Any power saving tips?

getk

Friends,
I've been trying to reduce my electricity bill and seems that its not much changing now and costs me around £110 a month.
I tried changing everything to CFL lights, switched all heating off etc..

The only main consuming power devices are Refrigerator, Hot water boiler and Cooker. Also limited use of laptop and LED TV is there.
I analysed my electricity bill to a good extend and came to conclusion i want to utilise the off-peak duration more to reduce my bill.
I called my provider British gas and they responded my off-peak is between 11:30pm - 07:30am.

steps i took from March,2011
1. Put washing clothes to off-peak
2. dish-washer to off-peak
3. Hot-water already was in off-peak only configuration.
4. Stopped all thermostat from Spring.

Despite this, my bill came to £95+ a month, which was not of much help.
So planning to go bit more extreme..
a. I'm looking for timer devices now, so that I can program my refrigerator to work more during off-peak and intermittently during peak hours.
b. Planning to buy UPS kinda device to charge overnight and use for day usage.



Wanted to get tips from you guys , if u do any of such fine tuning.

smjxm09

Is your hot water boiler providing water to a storage tank or is it hot water on demand staight to the tap? If you have a tank is it fully insulated? I would think that half your bill could well be due to your hot water requirements.

moonrakerz

What exactly do you mean by "off peak" ?
Economy 7 or what ?
What tariff are you on ?

The LAST thing I would try and save electricity on would be my fridge !
If you buy a "UPS kinda device", how much will that cost, what savings will it produce - if any ?

You state: "The only main consuming power devices are Refrigerator, Hot water boiler and Cooker. Also limited use of laptop and LED TV is there" - then further on you mention a washing machine and a dishwasher.
What else do you have that you haven't mentioned ? kettle, iron, toaster, George Foreman ?

You quote 2 different figures for your monthly spend - are these your DD figures or are they accurate representations of your actual usage ?
How many units are you using per day ?

The very first thing you need to understand is:- exactly what is your usage ?

victor2

moonrakerz wrote: »

The LAST thing I would try and save electricity on would be my fridge !

Don't touch it, it'll only have to work harder when you do allow it to run and do you really think food will store well in a fridge where the temperature regularly swings outside of its designed limits? If there is a temperature control for the fridge, just make sure it isn't set too cold. Check it with a fridge thermometer, got mine for 99p.

moonrakerz wrote: »

The very first thing you need to understand is:- exactly what is your usage ?

Make yourself a list of every electrical device you use. See how much power it takes and estiimate your daily usage of it.
If you're all electric, which it sounds like you might be, what temperature is your hot water set at? Are you using what you are heating, or just keeping a tankful of water hot, if you have a hot water tank that is.
Do you have a microwave? They often use less power than a stove to accomplish the same end result.

JasX

First up, you should ignore anything that isn;t heating as they'll be orders of magnitude below what your heating is drawing.

Next on the list will be temperatures you have things set at and insulation.

Finally your tariff.

First point, you seem to not have a full grasp of your useage, water heater and heating panels will be the biggest draws. Add oven hob any standalone heaters, TUMBLE DRIER, and to a lesser extent dishwasher / washing machine etc. Are you using them efficiently? always fully loaded? set to a reasonable temperature?

Secondly temperature and insulation, what temperature is your water heater set to? does water come out of the hot tap 'just the right temperature' so you don't even need to mix it with cold or is is scalding hot being overheated?

Do you have an ancient heating system that heats a vastly oversized boiler full of water? short term can you check its settings / timings and is your tank very well insulated (ie doesn't feel warm as all the heat is well contained). Long term coudl you investigate a more modern system.

Finally tariff, you have off peak electricity, are you REALLY puttting it to good use? you realise you are paying apremium for all your daytime useage for the privilidge of having off peak. would a normal tariff be more economical overall?

Final Final note, even efficient all electric homes are more expensive as per kilowatt your electricity is 3x the price of gas typically (but before things like burner efficiency etc come into play). i'd be suprised if you got it much below £80pm and you'd need to be doing exceptionally well to get down to £60pm.

Check the above.... and if you are spending money on anything cover the basics uand pdate any antique heating system and/or poor insulation you have before anything else