Ideas for reducing electricity bill please!

Emmala

Hi,

As so many people are doing at the moment, we have been looking at ways to reduce our outgoings and one thing we are keen to reduce is the amount of electricity we use. We have all our utitlies through Utility Warehouse, and our DD for electric has just been raised to £76 a month. We are even with useage/payment give or take a couple of pounds and meter readings are up to date.

We are a family of 5, three children on of whom is home with me (I'm a SAHM) so yes, someone is home most of the day so our bill will be higher than if I was out at work. Last month, we decided to make a real effort to be good - eg we've been anal about switching off lights, nothing left on standby, all kitchen sockets off including microwave unless being used......and when the bill arrived yesterday all that effort had saved a grand total of £2!!!!

Does anyone have any other ideas about how we can reduce the amount of electricity we use? Or is £60 something a month 'right' for a 3 bed detached house with people in it most days? The house was rewired when we bought it nearly 6 years ago.

I'm sorry if this reads like a 'stupid woman, should know better' post, but I don't know if I'm missing something obvious, or being niaive or what! Any thoughts and suggestions gratefully received, thank you! x

spiro

To help people answer your question, post kwh not £s.

For the bill you have just received what period did it cover (dates or number of days) and how many kwh were you billed for in total assuming both start and end readings were Actual readings?

clouty

Things that draw a lot of juice are things that produce heat. So, in order of greed, with tips on saving:

Oven - restrict use. Cook more than one thing at a time.

Water heater - make sure it's lagged with a nice cosy coat, put it on a time switch, turn down the thermostat.

Electric fire - chuck it away! Or if it is vital, control with thermostat/timer

Tumbledryer - get rid of it, or restrict use to emergencies only. Use a line, install ceiling racks, use an airer. Seriously expensive to run, and beats hell out of your clothes to boot.

Hairdryer - restrict use, stop when hair is not quite dry (better for you, anyway)

Fridge/Freezer - Make sure there's enough ventilation to the grid at the back, and that the grid is not too clogged with dust. Change for an AA rated appliance when you upgrade. Keep the freezer full - use bags filled with balls of newspaper if necessary. Defrost regularly (oops, mine needs doing).

Washing machine - use the 30º setting for most things, though you need to put a hot wash through every couple of weeks, to clean the insides of the machine. Again, change for an AA rated machine when it's upgrade time. Only run full loads.

TV/video/smartbox/music/computers/battery chargers etc - Consider power consumption next time you upgrade. Switch off at plug overnight, and when not in use.

Incandescent (old fashioned) lightbulbs - you don't just have the ugly energy-saving fluorescent type as an alternative, LEDs are improving all the time, and even halogen are less greedy on electricity and they give a nice light, so look into bulb technology - you pay your money and you make your choice.

npower tried to raise my DD to £45, when I've been paying £25 and had a £150 surplus. Sometimes you just have to analyse the bills. They backed down quite quickly, and I made them give me £100 back. Ha!

jhp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473547

yoda011087

Rachel_G wrote: »

Hi,

As so many people are doing at the moment, we have been looking at ways to reduce our outgoings and one thing we are keen to reduce is the amount of electricity we use. We have all our utitlies through Utility Warehouse, and our DD for electric has just been raised to £76 a month. We are even with useage/payment give or take a couple of pounds and meter readings are up to date.

We are a family of 5, three children on of whom is home with me (I'm a SAHM) so yes, someone is home most of the day so our bill will be higher than if I was out at work. Last month, we decided to make a real effort to be good - eg we've been anal about switching off lights, nothing left on standby, all kitchen sockets off including microwave unless being used......and when the bill arrived yesterday all that effort had saved a grand total of £2!!!!

Does anyone have any other ideas about how we can reduce the amount of electricity we use? Or is £60 something a month 'right' for a 3 bed detached house with people in it most days? The house was rewired when we bought it nearly 6 years ago.

I'm sorry if this reads like a 'stupid woman, should know better' post, but I don't know if I'm missing something obvious, or being niaive or what! Any thoughts and suggestions gratefully received, thank you! x

Hi Rachel, a couple of points to check:

Do you have an electric shower? - These use loads of electric if a family have even one shower a day each. It's basically a big kettle that's on for 10-15mins, that uses 4x the average kitchen kettle's input.

Also, how old are the kids? Are they computer console "leaver-on-ers"? OR hair straightener users? These can eat more electricity than you think.

The most surprising thing is the vacuum and the lawn mower. As these appliances are on for longer than most, they can be deceptive in their usage of electricity.

Furthermore, Utility Warehouse isn't always the cheapest supplier for electricity. some suppliers are much better value for money if you have medium - high electricity usage. I'd do a comparison based on your annual kwH usage if I were you.

I hope this helps?

mouseymousey99

Could you ask your supplier to do an efficiency test for you Rachael? (We had one about water usage a few months ago and picked up a few tips). 60 doesn't sound like too much for your circumstances; I know the prices have gone up. May be worth checking with your supplier that you are on the lowest tariff too? Best wishes.
ps If it helps we pay 108 (Gas & Elec) for a teeny weeny 2 bed house, 2 people (herd of cats).