Why are we using so much electric?

schmickleicklepickle

We are averaging about 20 units a day - me, my OH and 4 year old DS. We have a 4 bed house and I work from home four days a week with OH working from home 2 1/2 days a week.

I have been obsessively watching the meter for the last two weeks, following the great advice I have read on here and daily consumption appears to vary from 8 (last Sat only -out for most of it!) to 25 units!

In those 2 weeks that is what I've done:
Everything that can be switched off at the plug when not in use is .
Hot water timer is set for 3/4 hour between 6 and 7am only, with temp set to 45 deg.
No tumble dryer, washing machine on 3 times a week on quick wash (35 mins, 30 deg),
Dishwasher every other day (making sure I wash easy bits by hand)
Two PCs + peripherals for ~8 hours a day, plus one fluorescent light
Two electic alarm clocks on all the time
One fridge/freezer and chest freezer on all the time
Lights only put on when walking about becomes hazardous!

What more can I do?!
I checked the meter before I went to bed last night and when I got up this morning had used 5 units in those 8 hours - can just fridge and freezers and 2 alarm clocks use that much?! There must be something else that I'm missing but not sure what.

GIven the working from home I would expect our consumption to be a bit higher than average but it still seems a bit high to me. Am I just being too obsessive and need to accept the level of usage?

I would be really gratetful for any suggestions.

space_rider

How old are your fridge freezer? Sometimes when they are getting old they can use lots of units. Does the freezer need defrosting? Is it frost free. I use 8 per day at the moment and we are all off as it`s school hols.

Magentasue

TVs, games consoles? I know that some playstations, Xboxes and, especially plasma screen TVs, burn a lot of electricity.

If you heat your water by electric, are you sure it's working properly, ie turning off correctly and thermostat working accurately? We had a horrendous elec bill the month we moved in because of a faulty immersion heater.

Andy_Hamilton

Although the fridge freezer may or not be using too much electricity, I did the calculations for my 10-15 year old one compared to the best new replacement. It saved £50 per year but cost £300 (6 years to pay back). I'll replace mine when it's needed.

Download a simple program for you computers called "local cooling" It turns off the monitor, disk drives and the whole PC if you want. I've put it on my PC and in 2 weeks I've saved over 1.135KWH. Considering that I turn the PC off when not in use it's a massive saving, most of this saving is when I nip to the door, get called away etc.

penrhyn

Nothing to do with your overall consumption, but to avoid the possibility of Legionella, your hot water should be heated to 60 C for about an hour each day.
Hopefully you tank is well lagged.

schmickleicklepickle

Thanks for the replies so far, in response:

Chest freezer is only year old - it is virtually empty now so going to switch that off and see if it makes any difference. Fridge/freezer probably at least 5 years old (here when we moved in 3 years ago), defrosted about 6 weeks ago and is fine - can't afford to replace it!

Have a Wii which is always off at plug unless used (once a week at the most); LCD TV probably on 4/5 hours a day on average - always off at plug when not in use.

Water heater - I guess the only way we can tell if faulty is to switch it off altogether for a day and see if elec use is the same?
Thanks Penrhyn - i was concerned about this but water is still piping hot (even when washing up after tea) so maybe thermostat is faulty?!

Thanks Andy for the computer hint - will certainly try that with my PC. Not sure OH can as he cannot install things on his wierd work computer (its a handheld pad thing that he slots into a monitor when at home)

Andy_Hamilton

The chest freezer is better than any other freezer aslong as it's kind of full.

space_rider

Turn absolutely everything off apart from the fridge freezer when you go to bed and read the meter beforehand so you can see exactly how much they are using. You`ll need to read meter before your hot water comes on though! Maybe better if you did that when you are out for most of the dayto save you getting up.

Belnahua

I found that an empty freezer is the electricity meter's best friend.

Fill the freezer with a few old 2 litre fizzy drinks bottles, filled 3/4 full of water. It stops the freezer needing to constantly restart chilling air!

Same for the fridge, if it's fairly empty, put a couple of them in here too.

Magentasue

Or, even better, something really cheap like reduced bread (go to supermarket at 9pm!). If it's often empty - do you need it?

amcluesent

>Hot water timer is set for 3/4 hour<

Your immersion element probably draws 2000W. If you empty the tank of h/w each day, then heating up again from scratch each morning is likely at least 1 KWh.

>when I got up this morning had used 5 units in those 8 hours<

Assuming the immersion takes 1 unit, leaving 4 units in 8 hours makes a steady 500W draw. Seems a lot when everyone is tucked in bed.