The resident of Yangpu District, Shanghai said her four-member family has seen its power bills drop from more than 800 yuan (US$96) a year to just over 700 yuan (US$85) last year, because the family's new home is installed with one of the city's new two-tiered electricity meters.

"I have become accustomed to waiting to use my washing machine until after 10 p.m., because the charges are 50 percent lower late at night," said Xu, 45.

By the end of this year, another 1.2 million local families will reap the benefits Xu is enjoying from the new meters and rate system.

The meters are installed in many new housing complexes around the city and are being put into older homes as well.

The new rate system, which has been in effect for about a year, charges only 0.3 yuan for a single kilowatt-hour from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., while charging the regular price of 0.61 yuan from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The first new meters were installed in 460,000 homes downtown and in nearby counties last year, according to Yu Qinde, a spokesman for Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co.

This year, the power company will allocate 100 million yuan for installing new meters in local homes. Families will be asked to pay 100 yuan for the new meters, with the power company picking up the rest of the tab.

"The city has budgeted a total of 1 billion yuan to install new meters for an estimated 4 million local families by the end of 2005," Yu said.

The meters will save local residents more than 200 million yuan on their power bills each year as of 2006.

(Eastday.com January 24, 2002)