Monthly Electrical Bill
Monthly Electrical Bill
Based on the interviews conducted, the average for the monthly electric bill was 20,620 MNT per month - excluding the 3 out of the 18 families who used an electrical floor mat for supplemental heating (families 4,5, and 13). One of these three families utilized a hybrid heating system meaning an electric floor mat and a stove. Interestingly, all families split an electrical line, and measured individual usage based on a electricity meter. The family to whom the main electrical line belonged would receive a text message from the billing company at the end of the month, families who were splitting from the mainline would asses how much they used based on their electrical meter, pay the original family, who would then pay the full sum for the monthly bill through text message.
The range of electrical bill included a minimum of 10, 000 MNT (a 4 khana ger, with a single elderly person living alone), the mean electrical bill of 37,375 MNT (on average a 5 khana ger, with household o 4 to 5 family members), and the maximum electrical bill of 120,000 MNT (often a heating system tested for a period of time by households, but unless the combined salary is significantly higher than average, most families we were told find it hard to maintain as a long term alternative heating system).
As the grid in the Ger Areas is currently overused because there are not enough power stations in Ulaanbaatar to support the number of households in the Ger Areas, this causes extremely low flows of electricity during peak ours - between 7-9am and 5-8pm when families are preparing to leave their homes, or returning home after work or school. As a result, we sought to understand whether it was possible to find alternative ways to enable families in the Ger Areas to access better electrical currents - such as a shared photovoltaic system between multiple Hashas in order to share the cost and maintenance of the photovoltaic system, while providing a better electrical source and reducing the current stress on the electrical grid. Families stated that they would be willing to share a photovoltaic system to reduce costs and help maintenance of the system - which is a positive and important note to keep in mind for future housing development in the Ger Areas.