Bringing our energy consumption under control

aliette

I've realised that gas & electricity is costing us £2500 a year (Scottish hydro electric, family of 2 adults 2 children living in a 3 bedroom flat), it seems huge.:eek: I'm still plowing through the bills to understand them (I can't figure out what our yearly consumption is ) The washing machine and dishwasher run pretty much 6 days out of 7, I've tried to cut it down but not having much success. It doesn't help that the kids are too small to reach the light switches so when they go from one room to another, they leave the light on or they'd be living in the dark all the time.

I've been told to buy an owl, I'm really curious to know how much easy appliance is contributing to this. I'm also taking daily readings.

Any recommendation of where else to start? Thanks, I'm totally new to this but I've been reading lots so hoping to catch up soon

Cardew

The Owl will give you no idea of how much each appliance is contributing to your cosumption.

You require a 'plug-in' power meter that you can buy for as little as £6 or so.

The Owl only tells you your overall house consumption. For instance at some point in your, say, 1.5 hour washing machine cycle it will be using 3kW. However it won't be using 4.5kWh for a cycle, most cycles are less than 1kWh.

washing machines are not the real culprits, but dryers are.

Any electrical heating(including hot water) is very expensive

tanith

I wouldn't worry too much about the odd light bulb being left on as long as all your lightbulbs are low energy of course..:rotfl:its leaving things on standby , using a half empty dishwasher/washing machine, dryer that will make a difference, I am sure there will be lots of people with lots of good tips coming soon...

amcluesent

>Any recommendation of where else to start?<

All the items with a high kWh rating which are running for a while, so -

Immersion heater
Electric shower
Electric cooker
Electric fires or storage heaters
Washer/dryer or tumble-dryer
Washing machine
Dish washer
PC running 24/7
Electric blankets

until these are operated efficiently, worrying about the TV on standby is a waste of effort.

>they leave the light on or they'd be living in the dark all the time<

CFLs use most power at switch on, it's actually better to leave them on, certainly up to 4 hours.

BallandChain

Electric blankets are cheap to run. I use mine instead of having the heating on and with energy saving light bulbs, washing machine used 3-4 times a week, no tumble drier I use 4kwh a day in electric. Now my last flat was all electric heating and the last winter it was using 60 plus kwh a day, cost an absolute fortune.

We are 2 adults in a one bed flat.

aliette

Thanks for your replies, great start.

We don't have immersion heater, Electric shower, Electric cooker, Electric fires or storage heaters or electric blankets.
We use the tumble-dryer once every 2 weeks, the washing machine & dishwasher only when they're full 6 days out of 7 on average. I turn my PC off at night and dh leaves his on sleep mode.

But I can see where one problem might be. None of our bulbs are low energy, apparently you can't fit low energy bulbs in our lights, it's tiny ones (halogen I think) and they are all on dimmers.:question: I wonder also how much the big American fridge uses, it was category A and a bargain when we bought it (comet clearance) but not sure how much it costs to run.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

what's the breakdown on gas/electric, if you're not using electric for heating or water, then the gas must be the culprit.

aliette

We pay £136 a month of electricity and £67 of gas.
I don't remember the boiler being serviced in the 3 years we've been in the flat.:undecided

Cardew

[QUOTE=amcluesent;26267691CFLs_use_most_power_at_switch_on,_it's_actually_better_to_leave_them_on,_certainly_up_to_4_hours.[/QUOTE]

Where did you get this information?

I think you will find this is an urban myth. That used to be said about the old Fluorescent tube lights and wasn't true then, and isn't for CFLs.

CFLs use more power for a fraction of a second when switching on, but if you switch them off after a couple of seconds, they will use less power.

There is plenty of evidence that constant switching on and off of CFLs will shorten their life, and it used to be recommended that they were left on for 15 minutes, but not as a power saving measure.

jd87

aliette wrote: »

I don't remember the boiler being serviced in the 3 years we've been in the flat.:undecided

I hope you're not renting. If you are, your landlord is responsible for the boiler being safety checked every 12 months.

aliette

Not we're not renting, I'll double check when it was last done and get it checked.