The 50% Electricity Challenge - Everyone welcome!

tyllwyd

They've just discovered another (!) cannabis factory in the - usually quiet - town where I live. (Or maybe its quiet because everyone here is permanently stoned.)

Anyhow, the way they found the latest one is because they'd gone through the attic and tapped into the neighbour's electricity supply. I hate to think what the bill must have been!

Tabatha_Kitten

Sue-UU wrote: »

Well done Tabatha Kitten. I'm a fish lover myself and would hate to think of people turning OFF their tank/aquarium. I also pointed out a couple of weeks ago, but now that Pandapaws is back on the thread I've PM'd her to ask if she'll change the part about them in the "things to reduce" post on the 1st page of the thread.

Thanks again.

Sue

Thank you Sue.
Pandapaws - it would be great if you could do this for us.

hayley11

Hi Since I "signed" up for this last night the urge to start cutting down on electric/gas usage is very overpowering! I'm having to stop myself from switching plugs/lights etc off! Can't wait til next so I can get going!

Burlesque_Babe

ok - week 1.

Original reading 28111
reading today - 28180

So, that's 69 units this week, 9.8 per day. Not sure how I can reduce it much more, but I'm going to aim for 60 for next week, although with the nights drawing in, the lamp will go on a bit earlier in this room which might counter act any extra switching off etc.

bestpud

Ooh fab idea! May I join you please?

Readings at 5pm today:

Gas: 11583
Electric: 51747

Trouble is, now I've done that I want to start cutting down right away! The heating was on when I went outside to read the meters but I turned it off when I saw the dial whizzing around!

hayley11

bestpud wrote: »

Ooh fab idea! May I join you please?

Readings at 5pm today:

Gas: 11583
Electric: 51747

Trouble is, now I've done that I want to start cutting down right away! The heating was on when I went outside to read the meters but I turned it off when I saw the dial whizzing around!

I'm the same, finding it very hard not to make changes. I have done one tiny thing though and i've been meaning to do it for weeks, i've bought a sausage draft excluder thingy (it's horrible, don't they do nice ones ) and the box that holds the gas meter is very drafty, so i've put masking tape all around it :rotfl: It opens into the hallway so there's still plenty of ventilation for it

I've put together a list of ways to cut down gas and electric usage, got some off here and i've been googling it as well. Set up a snappy little spreadsheet as well I don't get out much

TurnaroundSue

After my initial euphoria of actually managing to reduce by electric by half last week, realised that I didn't:

1) Use the tumble drier - will need to this week though as they give rain
2) Use the oven - having roast dinner tomorrow so that will go on
3) Iron - now up to the ceiling so will be on twice as long this week
4) Use disherwasher - apart from once when OH put it on, and unless I do the dishes by hand myself, the dishwasher will be put on again

So even though I am going to try and keep it down as best I can, unless we wear wet clothes, only eat stuff made on the hob/salads/sandwiches for the rest of our lives, wear wrinkled clothes and I do dishes for ever and a day:eek: I don't expect it to stay around the 95 units per week mark, but will try my very best;)

biscotte

OK, got to the end of my normal week.
I have two rates (T1 and T2). T2 is cheaper than T1 and is night and weekend rate.
Both are measured on kWhours.
So the figures are:

T1 - 10,708 - 12716 = 2008 kWh p/w
T2 - 13,978 - 13853 = 125 kWh p/w.

So, I confess I have no idea how much this costs - my excuse is that I just moved to a new house in a new country and I don't even know if we have a choice over electricity providers here!

So I this inspires me to phone the electricity company on Monday and find out exactly how things work and how much this lot costs me.

I am pretty sure though that 2008 kWh p/w is a lot (don't know what that is in 'units'). and the fact thatmy daytime usage is sooo much higher than my nightime usage is bad news too.

Anyway, at least this challenge is making me think about it! thanks

pandapaws

Firstly CONGRATULATIONS to Turnaround Sue - 50% reduction in the first week! Well done! Ok, you might not be able to do that every week but at least it shows that it can be done and gives the rest of us something to work towards.

Secondly - Sue_UU and TabathaKitten: I've added a note to the bit on the first page where I mentioned it. Really sorry if anyone got the wrong impression! I'm a huge animal lover and would NEVER do anything that's detrimental to any animals (I'm one of those people who spend hours catching each individual ant and putting them outside because I can't bear the thought of them suffering!). I've got 3 little goldfish in a tank and I add water to it regularly. I've been switching it off for an hour or two once or twice a day which I still maintain will not do the fish any harm at all, but as I said before it's an absolute no-no if you've got a heated tank, or I suppose if you're likely to forget to switch it back on again!

Biscotte: your usage is way off the mark! I think there's either something wrong with your meter or perhaps you've mis-counted? Did you include the red numbers - I think you normally ignore those.

SamanthaA - not sure I've got the figures right for you - check the first post and let me know if it's wrong.

Tyllwyd, a friend of mine has just moved into a flat, and there's an electric socket just outside the front door (for cleaners to use I suppose). I was just telling her how lucky she is as she can plug her tumble dryer into it, and she said she's seen an extension plugged into it from her neighbour's house. Either another cannabis factory there, or one of us guys! I'm just nicking as much as I can from work in the way of showers and phone/laptop charging.

ixwood

A few hours probably won't hurt, but FYI there's a risk that the bacteria colony that's built up in the filter will be starved of oxygen when the pumps off and reduce the effectiveness of the filtration until they build back up again.