Reducing Electricity Usage

Enterprise_1701C

What no-one seems to have mentioned here is the freezer. I have managed to turn mine to a lower setting without any adverse effects, it still goes down to -20 but now uses far less power! I turned it down bit by bit till I found the optimum setting.

Also , I do not have a tumble drier or a dishwasher - I use an airer for drying clothes in the winter, and whilst it would be nice to have fluffy towels I do not consider that a necessity.

Susan1942

Does anyone know what it cost to run an electric blanket? I asked Atlantic and they told me that it cost around £6 per week to have a double blanket on 1 1/2 hours a night. Sometimes I had mine on for 3-5 hours a night.
I am also wondering whether I should not heat my water overnight economy 7 but rather use the over ride button and just use it for the hour that the time it takes to give me the hot water I need. I live alone

Sue

victor2

You could buy an electricity usage cost calculator - pugs into a socket, then you plug the blanket into that and it tells you how much electricity it is using or has used over a time. Got mine off ebay for less than £20.
The free way is to look at the blanket's power rating and calculate how many kWh it will use over the period of time it will typically be on. From that you can get an idea of the cost. No guarantee that the rating is correct, but it should give you an idea.

On the hot water - if your tank is well insulated, I would say heat it overnight. Difficult one to measure as other devices use electricity as well and I don't suppose the heater has a regular 13 amp plug on it, so the electricity cost calculator would not help. You would need a monitor that looks at your main supply coming in for that. E.on offer them free to dual fuel customers, maybe other companies are doing a similar deal?

Ken68

Susan1942 wrote: »

Does anyone know what it cost to run an electric blanket? I asked Atlantic and they told me that it cost around £6 per week to have a double blanket on 1 1/2 hours a night. Sometimes I had mine on for 3-5 hours a night.
I am also wondering whether I should not heat my water overnight economy 7 but rather use the over ride button and just use it for the hour that the time it takes to give me the hot water I need. I live alone

Sue

Hi Susan...I have an 80w electric blanket that I use as a throw...ideal for this time of year and in the spring, and at 13pence for 12 hours cheap to run. It has three settings so probably even cheaper than that .It's not space heating but certainly no need ever to be cold.Not ideal for families .

macman

Susan1942 wrote: »

Does anyone know what it cost to run an electric blanket? I asked Atlantic and they told me that it cost around £6 per week to have a double blanket on 1 1/2 hours a night. Sometimes I had mine on for 3-5 hours a night.
I am also wondering whether I should not heat my water overnight economy 7 but rather use the over ride button and just use it for the hour that the time it takes to give me the hot water I need. I live alone

Sue

That is an absurd figure. Even it was 1000W it would not cost £1 a week! What is the rating of the blanket?

Cardew

Susan1942 wrote: »

Does anyone know what it cost to run an electric blanket? I asked Atlantic and they told me that it cost around £6 per week to have a double blanket on 1 1/2 hours a night. Sometimes I had mine on for 3-5 hours a night.
I am also wondering whether I should not heat my water overnight economy 7 but rather use the over ride button and just use it for the hour that the time it takes to give me the hot water I need. I live alone

Sue

Did you ask Atlantic on April 1st?;)

Cost depends on the power rating and the setting if variable.

Most blankets are around 80w to 100w although it is possible to get them up to 200w on maximum setting.

So costs would be anything from 1p to 2p an hour so for 1.5 hours a night 10p to 20p a week.

macman

I suspect that the £6 they quoted was an annual cost.

Susan1942

Thanks everyone. The figure did sound incredibly high to me! As you say she was perhaps a year rather than a week.
I have just started using my blanket again! Normally use it year wound.

Thanks again

Sue