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Novel Method to Cut Down Electricity Bills

ABU DHABI - In the UAE, where energy is heavily subsidised by the government, the monthly domestic energy charges vary from 20 Fils per unit (kilowatt-hour) for the first 2,000 units consumed, to 35 Fils for 6,000 and over units consumed.

It is usually small, one-two bedroom apartments that consume an average of 1,500-2,200 units monthly, while large villas consume as much as 6,000-7,000 units.

As experts now agree, cheap energy does not encourage people to consume less and stop wasting energy, so why subsidise the cost of energy consumption when you can subsidise energy efficiency? The answer to this question is in the products designed and manufactured in the UAE by Pulse, an efficient energy solution company, which is attracting much national and international attention at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

“When we set up the company in Dubai in 2005, we wanted to focus on smart house solutions, but then we realised that we don’t just need to create more comfortable homes, but more energy efficient ones too,” Jimmy Grewal, co-founder and CEO of Pulse told Khaleej Times.

“More than double of energy consumption in the UAE happens in the summer,” he explained. “And half of it is only consumed over three hours, in the hottest part of the day.” The discrepancy is so big that half of the country’s power plants shut down in winter time. This is not just because of energy saving, but once energy is produced, it has to be consumed, otherwise it creates too much heat, which can damage the plant. “To minimise energy production, the consumption needs to be more uniform throughout the day and throughout the year,” said Grewal.

And, for the time being, all UAE power plants work on diesel fuel, which is both pollutant and expensive.

At 53 per cent, air-conditioning is, not surprisingly, the biggest consumer of energy in summer months. What Pulse has come up with is a thermostat metering, just launched during WFES, which allows adjustments, even from long distance, of lights, power and, of course, air-conditioning.

“In a hot climate like the UAE, if you increase the air-conditioning by one degree Celsius only, you can still save five per cent of energy,” claimed Grewal. Pulse is now in talks with Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority and other national and international bodies, to subsidise or find solutions to install Pulse equipment in residential homes and in hotels and other public buildings.

In the meantime, its prices for a basic home kit is $500, which includes the smart thermostat metre, a water heater controller and a digital monitor display, all designed and produced by Pulse.

“Coming up with a wireless metre was quite a challenge,” admitted Grewal. Indeed, this is not your ordinary metre controller, as it can be accessed not just by touch-screen or from remote control, but through the internet as well.

“Imagine you finished work and, on the way home, you want to adjust your air condition, so that the apartment will be comfortably cool when you get there. All you have to do is open your i-Pod or use any computer, get online, access your metre controller and set whatever temperature you desire, for each room of your house,” he explained.

The Pulse smart metre works with any air-conditioning unit and, according to Grewal, all it takes is for a technician to wire it to the home.

Efficiency and cost wise, the Pulse package can save 20 per cent of an average annual electricity bill.

“The average monthly electricity bill is Dh400, which means that you can recover your Pulse kit bill in two- and-a-half years,” he pointed out.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com