single person daily electric usage is this too high?

littleD

Hello all, i'm finding this topic really interesting for me at the moment - I've previously posted on npower bill shocker post and am really on a mission to cut back after being charged nearly 2 grand for gas and electric last year. I paid npower £90 direct debit = £1080 and now I have a bill (the one and only bill ever received since we signed up last July) for another £901.00. Apparently we used 7923 units of electric in one year - that's around 22 units per day,

Can any one tell me please what household appliances use the most electric? I was thinking of going to Maplins and getting one of those meter thingys.

We have:
fridge
fridge/freezer
chest freezer
washing machine
new Neff fan oven (could the old worn out Neff fan oven have been to blame?)
hob
laptop
tv/skybox
energy saving lights/strip lights
telephone
radio/telephone in bedroom
electric shower

Gas consumption last year 26687 = 73 units per day

we have:
one gas fire
9 rads (not been used since April - too warm)


thanks in advance

Mark_Hewitt

littleD wrote: »

Can any one tell me please what household appliances use the most electric? I was thinking of going to Maplins and getting one of those meter thingys.

I think getting a meter is a good idea anyway, they aren't that expensive and apart from anything else, it'll be interesting!

We have:
fridge
fridge/freezer
chest freezer
washing machine
new Neff fan oven (could the old worn out Neff fan oven have been to blame?)
hob
laptop
tv/skybox
energy saving lights/strip lights
telephone
radio/telephone in bedroom
electric shower
[/QUOTE]

Depends on usage of course but the main draws there are going to be firstly the electric shower (gobs and gobs of electricity when it is on) then your oven, hob, and washing machine.

Is there no possibility to run your shower from gas fired hot water?

Cardew

littleD wrote: »

Hello all, i'm finding this topic really interesting for me at the moment - I've previously posted on npower bill shocker post and am really on a mission to cut back after being charged nearly 2 grand for gas and electric last year. I paid npower £90 direct debit = £1080 and now I have a bill (the one and only bill ever received since we signed up last July) for another £901.00. Apparently we used 7923 units of electric in one year - that's around 22 units per day,

Can any one tell me please what household appliances use the most electric? I was thinking of going to Maplins and getting one of those meter thingys.

We have:
fridge
fridge/freezer
chest freezer
washing machine
new Neff fan oven (could the old worn out Neff fan oven have been to blame?)
hob
laptop
tv/skybox
energy saving lights/strip lights
telephone
radio/telephone in bedroom
electric shower

Gas consumption last year 26687 = 73 units per day

we have:
one gas fire
9 rads (not been used since April - too warm)


thanks in advance

Your question cannot be answered!

An electric shower will use the most electricity by far(around £1 an hour) but most people only use it for a few minutes a day.

The consumption on the others will depend on the model and/or how often they are used.

A TV for instance can use from 50 Watts to 500 Watts for an older Plasma. i.e. 0.5p to 5p an hour. Standby consumption is negligble.

A laptop typically 30 watts - 0.3p an hour.

peachyprice

Chrysalis wrote: »

ok
So the problem I have is I turning stuff off and there is no impact on the usage.
I turned off the main switch at the meter and it did indeed cut power to my flat.

.

Turn the main switch off this evening and see if any of the other occupiers come and ask if you have a problem with electricity, or go outside and see if they all have lights. If no-one else has a problem or have lights on they're not wired into your meter.

aelitaman

littleD wrote: »

Hello all, i'm finding this topic really interesting for me at the moment - I've previously posted on npower bill shocker post and am really on a mission to cut back after being charged nearly 2 grand for gas and electric last year. I paid npower £90 direct debit = £1080 and now I have a bill (the one and only bill ever received since we signed up last July) for another £901.00. Apparently we used 7923 units of electric in one year - that's around 22 units per day,

Can any one tell me please what household appliances use the most electric? I was thinking of going to Maplins and getting one of those meter thingys.

We have:
fridge
fridge/freezer
chest freezer
washing machine
new Neff fan oven (could the old worn out Neff fan oven have been to blame?)
hob
laptop
tv/skybox
energy saving lights/strip lights
telephone
radio/telephone in bedroom
electric shower

Gas consumption last year 26687 = 73 units per day

we have:
one gas fire
9 rads (not been used since April - too warm)


thanks in advance

Your gas use is high as well.

I have 21 rads (gives you an indication of the size of the house which is more important) I have gas hot water as well including showers and my annual gas usuage is around 20,000 KW and sash windows and no insulation apart from draft proofing.

