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One of the tenets of financial wisdom I learned from Robert Kiyosaki - one of my favorite authors who wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cash Flow Quadrant, and Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing – is that a person’s wealth is not determined by the things one spends for or acquires; and instead, it is by how much money one keeps. The argument offered is that people may have acquired the fanciest cars, clothes, accessories, homes, or jewelry but they may be purchased on credit. And these people slave their way to pay for these things, which makes them work hard for the money.
I would always keep in mind the alternate condition Kiyosaki recommended; and that is, make money work for you.
As I go by this economic consciousness, I try to make financial decisions that support the pursuit of this mindset. As investing is the key, wise spending plays a complementary role.
I have also learned that one of the ways to grow one’s wealth is to monitor where or how we spend money. I have slashed down unnecessary expenditures and trimmed down to the essentials. This, however, does not mean that I have not enjoyed occasional and sensible indulgences, which I have used to reward myself for achieving small goals entwined in the grand design of my life’s purpose.
We all spend on the basics – food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education, and utilities. With the first five items in this list, I have thoughtfully managed to allocate funds well enough. On the other hand, spending for utilities appears to be challenging and, tellingly, not always within our control as consumers.
The use of electricity, for instance, carries along consumption due to technical losses. I have learned recently that we are also charged for heating of coils, eddy currents, magnetization and demagnetization of the core, and leakage of electromagnetic flux. Part of the kwh that goes into our appliances is spent on these technical losses. For the appliance to run as expected, the required electrical current should be actually higher than what the appliance needs. This means that a 50-kilowatt appliance, for instance, loads on more than 50 kwh of electricity. And the electric meter has already recorded this consumption including the technical losses.
My curiosity about electricity consumption has lead me to the Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers. I also came across a consumer complaint in MERALCO’s website contesting a bill deposit. MERALCO replied that this bill deposit is required from consumers under the law. I realized that we have paid for electricity we have not yet consumed. Talk about opportunity costs and unconscious spending!
For reference, Chapter 3 – Consumer Obligations - Article 28 of the Magna Carta states –
Obligation to Pay Bill Deposit. A bill deposit from all residential customers to guarantee payment of bills shall be required of new and/or additional service.
The amount of the bill deposit shall be equivalent to the estimated billing for one month. Provided that after (1) year and every year thereafter, when the actual average monthly bills are more or less than the initial bill deposit, such deposit shall be correspondingly increased/decreased to approximate said billing.
In fairness to MERALCO, I rationalized that this bill deposit could have been allocated for price changes in coal purchases abroad and the corresponding fluctuations in currency. The bill deposit seems to be used as a financial buffer in the electricity generation business.
As a consumer, I felt entrapped by this monopoly. Although solar power is an environmentally-sound alternative, the initial cash outlay for solar power and its maintenance are not immediately practical.
The good thing is that there are inventors out there who realize the plight of the consumers!
The entrapment I felt was substituted with hope. SPV TOP International’s G-Bio Energy products particularly this G-Wire Conditioner have provided a good complement to my wealth-building intentions. I have found something way cheaper than solar power.
Before purchasing and installing the products at my house, I have to be confident of this purchase as I would not want to waste money on some claptrap. I watched the product demonstrations. Claims include product testing with DOST and TESDA. I followed the testimonies of first users. I evaluated the reliability of their claims. I read about probable violations to the law. Visit their Facebook page at G-Bio Energy Official.
In February 2018, I began my installations, which I personally conducted myself.
What is surprising among the claims and evidence is that SPV TOP’s San Pablo distribution office has four months of zero billing, although I only obtained copies for three months here. Take a look.
A common question is what is MERALCO’s reaction to the consecutive zero collection. The answer is none. The specific provisions of the law remain observed. For your information, MERALCO gives a refund which is deducted from your monthly bill when your average electricity consumption saving compared to the previous months is more than 10%. The bill in this office had been constantly declining since the start of its operations in May 2018. After four months of declining electricity consumption, which averaged at 18.39% in eight months, the ZERO total amount due kept on coming.
The hope I initially felt turned into belief. Below is now the electricity consumption pattern at my house since I installed in February 2018. Our use of appliances has been our regular use for more than ten years now and yet the previous year recorded lower consumption and bills than before. I have stayed in the same house for the last 20 years and have roughly the same number of appliances since then. Also, there are five people in the household contributing to the expenditure in electricity in the last 15 years.
Over time, I noted an average reduction in billing and consumption between 16 to 30%. Our bill does not exceed 4K any longer. We have saved at least 1K each month since I installed. And these monthly savings add on to my coin pot intended for investing.
That G-wire conditioner (G for genius) has proven to be practical, and indeed amazing. Find out more about this product at bit/ly/2leCddE.
For the skeptics, they can continue raising their eyebrows and continue with their unconscious spending as if doing nothing when you know that your faucet is already leaking. Meantime, due to the proper installation and use of this product, I am just going to enjoy my continuous savings and stream of income. (ka-ching-ching)!
