How much does it cost you in electricity to run your computer?

cit_k

I think maplins just sold you a pile of innacurate junk by the sounds of things.

macman

If you are on Standard rate tariff (not E7) and heating the flat all day and evening through a cold December and January, then £140pm is perfectly normal. Your consumption will plummet once the heating goes off (but still be much more than any other form of heating, of course).
What tariff are you on?
My iMac costs about the same as a 100 watt light bulb most of the time:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3559
Forget about the cost of peripherals-it's hot water and heating that matters, these are the big users. Why don't you put your heating on a timer? Leaving it on all day when you are out is bound to result in huge bills, and is pointless.

Norman_Castle

If you have little natural light and are using the lights a lot, low energy bulbs will make a difference.
Check how much you are paying for electricity and make sure you have set the monitor at the correct rate.
My desktop pc and monitor, with rarely used printer and scanner etc unplugged, uses 2p per hour.

The_Fear

closed wrote: »

Desktop or laptop? You're on a poor rate (or dual rate/economy 7) if a laptop is costing that much, a typical laptop should be around £40/pa or less running 24/7 assuming a bit of charging now and again.


Desktop - 24 inch iMac, 2.5 years old.

I might've read the gadget wrong I guess.

thefishdude

well something is deffinatly wrong there, i used to be a hard core gamer playing every day for minimum of 8 hours and maybe more at weekends playing ina competetive league so ihad quite a power full pc. doing this and having tv on next to me. it used to cost me about £30 amonth i know this as when i moved out my parents elec bill went down 30 a month lol

The_Fear

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies. Newbie alert - I don't seem to be good at being able to reply in the right place and/or quoting your text. Sorry about that. Please tell me how to use the forum threads correctly if you wish

To reply to some of the above.

1. Yes I have checked that other flats aren't using my energy.

2. Turns out EoN had me on the wrong rate; after a couple of credits my bill should now average £85 from August to Feb.

3. The heating bill isn't right when you consider that I live in an 18ft by 9ft studio; I'm pretty sure that most of the heat is going straight out of ill-fitted windows. I've asked my managing agent to address this as part of signing a new lease.

4. I know that leaving heating on is dumb, but given the above, if it's not left on, it's near-on impossible to warm the place up (old oil filled wall heater, takes 6-8 hours).

5. Re: 4) - I need to find a more energy efficient method of heating the place.

6. Yes it's possible Maplin sold me a pile of junk (I had to get on the damn floor and use the torch on my phone with ALL the lights on to set and read it); it's also possible I mis-read the unit rate because it's not exactly clear. It read 2035 which I took to be 20p but I guess could be 2p an hour?

7. Low energy bulbs sound the way forward, but are they as bright? Given the dismal lighting levels, I'm considering ordering the 'mother and child' lamp from Amazon, which reviews say give off amazing light levels.

8. To the person who said check you've got your monitor set at the right rate - umm - I'm not exactly sure how to do that.

Thanks again everyone

The_Fear

Re 2. - that's £85 a month. And yes, I am looking at other energy providers as I got lumbered with EoN and they won't move me from a prepayment meter to a normal direct debit account until October. Having the power go out at 10pm at night when you're fully lathered up in the shower and having to feel your way downstairs in the pitch black to a communal meter cupboard is something I only want to experience ONCE in my lifetime.

John_Gray

The_Fear wrote: »

6. Yes it's possible Maplin sold me a pile of junk (I had to get on the damn floor and use the torch on my phone with ALL the lights on to set and read it)

Ah, what you need to do is to plug the meter into a 13A extension block which has a couple of metres of cable, then plug the device whose power usage you want to measure into the meter.

This gives you a much better chance of reading the figures from the meter, since you can move the extension block around...

Norman_Castle

8. To the person who said check you've got your monitor set at the right rate - umm - I'm not exactly sure how to do that.

Until you have set the unit price the costs will be meaningless. Have you read the instructions?

Notmyrealname

esuhl wrote: »

Mine uses ~200W

How do you come to that conclusion?