseries on the 'unbundled' charges for your MERALCO bill

 

residential:

 

generation charge - cost of electricity from NAPOCOR (or IPPs) that MERALCO bought

 

transmission charge - cost of using TRANSCO's wires to transmit electricity from the power plants to your home

 

system loss charge - the cost of technical and non-technical losses that occured during the transmission of electricity from the power plant to your home

 

distribution charge - MERALCO's service charge

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sir, that comes under the 'non-technical losses' of your system loss charge in your MERALCO bill.

non-technical losses include pilferage, kaya all acts of pilferage will be added ultimately to that bill heading. kaya pag may alam kayo na illegal connections, kindly call 16211 (MERALCO) and report it. kahit papaano, makakababa sa binabayaran nating lahat yan.

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mga bosing,

 

this thread is all about electricity - bills, power saving devices, etc. feel free to ask/share anything that is powered by electricity

 

 

part 2 of miniseries: residential bill

 

metering charge - This includes the cost of reading, and operating and maintaining power metering facilities.

 

Lifeline Discount

The EPIRA provides that residential customers consuming less than 100 kWh in a given month will enjoy a Lifeline Discount on generation, transmission, distribution, supply, metering and system loss charges at these percentages:

 

Using 50 kWh and below will get 50% discount

Using 71 to 100 kWh will get a 20% discount

 

Interclass Subsidy

residential customers enjoy a subsidy of P0.7130 per kWh funded by a charge paid by commercial and industrial users of electricity

 

beware! the interclass subsidy will be phased out starting next year. tho liliit ang charges sa commercial and industrial users, residential users will bear the increase in rates

 

CERA - Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment

This covers adjustments for fluctuations in the Philippine Peso-U.S. Dollar exchange rate

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yes sir, ultimately, LAHAT ng nakaw na kuryente will be paid for by those people regularly paying their bills. how? EPIRA gives a 9.5% ceiling on how much the govt will reimburse MERALCO for losses. saan pa ba kukunin ng gobyerno ang ipam-babayad nila sa MERALCO kundi sa taxes natin? so, para na rin sa atin ang pagsumbong ng mga hindi nagbabayad (i.e. -gumagamit ng jumper) para bumaba ang binabayaran natin

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I would also like to warn everyone about MERALCO people wanting to get inside your homes to 'check' out your appliances, wirings, etc. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT let these people in! these people are fakes!

 

I have received e-mails of such M.O.

 

MERALCO's service STOPS at your meter. If they want to enter your house, they just have to get a warrant like everyone else. Call their hotline 16211 to verify if they have such work orders in your area. If these people are for real, they will happily wait for you to be satisfied with their identities before starting their work.

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sir, that comes under the 'non-technical losses' of your system loss charge in your MERALCO bill.

non-technical losses include pilferage, kaya all acts of pilferage will be added ultimately to that bill heading. kaya pag may alam kayo na illegal connections, kindly call 16211 (MERALCO) and report it. kahit papaano, makakababa sa binabayaran nating lahat yan.

 

salamat bro! very usefull thread indeed!

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here is the 3rd part of the electric bill miniseries: residential

 

Franchise Tax - this amount goes to the national government as franchise tax, and a range of 0.05% to 0.75% of the gross is paid to local government units. this will be replaced in december by 10% EVAT

 

Universal Charge - This is remitted to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), a company owned and controlled by government, created by Republic Act 9136.

 

missionary - missionary electrification that subsidizes places where providing electricity is a non-viable business. this includes very small islands that cannot be connected to the grid

 

environmental - used to maintain/rehab watersheds, etc. that help provide power

 

what goes to meralco - Distribution Charge, Metering Charge, Supply Charge, Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment

 

what goes to government/napocor - Generation Charge, Transmission Charge, System Loss Charge, Franchise Tax (now EVAT), Universal Charge, Lifeline Subsidy, Lifeline Discount, Interclass Subsidy

 

for a bill that consumed 117 kwHr (actual bill), 16.527% of the money went to MERALCO, the rest went to the government.

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Great thread! 

 

With the high cost of electricity, I am more deliberate in using electric home appliance and electric devices.  Now can someone tell me if those plug-in power saving devices advertised on TV really work?  I mean, really help you cut down on the consumption of electric power?  What is the principle behind it?

 

Thanks!

As boss Robbietan mentioned, the mouse like device contains a capacitor. It wont work for residential electricity consumers in the Philippines because of the method of measurement used by Meralco for residential accounts.

 

The good news is that it WILL work for industrial consumers. In fact, Meralco gives a discount for those who use capacitor banks (way larger versions of the mouse like device) in their system, and can be seen in the industrail account's monthly electricity bill.

 

For more technical info, read on.

 

Meralco charges residential customers based on kilowatt-hour (KWhr) consumption, and charges industrial consumers based on kilovolt-amp-hour(KVAh). Although in basic electrical terms the two are similar, the KVAh has another component that Meralco monitors solely for industrial - the reactive power. A right size of capcitor bank will compensate for the reactive power and will bring the KVAh to equal KWhr.

 

So if you have a lot of motors running, you'll be consuming a higher KVAh, even if on paper you have a set KWhr consumption. By putting a capacitor bank and running the same motors, the KWhr will be the same, but the KVAh will be reduced.

 

Hope this helps, even if it's late.

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Some tips in buying electrical appliances -

 

For Airconditioners get the unit with the highest EER rating within your desired size and budget. EER is the Energy Efficiency Ratio. This is how well an air conditioner can convert electricity into cool air for your room. The higher the EER, the lesser electricity it will consume to cool a correct size room.

