The 50% Electricity Challenge - Everyone welcome!

Sue-UU

pandapaws wrote: »

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.

Many congratulations TurnaroundSue, that is an amazing achievement, very wel done indeed!!!:T It'll be great if you can keep it at that, or near abouts, look at all you'll save!!!

pandapaws wrote: »

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.

Thanks a lot pandapaws, very much appreciated, but ...... re tropical fish; there must NEVER be ANY sort of switch off for any time, other than when you do a water change

pandapaws wrote: »

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!

ixwood, stick to the latter part of your post, but to the beginning...... turning off the electrics for a few (or 1 or 2 hours) WILL harm or kill Tropical fish, partly for the reason you wisely state and because the temperature drops so quickly. Then to put it back on again would make it rise and with daily fluctuation the fish would very soon come to harm and perish as a result.

I hope we've sorted it all out now and everyone knows that, fish can't suffer just for the sake of saving money. All best wishes all.

Sue

Different_Corner

What to do with teenagers that fall asleep with TV on ? I woke at 2am to here the muffled noise of son's TV. That's at least 2 hours of wasted energy, he went to bed at 10 !

biscotte

pandapaws wrote: »

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.
.

well I hope they are! Although these are kWh not units and so I'm not sure I'm measuring hte same thing as everyone else here (TBH I can't remeber even how units relate to kWh or if they are the same thing?). it's a digital reader so doesn't have red numbers and I think its new so I don't think it can have malfunctioned although I could well have inverted a couple of numbers I guess.
I think I shall do a daily check on it to see how things are going.

Different_Corner

Biscotte
I've been having a daily check, and already over a 100 units in less than a week.

tyllwyd

biscotte wrote: »

well I hope they are! Although these are kWh not units ...

My understanding is that the 'units' that the electricity companies charge you for are 1 kWh, so one unit is one kWh. (I think it is a bit more complicated for gas.)

My electricity provider charges about 12p per unit, and I think most will be somewhere around that, but it does depend on what tariff you are on and whether the standing charge is included in the price per unit.

My guess is like the others said, when you read the meter you've included the fractions of units by mistake so you should ignore the last one or two digits.

angela110660

[quote=Miss_J;15557381_Switching to battery powered night lights for the kids who have always had their main light on all night, and will be switching appliances off at the wall when used including the cooker clock and the microwave clock.

Looking forward to seeing if I've made a difference in our consumption this time next week.[/quote]

You could try Moonlight nightlight - we have one in our hall that we switch on at night and it casts a pale green glow - just enough to keep my daughter (and hubby tho he wont admit it ) happy. We take it away when we go on hols too so that we dont get scared of the dark. We have had ours for over 2 years now and still works great. Got it at CAT in Wales but here is a link I found. Well worth it.
Rapid Electronics - Moonlight low energy flat nightlight

nickynoo08

morning everyone, well i'm almost at the end of my first week and i've been finding it v difficult as i'm nuch more concious of lights being left on etc...Its good to see my OH has not found it difficult, i came downstairs this morning to find downstairs lamp on and sky box still on!!!
i've been thinking what i can do to help reduce my consumption from next tues, this is what i've got so far. Please feel free to add more ideas.

Use D/W 2 a week instead of 3/4 times- its only me who uses D/W so i shouldnt have any problems.
turn off lights when not needed - i already do this OH just needs to be told, i also tend to use candles a lot too in front room for light and heat.
Batch cook once a week so oven is not on all the time.
turn off sockets and remove plugs for items not needed. OH thinks this is a waste of time and wont save us any money so i need to prove him wrong!
Need to get a few more energy saving light bulbs - will do when i have spare cash.
One habit i know i need to change is using the tv! It goes on first thing then stays on as background noise for most of the day right through till OH comes to bed at 1. So some days it can be on none stop (if we're both in) for 18hrs!!! Oh my god thats totally shocking:o
Only filling kettle with water needed - again i already do this but OH and my younger brothers feel the need to fill the kettle full for one cup of tea:mad: , that is deffinately one of my bug bears!

There are probably loads more i can do to cut back, i've already got my to do list for when i add my gas readings too.

SarahNeedle1872

Different_Corner wrote: »

What to do with teenagers that fall asleep with TV on ? I woke at 2am to here the muffled noise of son's TV. That's at least 2 hours of wasted energy, he went to bed at 10 !

I can beat that DC..... I woke up really warm at 0500 this morning, only to discover that OH had left the oven on full blast and left the door open... probably been on since about 0100, when he fell asleep on the sofa! In un-electricity related news, I also found two pizzas sat on the side waiting to be cooked, and the dog by the front door (on the outside!:eek: ) covered in fox poop.... needless to say I am having a GREAT sunday :rolleyes:

SamanthaA

Looks like I messed up on my figures, for last weeks reading.

Gas WK1 6622 WK2 6629(+6) WK3 6639(+10)
Rate 1 WK1 39091 WK2 39126(+35) WK3 39161(+35) I missed a digit from one of these readings!
Rate 2 WK 1 13866 WK2 13884(+18) WK3 13900(+16) down due to NOT watchin Most Haunted till midnight every night?

My mum sent off for a power monitor from The Daily Mail/British Gas offer, but still waiting for it!

TurnaroundSue

SamanthaA wrote: »

My mum sent off for a power monitor from The Daily Mail/British Gas offer, but still waiting for it!

And we are - haven't even cashed the cheque yet:mad: Is there anybody else who is waiting for their monitor? Am really tempted to go and buy one but I know what will happen.......the Daily Mail one will be received the day after we've opened it and thrown all the packaging:mad: