Bringing down my gas and leccy bill challenge (start August 2008)

mardatha

Do we pay for water up here ? Nobody has meters.

Larumbelle

mardatha, I think in Scotland your water rates are included in your council tax... maybe someone north of the border could confirm this?

mardatha

Yes, somebody on another thread mentioned that , thanks:)

SuiDreams

Well read the meters today electric 5 units a day small improvement and gas 12 KWH per day a bit of an increase there I'm afraid

oldMcDonald

Did a 24 hour meter read, I've never done this before so it is interesting to see how much we have used. Gas .5 of a unit Electricity 13 units. I have a horrible feeling that the electricity usage is mainly the two ceiling fans that DH has on constantly. I'll turn them off this morning as he is working - if it is the fans then seeing it show on the meter should get him to turn them off.

Anyone else going to post their 24 hour reading? It will be interesting to see everyones average usage. We are a family of 7 (2 adults, 5 children) in a 4 bed end of terrace if anyone wants to do a comparison.

Andy_Hamilton

I run consistanly at 10-11KWH per day for electricity and 8.3KWH (not units) Gas.
My main electricity usage is a marine fish tank and inefficient fridge freezer. Pay back for a new fridge freezer would be aroung 5-6 years so i'll just wait until it dies.

amcluesent

> I have a horrible feeling that the electricity usage is mainly the two ceiling fans<

I'd be surprised if between them, they drew more than 50W.

It's only when you're need heat (kettle/oven/immersion/fan heater) that you get demand in excess of 1000W and the bill shoots up.

oldMcDonald

amcluesent wrote: »

> I have a horrible feeling that the electricity usage is mainly the two ceiling fans<

I'd be surprised if between them, they drew more than 50W.

It's only when you're need heat (kettle/oven/immersion/fan heater) that you get demand in excess of 1000W and the bill shoots up.

Hmmmm, I wonder where the electricity is getting used, then? Most cooking is either done in a remoska, slow cooker, steamer or slow cooker - so a proportion would go there.....water / heating (not that it is on at the moment) is gas. Other than that, usage is laptop on throughout most of the day, dishwasher run 2xday and A rated fridge freezer. Do you think it is the dishwasher and the laptop? I really had no idea about the cost of these to run - I am learning a lot from this thread and similar, though

oldMcDonald

Sorry to post again, but thinking a bit more....

DS has his PSP plugged in almost 24 / 7, there is a DAB radio on constantly, kettle is boiled several times throughout the day (if I stored water in a flask, would it cost less to boil a full kettle and store the water or to boil the same amount of water in several smaller kettle boils? If that makes sense!)

It's little things like that you don't really think about, isn't it? I'm really determined to get our electricity usage down.

Magentasue

Hi oldMacdonald. We're similar to you (family six) and I've found these websites useful:

http://www.sust-it.net/energy_saving.php?electricity=14&id=71
http://www.cactus2000.de/uk/unit/massstr.shtml

There are lots of pdf files out there giving average costs for appliances. Last winter we were averaging 18units a day (26 some days). Now we're about 13.

My DAB radio costs about a penny a day, the kettle is 0.06 units for two cups. Laptop about a penny for five hours. My expensive appliances were oven, hob (cook by gas now), tumble drier (winter only) and washing machine (have stopped using quick wash and do all at 30deg apart from weekly boil wash).