Cheaper Electricity the Easy Way

Zero_Delta

I have knocked £30 off my quarterly electricity bill (i.e. £10 per month), that adds up to £120 per year – read on to see how you can do it as well. :j

As you all know you can reduce your electricity bill by switching suppliers. However, as many of you will have experienced, this can ultimately prove to be a very stressful way of saving money initially (there are always problems) and very annoying when your ‘cheap’ bill starts to climb upwards once more (introductory rates soon vanish).

I reckoned that there had to be a simpler way to cut my electricity bill without the hassle of changing suppliers. And I found it! Don’t switch suppliers – switch things off and watch your kilowatt count drop! It’s as simple as that and I have the proof.

Every supplier works out your bill from the number of kilowatts (kWh) used within the billing period (monthly or quarterly). So I created a chart that allows me to record the number of kWhs used EVERY DAY. This might sound like a nuisance, but once you start to do it, it becomes compulsive. The important thing to remember is to take your meter reading at roughly the same time every day. In my case, I write it down just before going to bed. It takes a few seconds and is worth the effort.

Example
Date Reading Amount Used
6th Apr 7935 -
7th Apr 7945 10
8th Apr 7944 9
When I started to record the meter readings, I was using about 11 kWh per day. Simply by switching things off and being careful, it is now down to about 8 kWh per day.

3 kWhs saved per day @ 11.5p per kWh = 34.5 p
34.5p per day times 90 days = £31.05p

How did I reduce my kWh usage? Simpler than you might think. For example, like most people I will switch my TV on and leave it on while I do other things. A real waste of electricity and money. I checked some Household Energy Consumption sites on the Internet and was shocked to learn that my TV consumes about 1 kWh per day (including standby). Simply by switching it off when not required has saved me about 3.5 kWh per week. That might not sound much, but try multiplying that by ALL of the things you switch on and leave. TV, video, DVD recorder, radio, computer etc. it soon mounts up.

I am a bit of a tea-jenny, so I counted up that I make about 15 cups of tea a day. That is 15 kettle ‘boils’ per day. That equals about 1.5 kWh per day – just for tea. I bought a large thermos flask and I fill it with one kettle of boiling water that makes me 5 mugs of tea. Now I boil the kettle 3 times a day instead of 15 – or – 0.33 kWh instead of 1.5 kWh per day. A saving of 1.17 kWh per day. See how it all adds up?

Think of all the other ways you can save electricity.

How many lights do you leave on in empty rooms?
Like to listen to the radio while you potter about? Use a small battery powered one instead of the stereo. (Batteries will last about one year)
Use a petrol lawnmower instead of electric.
Cutting wood? Use a hand saw instead of a power saw.

Once you start this it really does become compulsive. You can reduce your daily kWh usage drastically without depriving yourself of anything – except paying bigger bills.

Hope this helps and inspires you to deprive the power companies of their huge profits. That £10 per month is better in your pocket than theirs!

KimYeovil

That is called "using less electricity". Your electricity is not "cheaper". And, of course, ultimately your strategy would result in a higher cost for the electricity units (the companies still want their money - if consumption falls prices go up. You are not depriving them of a penny of profit.)

Nothing wrong with adjusting your consumption (even in over-the-top frugal extremist manners). But the title of this thread should be "Using less electricity". And not necessarily in easy ways.

And I would suggest checking your OWN devices for their actual consumption is a more reliable guide than relying on tables on some of the more fanatical household consumption sites.

neas

Buy AAA+ rated equipment.. i.e. buy a C rated tumble dryer as opposed to a D rated one.. or an A+ rated washing machine as opposed to A or B :P.

watch a small 15" eco-tv as opposed to flat screen.... in fact dont watch tv at all... once its dark go to sleep and dont use any elecricity at all :O

GetRealBabe

Hi

Interesting reading.

I use about 8-10kwh of electricity a day. I hardly ever turn off my pc or router and I have my radio on all day. My internet radio battery costs £24.99, that is hardly economical. I don't make as many cups of tea as you and wonder: does it really cost a lot to boil a kettle?

GRB.

spinningsheep

My electricity consumption is approx £120 a month, I have honestly given up trying to bring it down any further, it doesn't seem to work! SO, I just get on with it now and don't worry anymore, we pay by DD and it seems to work itself out over the year, and the gas is down from £150 a month over winter to approx £40 usage now, so we can relax on that front.

Zero_Delta

KimYeovil wrote: »

That is called "using less electricity". Your electricity is not "cheaper". And, of course, ultimately your strategy would result in a higher cost for the electricity units (the companies still want their money - if consumption falls prices go up. You are not depriving them of a penny of profit.)

Nothing wrong with adjusting your consumption (even in over-the-top frugal extremist manners). But the title of this thread should be "Using less electricity". And not necessarily in easy ways.

And I would suggest checking your OWN devices for their actual consumption is a more reliable guide than relying on tables on some of the more fanatical household consumption sites.

Hi KY,

Valid points all, especially regarding the title - but I'm still saving my hard earned cash.

Regards,

Zero Delta

Zero_Delta

GetRealBabe wrote: »

Hi

Interesting reading.

I use about 8-10kwh of electricity a day. I hardly ever turn off my pc or router and I have my radio on all day. My internet radio battery costs £24.99, that is hardly economical. I don't make as many cups of tea as you and wonder: does it really cost a lot to boil a kettle?

GRB.

Hi GRB,

My 15 kettle boils a day works out at roughly 10kWh per week. That's about £1.20 per week, or roughly £14 a quarter. Might well sound 'frugal' as quoted elsewhere, but I would rather have that money in my pocket.

Regards,

Zero Delta

GetRealBabe

Zero_Delta wrote: »

Hi GRB,

My 15 kettle boils a day works out at roughly 10kWh per week. That's about £1.20 per week, or roughly £14 a quarter. Might well sound 'frugal' as quoted elsewhere, but I would rather have that money in my pocket.

Regards,

Zero Delta

Hi

I've been thinking about getting a flask. How much did yours cost and the make?

GRB.

Biggles

Much of this hasn't been thought through at all. For example:-

Like to listen to the radio while you potter about? Use a battery powered one instead of the stereo. (Batteries will last about one year)

Batteries cost about twice as much as using mains electrity, probably more.

Use a petrol lawnmower instead of electric.

Petrol lawnmowers cost more to run, more to buy and more to maintain.

I am a bit of a tea-jenny, so I counted up that I make about 15 cups of tea a day. That is 15 kettle ‘boils’ per day. That equals about 1.5 kWh per day – just for tea. I bought a large thermos flask and I fill it with one kettle of boiling water that makes me 5 mugs of tea. Now I boil the kettle 3 times a day instead of 15 – or – 0.33 kWh instead of 1.5 kWh per day. A saving of 1.17 kWh per day.

That could only be only true if you were filling the kettle just as full to make a single cup of tea as to make a flask. Now that is wasteful!


Switching suppliers would almost certainly save far more than all your alleged electricity 'savings' added together, I can't understand why you don't try and use less electricity and pay less per unit?

CashSavingGirl

Hi ZD,

Just read through your entry. Fascinating stuff!!

Don't care what some of the others say, I think that you are on to something here. I am definately going to give it a try.

Whats the worst that can happen? I'll save some money.

Great ideas. Many thanks.

CSG

Biggles

CashSavingGirl wrote: »

Whats the worst that can happen? I'll save some money.

I guess you're the same user under a different name, but the 'worst that can happen' is obviously that it will cost you more money.