Switching off at the wall ....

Pink.

Hi stellagypsy,

You should get more help with this on the In My Home board, so I'll move your thread over there. Good luck with cutting down your bill.

Pink

loracan1

One thing I did a few months ago to try and reduce my utility bills is this; I checked my meter every week at the same time, for about 4 weeks. First week, I just did the normal stuff, (leaving lights on etc), Second week, started being a little more careful about not leaving lights on, Third week - went a bit further, only doing full loads in the washer, turning lights off whenever leaving a room etc. Fourth week was a bit over the top, pulling plugs out from the tv - bit of a pain to get to, which meant didn't always bother to plug it back in the next day (?!).

I could see a steady decrease in the units used, upto about 40% from the first week to the last and although not kept up pulling plugs out, my bills have reduced significantly - although I'm going to have to start being more stringent about turning lights off again.

Wig

Turning things off if they are not in use and have no problem being turned off (microwaves, washing m/c dishwashers etc) is going to save a couple of quid a year, not loads, but why waste a couple of quid when you can turn them off.

Turning things like sky box off will save a few quid ayear because a sky box is is 17watts whether in use or on standby, but turning a sky box off could lead to damaging the unit so it's not such a good idea.

Turning a TV off is depending on standby rating (look in the manual) going to save anything from 80p to 3 - 5 pounds a year. Turning a TV off will do no harm to it.

Videos have clocks but if you don't set them to record it's not a problem turn it off dvd players if they have no record function turn it off no need for the clock.

dvd recorders as with videos if you set it to record often you might want to leave it on, me, I just press the record button when I want to record something so I wouldn't need the clock.

Basically the only thing I would not turn off is a sky box and obviously a fridge and an alarm clock and a telephone charger. You could use a phone that requires no electricity, I recently upgraded our phone from one that used no electricity to a cordless, the cordless will cost me 3 pounds per year to have on.

Do turn off energy bulbs when not in use, there is no increase in cost for turning off / on, the only prob can be that it shortens the life cycle, but they are so cheap now anyway it makes little difference. and I doubt you will notice a shortening in the life cycle in practice.

The OPs biggest usage will be the electric heating and cooking.

A lot of the price comparison services do not have all the suppliers on their results, I think uswitch.com is one of the more dishonest switch sites, I recommend you use http://www.ukpower.co.uk/ they are much more honest and include more (if not all the suppliers as default)

Wig

stellagypsy wrote:

I went on to U-Switch and checked my current supplier - it is competitive for gas but not so for electricity - however, I can't afford to clear the bill in one go so I will have to be economical until it is down then I will move the electric to another supplier.

Thanks for the advice so far, Stella xx

Don't use U switch use http://www.ukpower.co.uk/

Raffles_3

Anything that has an ac/dc adapter should be turned off at the mains. I was horrified to find that one of these things were still warm even though the appliance it fired had been switched off for days.

mookybargirl

There's a thread on Money Saving Old Style with some suggestions on how to save on gas and electricity bills ....... sorry I don't know how to post a link to it

roswell

if its not in use turn it off or unplugg it even a PC uses power when its turned off, also if you unplug everything you wont get a surprise of finding everything blown up in a lightning strike ... it happens.

To make life easy lable each plug as you unplug it, For out fistank and freeview box we use a extension that is always turned on in one socket, in the other socket we havea extension that can be turned off it gets turned off every night and on when needed, tv / dvd recorder / xbox / surround sound / lamp are all plugged into this. alternatively to save even more individualy switched sockets on a multi plug with save you having to unplug appliances.

stellagypsy

I tried the UK Power site - although they appear to offer me a saving, when I look at the rates for electricity, it would actually cost me MORE with another provider - am I missing something here? I've never done the maths on my electricity consumption before - WHY?????????

My last 1/4 bill is 2385 kwh (EEEK!!!) - 1st 178 @ 13.97p (+VAT) the remaining 2207 @ 10.14p (+ VAT) = £200.71 in total. (I get a dual fuel discount which comes off my gas bill for some reason).

Atlantic appears to offer me a dual fuel saving of £182 pa, gas charges are almost identical but electricity is first 728 kwh @ 12.61p (inc VAT), remainder @ 9.08p (inc VAT), which comes to £242.25 - WHICH IS MORE THAN I AM PAYING NOW! I checked this with another supplier also who appears to be offering a discount and the same thing happened.

I presume the "savings" shown are to get people to change, then they hike up their prices. I think I will stay with npower!

Does anyone know if I can have economy 7 tarrif? I am out all day, do my washing etc at night / weekends, I can easily put it on later (eg overnight) as washer has timer, as does my dishwasher - if it saves me some money, I'll set it to come on at 2am!!!

Off to check Npower's site and see if I can have economy 7. I'll get back on that one.

Thanks for all the help so far,

Stella xx

stellagypsy

Tarrif is as below -

Rate excl. VAT Rate incl 5% VAT
Standard (this is what I am on now)
first 728 kWh per year 13.970p per kWh 14.67p per kWh
additional kWh per year 10.140p per kWh 10.65p per kWh

Economy 7
day rate:
first 728 kWh per year 17.250p per kWh 18.11p per kWh
additional kWh per year 10.890p per kWh 11.43p per kWh
night rate:
kWh 3.950p per kWh 4.15p per kWh

Don't really know what to do - it says the night rate is for "7 hours" - it may not be that beneficial when you look at the higher rate for the day time charges.

AAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!! Why is everything so complicated!!!!

Stella xx

Wig

what is the 1st half of your post code?

what is your last 4 quarters of elec and gas consumption if your last bills were not Actual readings go back in bills until you see an actual reading (either company read or customer provided), then go back in time preferably 4 quarters or more until you reach another actual reading. do this for gas and elec.

Example using made up figures
Elec
My last elec was an estimate but the one before that End Feb 06 was actual 9306
going back 4 quarters end Feb 05 it was also an actual reading of 8000 total used for the year 1306kwh

Gas
My last gas July 06 was actual 15345, going back 4 quarters the bill July 05 was estimated the previous one April 05 was actual 12000. So I have a span of 5 quarters = 15 months between actuals. Now count the kwh used on the gas bill calculations (not the meter readings) for all 5 bills, count the kwh for the first tier and second tier My total 30,000kwh (30,000/15) x 12 = 24,000kwh in one year.

elec 1,306 kwh per year
gas 24,000 kwh per year