 

Please note that it is also important to get the correct size of air conditioner for the room. If the air conditioner capacity is too small for the room, then it may not even be able to cool the room. If the airconditioner capacity is too big for the room, then their is wasteage of electricity, and the initial cost is more expensive.

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nice bos floppy! if I may add, MERALCO also charges industrial/large commercial customers in kW rating, that is the maximum demand of power for a given month, in addition to the other aforementioned charges

 

as bos floppy has said, EER also works in refrigerators. the higher the EER rating, the better. as a rough guideline in choosing energy efficient refs:

1. always single door instead of two door. mas efficient ang single door

2. go for manual defrost. no-frost refs waste power. anyway manual defrosting is easy, push start -defrosting starts. push stop- defrosting stops. that easy. no need to remove items inside the ref (like in d olden days).

tsaka kayo mamili ng preferred brands ninyo.

 

as I recall, Abenson's have these EER stickers in their refs and aircons for buyers' reference.

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Pareng Robbietan, I hope this makes sense. I just don't know many terms.

 

My old microwave oven didn't need a grounding wire, because all it needed was this little horseshoe-type metal thing in the adaptor. I believe this served as a grounder. I chose this oven precisely because it didn't need a grounding wire. Unfortunately, that oven is now faltering. We have this other oven which we want to use, but there's a grounding wire. I'm not sure if we should use the adaptor of the old oven, because there's an unoccupied space (the adaptor is for making three into two, so the oven can be plugged in, a situation which isn't needed for the new oven). My questions are: (1) Can I use the old adaptor even if there's an open space? and (2) Can we use the new microwave even without the grounding wire?

Edited by jt2003
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Pareng Robbietan, I hope this makes sense.  I just don't know many terms.

 

My old microwave oven didn't need a grounding wire, because all it needed was this little horseshoe-type metal thing in the adaptor.  I believe this served as a grounder. I chose this oven precisely because it didn't need a grounding wire.  Unfortunately, that oven is now faltering.  We have this other oven which we want to use, but there's a grounding wire.  I'm not sure if we should use the adaptor of the old oven, because there's an unoccupied space (the adaptor is for making three into two, so the oven can be plugged in, a situation which isn't needed for the new oven).  My questions are: (1) Can I use the old adaptor even if there's an open space? and (2) Can we use the new microwave even without the grounding wire?

If I understand correctly, the space you mentioned is for the ground line of the old plug, and this adaptor only has two metal prongs that stick out and plug into the wall. If this is so, then the adaptor doesn't really ground the microwave oven.

 

The grounding wire is to protect the user from electric shock in case something goes wrong like there is a short circuit inside the machine. The microwave will still work even if you don't use the ground line. If you notice, the power cables that come with the computer all have a ground line (the third metal prong that is usually round while the other two are flat) , but most people use adaptors that bypass this.

 

In case you want to play it safe and ground the microwave, all you have to do is to unscrew the screw that holds the wall electrical outlet cover and attach the ground line to this and screw it back in. You can then plug the microwave safely.

 

Most refrigerators and washing machines, specially those made in the RP all have ground lines (the green wire tied somewhere in the back of the unit. But most people don't even know they are there, much less connect them properly.

 

Anyway, the main purpose of the ground line is to protect the user when SOMETHING GOES WRONG. The unit will still work.

 

Hope this helps.

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nice bos floppy! if I may add, MERALCO also charges industrial/large commercial customers in kW rating, that is the maximum demand of power for a given month, in addition to the other aforementioned charges

 

as bos floppy has said, EER also works in refrigerators. the higher the EER rating, the better. as a rough guideline in choosing energy efficient refs:

1. always single door instead of two door. mas efficient ang single door

2. go for manual defrost. no-frost refs waste power. anyway manual defrosting is easy, push start -defrosting starts. push stop- defrosting stops. that easy. no need to remove items inside the ref (like in d olden days).

tsaka kayo mamili ng preferred brands ninyo.

 

as I recall, Abenson's have these EER stickers in their refs and aircons for buyers' reference.

Did you know that by law, all refs and air cons must post the EER and EFR ratings? This is a BPS regulation. These yellow cards will be able to save you a lot when comparing and choosing an appliance.

 

Unfortunately, there are plenty of imported units being sold that don't have this. DTI has to do something about it. A local appliance can't leave the factory without it, but an imported unit can be sold sans yellow tag.

 

Anyway, the No frost unit consumes more electricity because it has a small fan inside the ref and freezer that blows air around the unit. This movement of air keeps the ice from forming insde the freezer. This fan operates as long as the unit is on.

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good day bos jt.

bos floppy is right, gagana ang microwave even without the third wire attached.

the third wire is the ground wire, onaks have a ground wire in their homes (alam ko sa MERALCO malapit nang maging compulsory ang third wire sa new homes) that is connected sa service entrance nila. pag ikinabit mo doon ang ground wire, any fault (short circuit, etc) would go to the breaker/fuse and trip the thing.

bos floppy's suggestion is ok, since wala kayo grounding connection. it will dissipate some flux due to the operation of the machine. most of the time its good enough. pero in cases of faults, hindi mawawala ang risk of shock sa ganyang connection. (hirap nanakot pa, erferferf)

 

the microwave will do just fine, ingat na lang on the power cables. make sure na walang damage bago gamitin ang oven. just to be on d safe side.

 

me? I check ALL power cables before turning on the juice. mahirap na.... erferferf

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