Are you wasting over £700 a year on electricity? We were - not any more.

1carminestocky

touch*my*food*feel*myfork wrote: »

Help please
I purchased an energy meter and set it up last night, but not sure that it can be working properly as i am getting a reading of 0.07 kw (70 watts) and i have not adjusted anything in the house and am currently running the computer too.
It does change if i turn things on or off, but just cannot believe that this is the correct reading.
What do others think?

If you have the PC running and things like fridge freezers running in the 'background' that does seem low to me. Lowest I've ever seen my monitor running at was .09 kwh and that was at 2 in the morning! Have you checked the settings on the monitor?

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

It just seems low to what i have read on here, especially from mattymoo's original reading stating she started with 900watts - am i just already running a very efficent house? - lol.

Magentasue

Our monitor shows less than 100watts sometimes first thing. We have a large fridge and a large freezer so it doesn't stay that low for long. Turning on laptop and digital radio (first things turned on in the day) doesn't make a lot of difference. I know when the kids are up and plugging in - big jump.

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

1carminestocky wrote: »

If you have the PC running and things like fridge freezers running in the 'background' that does seem low to me. Lowest I've ever seen my monitor running at was .09 kwh and that was at 2 in the morning! Have you checked the settings on the monitor?

my hubbie sorted all the settings last night, i said i would ask on here today as they just seem so low - though i shouldn't be complaining if they are right!

Currently showing - 1.6p/hour - 0.09kw - 0.4amp
I have not even begun to turn off things to get it lower i.e. teenage bedroom stuff etc, so think that it should be higher.
Currently on are the fridge/freezer, extra freezer, computer and then all wall sockets - though nothing on standby.

espresso

touch*my*food*feel*myfork wrote: »

Currently showing - 1.6p/hour - 0.09kw - 0.4amp
I have not even begun to turn off things to get it lower i.e. teenage bedroom stuff etc, so think that it should be higher.
Currently on are the fridge/freezer, extra freezer, computer and then all wall sockets - though nothing on standby.

Your fridge/freezer and extra freezer will be off most of the time due to their thermostats and the wall sockets will not use any power if nothing is on standby. What type of PC do you use? Desktop/notebook) What is the peak reading that you have measured/seen?

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

standard desktop pc, fairly new, purchased at start of year

Haven't really seen peak readings, was just going round turning things on and off last night!
Have just turned the tv, cooker and iron on and it has gone to
39.9p - 2.19kw - 9.7amp

blue_monkey_2

Inspired reading this thread because I get sick and tired of going behind everyone in the house turning off lights, tv's, etc.... everyone leaves lights on and walks out of the room. Don't even get me started on my husband who is the absolute worst. He will leave the bedroom upstairs with light and TV on and come downstairs. - I think this might make an interesting gadget style Xmas pressie for him to play with.

How can anyone just leave a room without turning stuff off. It drives me nuts!!!

I see that the ecobutton has gone up to £14.99 though!!

espresso

blue_monkey wrote: »

I see that the ecobutton has gone up to £14.99 though!!

The ecobutton is a con!

:rolleyes:

Use your mouse to put your PC into sleep/hibernation mode. Create an icon on your desktop for easy one click sleep/hibernation.

1carminestocky

blue_monkey wrote: »

Inspired reading this thread because I get sick and tired of going behind everyone in the house turning off lights, tv's, etc.... everyone leaves lights on and walks out of the room. Don't even get me started on my husband who is the absolute worst. He will leave the bedroom upstairs with light and TV on and come downstairs. - I think this might make an interesting gadget style Xmas pressie for him to play with.

How can anyone just leave a room without turning stuff off. It drives me nuts!!!

I see that the ecobutton has gone up to £14.99 though!!

£15 more will get you a wireless energy monitor (OWL, Efergy etc) and would IMO be MUCH more useful for you in changing your hubby's habits. As a last resort, print out this picture of Centrica (Britsih Gas's parent company, but if you are with someone else check out Google Images!) CEO Sam Laidlaw, whose pay is reportedly to INCREASE by £1 million this year. Tell him that every time he leaves stuff on needlessly he's contributing to this bloke's huge pay packet. Should sort him out.

£1m pay rise on the way for boss of British Gas as 16 million of their customers face huge bill rises.



http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1053375/1m-pay-rise-way-boss-British-Gas-16-million-customers-face-huge-rises.html

dasilva67

I registered on here just so I could add my little bit !
I also switched to the eOn capped tarriff and got the free energy monitor.
I'm not sure how accurate it is ...HOWEVER it has in 3 months of using it changed the way I THINK. Every time I switch something on i think ... hmmmm must switch that off when I'm finished.
I have to admit I look at the energy monitor about 10 times a day .... how sad is that !
When we leave the house for a day or for the weekend, we turn off far more things than we used to. Do you turn your hot water system off when you go away ... the pumps use electricity as well as the boiler using gas.
I have just been online to view my latest eOn bill (combined gas and electric) for the last 12 months. I'm not sure what the national acerage is, but we spent £640 on gas and electricity. That's for a 4 bedroom detached house .... but only two people and no kids.
The thing that is really clear is that the electricity consumption for 2008 is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than for 2007.
So thanks eOn for the little energy monitor. It's changed the way I think !!

One other tip for everyone who can do it .... GET A WOOD BURNING STOVE. They are fantastic and eco friendly too (wood released less CO2 being burnt than it does when it rots in the environment according to the Foresty Commission)