Electricity Usage Checker

JLS3405

After getting my latest bill £168 for 3 months. 3 bed semi, 2 kids, 1 hubby all PC/Gamer addicts I have decided to be pro active.

I am looking for an Electric usage meter, one that you can walk round with and by turning off certain items you can work out what item uses the most electricity. I am sure I saw it on GMTV a few months ago, I have googled it but can only find the meters that you plug in to the socket and this tells you what each individual item uses. Looking for one that takes readings off everything and you can switch off say the TV and the amount reduces.....sorry if I have confused people!!:rotfl:

Hope you can help.....

Dave_save

There are a few on the market. I have one manufactured by Efergy, purchased from Maplins for around £40. The unit once set up works on a wireless basis so you can you can see the Kwh consumption on the unit as you switch items on and off. A word of warning with some of these.. the accuracy is a bit wayward if you compare usage with your actual electricity meter. But the one I have is fine for seeing how appliances affect consumption.

penrhyn

The Owl, formally Electrisave is quite popular, don't spend too much money on one though as you will negate all your potential savings.
Best thing to do though is to switch stuff off that is not being used.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Owl-Cm119-Wireless-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B001JJCLS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252060551&sr=8-1

JLS3405

Thanks for the info....will bear in mind regarding the cost! I thought my latest bill was high (Gas still to come) so would be interested to see where we are using Elec the most. Thanks!

espresso

penrhyn wrote: »

Best thing to do though is to switch stuff off that is not being used.

However this will actually save very little money!

Cutting back on using high wattage devices e.g. those that produce heat will save much more money.

Cardew

JLS3405 wrote: »

After getting my latest bill £168 for 3 months. 3 bed semi, 2 kids, 1 hubby all PC/Gamer addicts I have decided to be pro active.

I am looking for an Electric usage meter, one that you can walk round with and by turning off certain items you can work out what item uses the most electricity. I am sure I saw it on GMTV a few months ago, I have googled it but can only find the meters that you plug in to the socket and this tells you what each individual item uses. Looking for one that takes readings off everything and you can switch off say the TV and the amount reduces.....sorry if I have confused people!!:rotfl:

Hope you can help.....

The problem with the Owl/electrisave type meter is that it will not tell you what is using the most electricity 'by turning it off'.

Nearly all the heavy users of electricity have variable power, or a thermostat.

So turn of say your Freezer and it will show either zero saving(if the compressor is not running) or a big saving if the compressor is running.
What is important is how long the compressor runs and how long it is off - that determines what it consumes.

Good2go_2

hi we bought a Owl monitor 6 months ago, already it has saved us money and paid for itself, as mentioned they are not 100% accurate for recording each device, but give you a general idea of electricity used, having said that ours is only ever out by £1 each month at most ! We are saving approx £15 a month on electric (granted it is summer....or was !!) since using it !!

Cardew

Good2go wrote: »

hi we bought a Owl monitor 6 months ago, already it has saved us money and paid for itself, as mentioned they are not 100% accurate for recording each device, but give you a general idea of electricity used, having said that ours is only ever out by £1 each month at most ! We are saving approx £15 a month on electric (granted it is summer....or was !!) since using it !!

Sorry but they give you absolutely no indication of the consumption for the majority of appliances.

You have no idea of the consumption of your fridge, freezer, cooker, microwave, dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, electric heaters, iron, computer equipment, immersion heater etc

Take a washing machine which usually has a 3kW heater and say a cycle of 90 minutes.
If the OP happens to switch it on(then off) when the water is heating, the owl will indicate that it is using 30p an hour(set to 10p/kWh). So you could conclude that a cycle will cost 45p. In practice most cycles will cost less than 10p.

Ditto an immersion heater. The Owl will indicate it is using 30p an hour or nothing!! Well it doesn't use £7.20 a day or nothing;)

These monitors save absolutely nothing!!! Their advantage is that the consumption is displayed 'in your face' and for those who cannot understand kWh(or forgotten their 10 times table;)) displaying the monetary consumption has a sobering effect.

hansi

I just bought a cheap power meter from Aldi, and I have to say that I'm glad I didn't pay a lot for it. It's almost impossible to check the correct consumption, particularly when you have two tariffs as most suppliers do, you can't give a time for the second tariff to kick in, as it's impossible to work this out!

Antispam

OP has not been back online since the day this thread was started

Ken68

Antispam wrote: »

OP has not been back online since the day this thread was started

Got the message, saving money.