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Halogen lights to blame?

Hi, Bit of advice really! Our electric usage has jumped stupidly!

We had an extension last year and put in some halogen spotlights in our lounge, hall, kitchen and bathroom. Don't use the ones in the lounge very often as use lamps and only switch the others on and off when we are in the room etc. But our leccy useage has gone up by 22% year on year according to EOn's graph. The last 3 months it say we have used 44% more and yet earlier on in the year we only used 1.2% more. Can I trust these graphs?

Comments

  • Premier_2
    Premier_2 Posts: 15,141 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Are the previous bills based on actual or estimated readings?

    The graphs are only as accurate as the readings they are based on
    "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 2010
  • Actual readings! I always keep them up to date.
  • Lights of any sort are very cheap to run so unlikely to make much difference. You can run 10 hundred watt bulbs for an hour for about 10 pence or a pound a night so count up your bulbs and wattage and count back from there. or give us the numbers and we will give you a rough idea
  • grahamc2003
    grahamc2003 Posts: 1,771 Forumite
    Davie_101 wrote: »
    Lights of any sort are very cheap to run so unlikely to make much difference. You can run 10 hundred watt bulbs for an hour for about 10 pence or a pound a night so count up your bulbs and wattage and count back from there. or give us the numbers and we will give you a rough idea

    Of course halogen lights aren't cheap to run. I've seen kitchens with a dozen 50w, on most of the day. If the op has several rooms like that, his bills would be large.
  • Of course halogen lights aren't cheap to run. I've seen kitchens with a dozen 50w, on most of the day. If the op has several rooms like that, his bills would be large.

    Spot on - each 50w halogen costs around £9 per year to run. So a kitchen with a dozen 50w is going to cost around £108 per year.
  • How is the extension heated?
  • Yes. It sounds as if it could well be your halogens. There things are infamous for burning energy.
  • We swapped all our halogens from 50W to 10W each. 80% reduction in running costs, hardly any noticable impact in lighting level and they don't blow as often!
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    OP, what is the total wattage of all the new halogens you have fitted then?
    Obviously you can discount the ones you are not using...
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • We swapped all our halogens from 50W to 10W each. 80% reduction in running costs, hardly any noticable impact in lighting level and they don't blow as often!

    Yes, thats the best idea. I purchased 7watt light bulbs for £3.00 each. They lasted me 18 months last time and the standard GU10 50w/35w ones seems to go in just a few months.
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