Followers of the Anzac Day heater rule now have scientific backing as new data shows that in the past five years, the average minimum and maximum temperatures drop away starting April 25 and energy consumption rises.
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Evoenergy has released data showing from April 1-24 in 2017-21, the average electricity load hovers between 346 megavolt amperes (MVA) and 405 MVA before it increased to 407-457 from April 25-30.
Between April 1-24 and April 25-30 for those years, the average maximum and minimum temperatures dropped from 22.2C to 18.9C and 7.4C to 5.2C.
A company spokeswoman said although the result was not a surprise, it "does confirm that we're well justified in turning our heaters on from Anzac Day".
"We turn them on because it gets cold. Every region in Australia has a different energy consumption profile and Canberra is one of the few with a defined winter peak where over half our annual electricity and gas consumption is used between May and September each year," she said.
"The bulk of this demand on the energy network is from residential space heating.
"As the temperature continues to drop, your heater will become the hardest working appliance in the home and the biggest contributor to your daily energy consumption, so keeping it set to 18 or 19 degrees helps reduce your use and your bills."
Wright resident Elizabeth Veasey said when she moved to Canberra a couple of years ago, she was told about the rule and followed it since.
"It's not so much that I believe in the tradition, but I was just told to not turn the heaters on until Anzac Day. Since then, I've kept following it so it's just become a habit," the 26-year-old said.
"At first, I did question it, but people said, 'It's just what we do here', so I went along with it."
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To this day, the property worker said she had not broken the rule.
Prior to living in Canberra, she was living in Yass and she said the rule also extended to the town.
"That included the woodfire at my old house," she said.
Asked if the following the rule has helped her save money, she said "it certainly does".
"I know that leading into and during winter, prices do increase, so the longer I leave the heaters off, the more I save," Ms Veasey said.
"My housemate does the same."
Her strategy to beat the cold weather had been a "pretty warm" doona.
"It's one of those really strong winter ones. We've also just got heaps of blankets out in the lounge as well," she said.
As for people who break the Anzac Day rule, her message was simple: "You're crazy, you can get warm without it."
The company's figures were also similar for gas usage. From 2015-21, usage hovered between 10.2 terajoules (TJ) and 16.4 TJ from April 1-24 before rising to 14.8-22.5 TJ in the last week of the month.
The Bureau of Meteorology's data showed so far in April this year, the minimum average at Canberra Airport was 4.7C compared with the long-term average of 6.7C.
The maximum average so far in April was 21.4C compared with the long-term average of 20.1C.
In 2020, those figures were 7.9C and 18.9C, respectively.
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