"I love my Energy Monitor – do you have one?" blog discussion

Senjo

All I can say is - be careful Mrs MSE! We got an OWL meter free last year when switching suppliers through one of the comparison sites (Uswitch I think). Since then my other half has been driving me crazy by watching it all the time. "Why's it showing ..p/hour? What's switched on?" goes the cry several times a day. I keep having to remind him it's because he's making toast/cooking the dinner or whatever. However, it doesn't help that the meter doesn't go back to the basic reading straight away after you switch something off, and being as he's watching it like a hawk it seems to take forever to go back down. We have found it quite accurate when the electricity bill arrives, but he is so obsessive I wish I'd never sent off for it.

Members thinking of getting one may like to know that I was on the comparison sites last week and saw free ones on offer from some companies.

vadek

It's really only the background level that you've got to watch. Check the meter at bedtime to ensure that nothing has been left on that should be off. For usage over time, just read your electricity and gas meters on a weekly or monthly basis.

Once you know what's using what and how low you can get it at night, then the meter loses its usefulness. My problem is refrigeration. Aside from a few things like the intruder alarm and the phone system, refrigeration causes the biggest "hit" in terms of background usage.

You'll also notice that using the washing machine or dishwasher causes daily KWh to go up significantly. And give up the tumble dryer altogether.

mia01

We got ours free as an EON customer a couple of months ago and love it! It's made a big difference to how much energy we use and its a great tool to teach the kids about energy consumption, because they can see how much energy is being used each time they walk away from the TV and leave it on it has made them far more aware lol! :T

It has helped us identify appliances that use a lot of energy, for example my halogen spotlights in the kitchen, I was horrified to see how much they use :eek: Needless to say, they don't go on anymore.

Its a great tool to have and I wish I had got mine earlier.

Energyrethinking

I think they're great personally; I have experimented with solar phone chargers too - anything to be more efficient and but down on the inevitable bill shock that you sometimes get!

traivelinphil

vadek wrote: »

Electronic circuits and hard drives don't like shocks. Powering up or down are both shocks to their systems. They prefer steady states. This applies especially to computers, and all these devices are small computers these days.

So there's a trade-off between power usage and life of devices.

I think it's worth using a surge protector for sensitive electrical equipment. Damaging power spikes can occur when switching on at the socket. They also offer protection from electrical disturbance due to lightening storms. It's also easier to 'group' devices into those you want to switch off and those you don't e.g. we have an extension that the computers, hifi etc are plugged into which goes off at night, and another has the cordless phone and energy monitor that stays on.

traivelinphil

marks7389 wrote: »

eBay can be a good source of cheap electricity monitors if you can't get a freebie. I think I paid about £12 for my basic OWL monitor.

We got ours through ebay for £17. It's a Southern Electric branded Current Cost Envi: http://www.currentcost.com/product-cc128.html
It's great, and can be connected to a computer or used with multiple transmitters if you have an off peak meter. To connect to the computer though it's necessary to buy a cable and software to analyse the data from the meter which we haven't done yet. It's definately helped reduce our electric costs - it's an incentive to be economical in the same way as the mpg display in our car. Seeing what you're using in real time is really helpful in changing behaviour.

Spiggle

Hi,

I just wanted to say that we got our energy monitor free from npower about a month ago now. I don't know the manufacturer, sorry.

The monitor however is brilliant! We're not particularly techie and I'm far more interested in the cost of the KwH rather than how many of them I'm using. The monitor we have allows us to see our power usage in pounds and pence both at any specific time and as a running daily spend total. We're currently around 60p per day. (It also had what appeared to me complicated - because I don't understand the tariff - instructions to set it up with Economy 7.)

It has hugely helped to alter my behaviour I have to admit. I (used to) enjoy a really long shower. But seeing that the shower pushes the cost up by such a horrendous amount - to about 95p per hour compared to about 43p per hour for the kettle boiling - I have dramatically cut back on the time I stay in the shower.

We have low energy bulbs everywhere bar the kitchen which had a refit last year and got a snazzy new halogen light fitting. I nagged my other half about switching them off before we had the meter, you should see me checking now we have it! :rotfl: To be fair though the OH always says 'thank you' for reminding him. He's as mean as me really.

The other benefit is that our grand daughter is absolutely fascinated by it. We have for a good few years had to constantly remind her to switch the TV off in her room when she went out to the garden or wherever. Since the monitor has been in place its become almost automatic for her to switch it off. Can't be a bad thing to be reminding an eight year old about how things cost money, resources and our environment (which they're very good at covering in her school too).

When we had the kitchen redone last year we put in all new appliances all energy rated A+. We don't see a huge leap in cost when we use those to be honest. The washing machine is very economical and the heaviest user in there is without doubt the cooker. But as yet nothing in our house uses more than the shower.

Anyone who knows about these things, should I invest in a new shower? I would probably go for a higher KwH one as I thnk ours is about 7.5 but it is getting on a bit. Probably at least ten years old now. Would a higher KwH be balanced by a more efficient (younger and technically) new shower?

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know our experience. I wholeheartedly agree that monitors should at least be subsidised by if not given free by the government.

I highly recommend you get one if you can.

Spigs

RobertinHerts

Finally recieved E.on Energy monitor, installed and connected to computer.

So how do I use the data that it's delivering on the monitor screen and to the computer. The problem, of course, is that it's all agregated.

I thought E.on or someone else would have explained the next steps without me having to work it out for myself. Yes, I know there is a list of tips but nothing involving the use of the monitor data.

Some things use a small amount of electricity for a long period others use a LOT but for short periods. Which do I need to focus on to make the most difference? How do others break it down to make useful decisions? Thanks.

Robert
P.S. I thought I'd written this question here this morning but it appears to have got lost.

vadek

Just out of interest, I checked my Owl monitor against the actual electricity meter readings for the last week and the Owl reads slightly over the actual consumption for the week. I used 64KWh over the week and the Owl said I used 66KWh (103% of actual).

The e.on monitor reads consistently 10% higher than the Owl, so it's pretty inaccurate.

flikkerty

Martin please can you arrange a special deal for MSE's? They would go like hot cakes