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

elisebutt65

airedaleterrier wrote: »

What a star. I spent ages the other night on google and even look at this site, but still didn't find them. Many thanks. Will start looking for cheap wool blankets now to line the curtain with.

Might I suggest Oxfam??? I got a huge thick velvet curtain from their and it is superb!!!

HxBro

I started myself on the challenge of reducing my usage after the last quarter bill.

I've just took readings for our 2 bed flat, we used 45kWh of gas in the last 83 days, and 1673kWh of elec (I work at home so the computer is on at least 8 hours a day), we pay £66/month by direct debit and are £11 in credit. We are with scottish power online 4 tarrif

I turn everything off at the switch including the freeview box, oven and computer. I got a plug-in electricity usage reader and found that most of the electronic devices used some electricity even when off (not even in standby), the computer was the worst culprit. Turning off at the socket has saved nearly 30kWh on the last quarter

Gas wise, we have the water on for 10 mins a day, and I cook 1 hot meal a day most days, which is why our usage is low during the summer.

My usage:



My Elec Graph



And the one I'm proud about, the gas graph, which is following the trend of house prices


Unfortunately I'm moving house in september so it'll be a new challenge to keep usage down in the new house and to see if I can match this flats gas usage

[Deleted User]

well done hxbro

oldMcDonald

hxbro - really well done.

SuiDreams

Well done, unfortunately depite trying really hard our energy usage is not improving.

Magentasue

SuiDreams wrote: »

Well done, unfortunately depite trying really hard our energy usage is not improving.

Don't you think, though, that cutting back this time of year is relatively easy? Even our energy use goes down in the summer! We (family of 6 in 3 bed house) have got our gas down to as low as it will go without making sacrifices - ie. not having hot water, not cooking. I feel that we're using and wasting as little as we can.

Electricity is different. In our worst days (laissez-faire winter), we were using 26 units a day and obviously wasting a fair bit. We got that down to 18 fairly easily and this month, around 13. I know we could cut that a bit because I still catch the kids leaving a game on while they're out of the room, lights left on etc. but I don't think I could cut more than a unit or two a day without being accused of being draconian.

My targets are 13 a day as long as I can and no more than 18 a day. I would love to cut that 18 but I do have other things to do (work, for example) and will have to accept that I'm on my own here with this.

So, my point (eventually), suidreams, is that I think we all have an individual point where we won't drop below without going to a whole new level and maybe you're already there?

HxBro

I forgot to add, for the gas, I also turned down the thermostat on the boiler to bring the water temperature down, so it doesn't need to heat up the water as much.

SuiDreams

Magentasue wrote: »

So, my point (eventually), suidreams, is that I think we all have an individual point where we won't drop below without going to a whole new level and maybe you're already there?

I do think I could do better on the gas front, but other half likes to have loads of hot water available. He's started to put the boiler on when he cooks the tea and closes the kitchen door in the hope that I won't notice. On the electric front we did manage to get it down a unit or two a day lower than it is at the moment just need to workout whats different to see if we can get it back down to that level.

Going to keep a better eye on usage over the winter this year to see if we can keep it a bit lower this winter.

[Deleted User]

magentasue I was thinking along the same lines as you today. My dh got a skin infection and I have decided that no longer will I be washing towels etc at 30. I did a full load today at 60 and it took forever compared to 30. I expect it will cost a lot more energy. Oh well, I can`t be a saint forever!!

Now getting the things dry is a problem, yet more rain and a greyish day too. Luckily I do have a spare room on the top floor so I just hang in there anyway as we can`t hang washing outside. I was thinking about all the 2+ households trying their level best to be energy-economical and have to say that it is very easy in summer but extremely hard going towards winter

I have also reached a point that I cannot go below re energy usage. Scary thought really as the only way from here is up

newlywed

SuiDreams wrote: »

I do think I could do better on the gas front, but other half likes to have loads of hot water available.

Your OH must be related to mine - he has the water on for 5 hours a day in case he wants a bath (we have no shower)!! I sneakily reduced the time by 2 hours and can't notice any difference (even having had baths) but looking at the gas we've used, think he may have noticed and re-set it