On the elecy things that are expensive are anything that heats water. So showers, washing machines, dish washers. Things to do here are if you can turn the water heater down to as low as posible because you want to mix as little cold water with the hot as posible to get it to temp. Do all washing at 30% (some people do towels and stuff higher for hygenic reasons), do not use the tumble dryer I put clothes on racks next to rads in winter. Use dishwater on lowest temp shortest cycle and make sure always full.

Only boil in kettle the exact ammount of water you need, never boil full kettle for 1 cup of tea.

Check the seals on fridges and freezers because of they are leaking you are wasting energy. Also turn the thermostat down as low as psobile on both I have mine at the lowest setting in winter and up it to 3 out of 7 in the summer.

Halogen spot lights use a lot of enery because people tend to have a lot of them at 50w each try led lights from auction site.

do not leave PC on standby figures for power useage in stanby are fantasy turn off when not in use.

Last but not least when you go to bed or out turn everything off from standby and unplug chargers mcirowaves etc.

Take reading before you go to bed and re read in the morning before you use any elecy reading should not have advanced by more than 1 unit.

join imeasure . co . uk to track your usage.

Last good luck.

andrewmp

KatP wrote: »

Or turn it off!!!

Why would you stand by it over night???????? You are burning money damaging the environment and risking your computer if there is a power outage overnight. TURN IT OFF LAZY!!!!

Or hibernate it!! Uses no power and doesn't take so long to boot.

Why would someone leave PC on 24/7 unless they were running it as a server or downloading constantly. If you're downloading, use your laptop instead, it'll use about a 5th of the power of your PC.

I use about 3 units per day on average which is quite low but I'm pretty much always on the higer rate for my electric because of this.

Katie-Kat-Kins

aelitaman wrote: »

Check the seals on fridges and freezers because of they are leaking you are wasting energy. Also turn the thermostat down as low as psobile on both I have mine at the lowest setting in winter and up it to 3 out of 7 in the summer.

Picky point but there is no point changing the temperature of your fridge between summer and winter. Your fridge is (normally) on a thermostat that moniters the interior temperature, so if you set it at say 3 it will remain at the same temperature whatever the outside weather. You could invest a few pence in a fridge thermometer to check that it is at a safe level.

By turning the thermostat down in summer you are increasing your pwoer usage significantly (your fridge will have to work harder in summer anyway) for no "good" reason.

You might prefer your stuff to be colder in summer but most people wouldn't notice the difference and would just be increasing power usage. Thermostats shouldn't need adjusting for summer and winter if set correctly whether they are for heating, water of fridges.

aelitaman

KatP wrote: »

Picky point but there is no point changing the temperature of your fridge between summer and winter. Your fridge is (normally) on a thermostat that moniters the interior temperature, so if you set it at say 3 it will remain at the same temperature whatever the outside weather. You could invest a few pence in a fridge thermometer to check that it is at a safe level.

By turning the thermostat down in summer you are increasing your pwoer usage significantly (your fridge will have to work harder in summer anyway) for no "good" reason.

You might prefer your stuff to be colder in summer but most people wouldn't notice the difference and would just be increasing power usage. Thermostats shouldn't need adjusting for summer and winter if set correctly whether they are for heating, water of fridges.

How does turning the thermostat down in summer increase power?

Just to clairfy on my fridge it has a wheel 0 to 9 with 9 being the coldest setting for the fridge so when I say turning the thermostat down I mean going from 4 to 1 i.e a relative warmer setting for the fridge but I can see where the confusion came with the term I used.

Chrysalis

just to update you guys.

a woman came round very early on the 13th to check my meter, I asked her if she had been told why she was visiting and she said no and assumed it was just for a reading.

So I got her up to speed on the situation and she told me she will back me up on the serial number change no problem, when I told her about my bill she just laughed and said that is very clearly not accurate for a flat, I also asked if she could check the meter and she said no not at that point, I told her the reason I was asking is because I have been checking it on a daily basis with certian things turned on and off etc, and even found it still going up with all my stuff off and she said she would schedule a meter test. Her own experience she said she has actually came across a few faulty meters and that they not as rare as customers get told over the phone, apparently they told its a rare thing just to try and put people off them getting tested. But of course a faulty meter can mean its going up too slow as well as too fast.

She said I will get a letter which is what I am waiting for now.

Chrysalis

oramgepekoe wrote: »

If you turn your power supply off in the evening/night, do the security lights go off?

very good question, I need to test this. Since I have only been going out in the day it is not something that I have tried.