A Personal Study of our Home's Meralco Bills

First-off, I'd like to state what I've said on my last post, wherein I have promised to give you a sort of a comparison between investing in Stocks and investing in a Solar system:

“On my next post, let’s try to see how a Solar Investment can perform better than most stocks – using stock charting and comparable technical analysis.”
- 4 Reasons why Solar Power is the Next Generation Investment in the Philippines

I haven’t forgotten this, in fact I am still currently reviewing the current stocks performance of our Philippine Stocks Market at this time – and also I will be going to the 2012 CitisecOnline (COL) Market Outlook: "Get a Grip on the Market Insanity" tonight to get more info, so I may present it better. This will give me a better outlook as to the current situation of our Philippine stocks.

For now, let me give you a private study that I just conducted, based on the monthly electricity bills that we’ve had at home over the years. Please read on.

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Sometimes, the most unsuspecting recurring charges that we incur from our monthly or utility bills are the ones that are costing us the biggest chunk of were we could get our passive income.

Let's take for example our electricity bills.

Imagine how much your electricity would cost in a few yrs. Let me give you a sample: I have here a rundown of our electricity bill at home since around 2007 (yeah, I know.. I am junkie. I happen to keep utility bills in a folder).


Date: Sept 2007
Total kWh: 339
Amount: P3,206.65
Amount / kWh: 9.46
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
392 kWh/mo
127.16/day

Date: Feb 2009
Total kWh: 339  

Amount: P3,186.85
Amount / kWh: 9.40
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
396 kWh/mo
125.63/day

Date: Apr 2009
Total kWh: 415  

Amount: P4,375.70
Amount / kWh: 10.54
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
396 kWh/mo
126.16/day

Date: May 2009
Total kWh: 485
Amount: P4,693.20
Amount / kWh: 9.68
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
398 kWh/mo
126.10/day

Date: Jun 2009
Total kWh: 543
Amount: P5,066.80
Amount / kWh: 9.33
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
409 kWh/mo
129.68/day

Date: Dec 2011
Total kWh: 198
Amount: P2,114.25
Amount / kWh: 10.68
Ave Usage for 12 mos:
354 kWh/mo
131.97/day


Here is a summary of all the rates in a spreadsheet format, showing the amount and total kWh per month, since Sept. 2007 until Dec. 2011, which are the bills that we have for now on our home files (it's incomplete, as I can't find the other bills that I've had placed in a folder).

Now, here is a summary of those rates in a Chart:

The yellow line on the graph shows the movement of the Rates or prices of Electricity per month.

Disclaimer:

This is a personal study. I am not a Statistics major, although I only know a few based on my experience as a Project Manager / Reports Specialist on my previous job. This may contain errors, but I tried to present the best way I can, as objective as I can, with the knowledge that I have. If anyone is willing to help or provide feedback especially on mistakes, please help me correct them so I may present better and more objective data. The truth is, all of these data came from our Meralco bills.

The data, I have to admit, is a bit inconclusive (primarily due to the incompleteness of data). I was hoping to see if the rate inflation is increasing at a steady rate, but if we base our findings from here… I find that the rates are a bit unpredictable!

Which is all the more frightening.

Because, the price is fluctuating every month for some reason. There's no uniformity. And we don't get to see it easily until we get a closer look. On some months, the rate is higher. On some months, it's lower. It's like the crazy circus oil price hikes that poor rats (sorry, it's just satiric play) like us are subjected to every now and then.


Now, I don’t know if what I did is correct – but I computed for the rates for the Amount per kWh, by getting the Amount (Amount on the Bill) and divide it by Total kWh.

Here is the basic formula (using basic math):

   Amount (Bill Amount)
---------------------------------     =    Amount per kWh
          Total kWh

Now, here is a computation of the average amount, as well as the total amount generated for at least 4 years.

Ave Amt: P4,249.07 

* This is our ave. monthly bill, based on the spreadsheet I've shown above.

Sample:

# years: 4

# months: 48

Total:

P203,955.20 

     * Ave. Amount x Number of Months

If we base it on the average expense of our home, which is P4,249.07 (say, from Sept 2007 until Sept 2011).. this means we’ve already summed up around P203,955.20 in just 4 years?

Wow.

So this is the price of electricity in modern Filipino times. And I didn’t even know or realize it. Absolutely - nothing is free. In just 4 years, we’ve consumed and spent 200k worth of electricity!

That would have been a franchise fee for a Bayad Center or a reputable Foodcart business.

If we only knew, saving electricity and using less power consumption, then investing this amount of money in stocks, mutual funds or in a business would have gone a loooooong way.

Which is the next topic I am going to talk about, as I have promised before.

Stay tuned for my next post, which is using stock charts & graphs to see if a Solar System as an investment could outperform or is at par with the stocks in the Philippine Stock Market.