SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) is piloting the use of a tracking device that will help consumers know exactly how much they are paying for various appliances in the house.

With the device, the NEA hopes more households will cut down their energy consumption and save on their utilities bills.

To use it, the device needs to be linked to the circuit breaker. The device not only shows the total energy consumed by the household, it also shows how much power up to three selected appliances use and even calculates the dollar value of the energy consumed.

The NEA hopes such devices will help households change their consumption habits.

K Suresh, senior engineer with NEA's Resource Conversation Department, said: "Through this device, we hope to create awareness among the households about saving energy."

Households which have already started using the device reported significant savings due to awareness.

Home owner Tommy Ng said: "Before that, we didn’t know, because there's no dollars and cents. I have nine rooms and if no one is in the rooms and all (of us are) in the hall watching TV and all the nine room lights are on, it consumes a lot of electricity."

With 12 people in Mr Ng's household, this bottom-line awareness, along with initiatives to switch to energy-saving appliances, have translated into savings of about S$400 a month.

The device will soon be found in more homes. The NEA is conducting a pilot project in 200 homes in the North West and South West Community Development Councils, to help households in these areas monitor their energy consumption.

The six-month pilot project will begin this month, and focuses on families in four- and five-room flats.

The devices will be installed free of charge by NEA and Bridex, the company behind the device.

Mr Ng's energy-saving ways, together with those of 11 other families will be featured in a new programme titled "Energy Savers", which will start running this Thursday on MediaCorp's Channel 8 at 8pm.

The show will challenge the 12 households to reduce their energy consumption by at least 10 per cent and invent creative ideas on how to save electricity. The winning household stands to win S$5,000.

Those not involved in the trial can buy the S$200 device at Home-Fix stores from next week.

- CNA/yb