Avoid using Gas and Electricity

rosekitten

Rebekah24 wrote: »

This thread is fab

I am on economy 7, have paid £1400 in the last year, finally got EON down to £1200 a year,minimum Direct debit they will agree is £100 a month. As a result I have switched off all the storage heaters, cooker and made sure use of kitchen appliances is absolutely minimal.

Will be seeing how this impacts things, got some slippers..and blanket at the ready!

I am shocked my last electric bill was £120
and only because I have had builders in
using a whole array of kit plugged into the mains.

Do what i did go into every room unplug everything
except the fridge/freezer.We have a thing here nothing
on stand by,if its on stand by its switched on
using the sme amount of electric.If its not being used
its unplugged.Our bills have droppped dramaticly since
doing this,low energy light bulbs everywhere and a general
drumming in of switch it off over everything.

Good luck with it I hope you notice a big difference
I know I could not even afford a £100 a month
direct debit

GreenandThrifty

I'm loving this thread.

we're also trying to get our consumption down, i'm a bit hit and miss, we spend 60DDebit on duel fuel per month at the mo for a family of 4.

Off to read the original thread now i've finished this one!

Rebekah24

rosekitten wrote: »

I am shocked my last electric bill was £120
and only because I have had builders in
using a whole array of kit plugged into the mains.

Do what i did go into every room unplug everything
except the fridge/freezer.We have a thing here nothing
on stand by,if its on stand by its switched on
using the sme amount of electric.If its not being used
its unplugged.Our bills have droppped dramaticly since
doing this,low energy light bulbs everywhere and a general
drumming in of switch it off over everything.

Good luck with it I hope you notice a big difference
I know I could not even afford a £100 a month
direct debit

E7 is ridiculously pricey, first I thought it was wrong, but spoke to two friends with it, and theirs were even more than £145 a month!! ..Have slippers, blankets and jumpers on right now.. staying that way now until spring comes!!

twiglet98

My monthly DD with Eon has gone from £95 last winter to £63 now. I've banned use of the tumble dryer, got a slow cooker (from Argos, using Nectar points) to reduce use of the electric oven, and encourage use of the steamer above a simmering pan so two things cook on one hotplate. We have energy saving bulbs everywhere, and as a lot of our rooms have two or three wall lights rather than ceiling lights, I've worked out which lights we can do without and taken the bulbs out of the unnecessary lights. I've ranted enough so the (grown-up) kids now remember to switch lights off when they leave a room, not leave the landing and hall lights on, to shut down the computer, switch off the monitor (they do it about 50% of the time, I check it and rant as appropriate!)and switch off the tv/ps3/wii at the wall. It got to a point where I suggested that if extravagant DD23 preferred unrestricted use (read 'WASTE') of electricity - she likes ALL the lights on - the direct debit could come out of her account and she could then discuss fair usage and negotiate contributions with her siblings and me. She didn't fancy that.

rosekitten

well done Twiglet98 I know exactly where you are
coming from with this,I have had to really nag my
lot luckily the other half has backed me of late
now he has seen how much the bills have droppped.

Its easier when its two of you

Rebekah24 my mum had storage heaters in
the early 70`s it used to cost her a fortune
to run them,so relived when they condemned her
house and rehoused her elsewhere that had gas fires
Is it an all electric home you have there ?

A_fiend_for_life

twiglet98 wrote: »

I've worked out which lights we can do without and taken the bulbs out of the unnecessary lights.

I've have 6' fluorescent tubes in the kitchen that take around 120W that I've replaced with a desk lamp and CFL and put on top of the fridge / freezer. It's just as good once it has heated up and cost a £1 in a charity shop. It also means I shouldn't need to replace the tubes at £7 or £8 each. 9W against 120W plus has to be done I think.

jasmine_lotus_flower

We have sold our tv as as rearly watched it, can catch with stuff on iplayer if we are desperate, not bothered so far. Dvd player gone and ps2 as well. We talk more, read ,listen to music and play scrabble. Switched off more lights less time on computer.:T:T:T

Rebekah24

rosekitten wrote: »

well done Twiglet98 I know exactly where you are
coming from with this,I have had to really nag my
lot luckily the other half has backed me of late
now he has seen how much the bills have droppped.

Its easier when its two of you

Rebekah24 my mum had storage heaters in
the early 70`s it used to cost her a fortune
to run them,so relived when they condemned her
house and rehoused her elsewhere that had gas fires
Is it an all electric home you have there ?

It is all electric! Will be very glad to move next year lol never rent E7 again!!

Managed last night with no heating, lots of layers and kept up and moving around!! Washing ground on at 1am for the cheap rate!

Want to get it down as low as possible, its only me after all!!

Great idea Twiglet..bulbs are coming out..lol will give my boyfriend a shock lol

robsmum_2

Hi Everyone,
I am a serious lurker on OS threads and have incorporated many ideas in to our daily lives but have just found this thread and hope you lovely people can give me some tips.
We live in a Housing Association house which is all electric - no gas in the village. We have storage heaters in the kitchen,living room and hall, convector heaters in the 2 bedrooms on time switches and an oil filled heater with timer in bathroom.
We have no top small windows, just main windows with air vents in them.
If we close the vents the house is running with condensation!
We have Economy 7.

So far we have: Got energy saving bulbs everywhere possible

Turn everything off at wall when not using except TV but not left on standby.,

Always use dishwasher, washing machine and slow cooker over night.

Dry washing outside most of year

Most washing done at 30%

Only heat water on E7 for an hour in morning(OH up early) for 5 days a week.

Always use 3 tier steamer and combi microwave rather than main cooker.

We are paying £70 a month by DD due to having £500 arears when son lived here, we now owe them £200, so have more than halved it in a year.
My query now is how can we cut down even further, without freezing and having a damp houe due to condensation. Would be grateful for any advice. Thanks.

rosekitten

in the winter time on very cold nights
we have an electric blanket on our bed
we often sit in bed with it on low setting
with the tv on works out a lot cheaper than
using an electric fire.

we wash on shorter programes at lower temps in
our washing machine.Also its cold fill so only
heats the exact amount of water needed to
that temprature,30c wash heats it just to 30c
its a lot cheaper than taking it from your
immersion tank.Most newer machines are already
set up for cold fill but some machines are not,
worth checking to see what yours is and swap it over
mines working out 14p a wash on a 1600 spin

No baths everyone showers its another really
good saving on the electric.Basic electric shower
£50 in Homebase.with four in the house four baths
a day is just too expensive,this has brought about a
massive saving.worth investing in one and cutting
off the bath plug so they have to shower.

When we had the builders in they reccomended
airing the place right through to avoid condensation
now we are in the habit of opening up front and back
doors letting a breeze run through to clear out the air.
I very often open the back door during the day
to let in as much air as poss.

I also use my dishwasher but on a low energy
cycle,have to use Quantom finish tablets to get a
good result but made sure I took advantage
of the 24 tabs for £1.25 a box in Asda and
stocked up have enough to keep going till january

Silly one I know but I bought a kids beach
bucket while we were on holiday I use this
instead of a regular sized bucket.
Uses less water I get the hot water for it
from the kettle,lighter to carry when I am
cleaning.Also use it to leave small items
soaking if they need it.