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From Janet Cavanaugh

Am I the only one alarmed that your letter writer Gregory Nicholls regards 1800 kilowatt-hours per month as an acceptable level of power consumption for a household (11 October, p 30)?

Let’s put this in perspective. It is an average of 60 kilowatt-hours per day or a 2.5-kilowatt continuous load. Assuming 100 million households in the US with similar levels of power consumption…eek! No wonder the planet is in trouble!

My household doesn’t use anywhere near this amount of energy, which is a good thing too because my house is solar-powered and, as Nicholls points out, it would cost a lot to install a photovoltaic system that could cope with this load.

When installed, my power system cost less than half the upfront cost of connecting to the power grid. Since I don’t have to pay bills or cope with the inconvenience of blackouts, I see this as a great investment.

I’d love the challenge of reducing your power bill, Mr Nicholls.

Whiporie, New South Wales, Australia