Units of Electricity, 5 per day

Dave_save

llh189 wrote: »

My question is, is this good, could I reduce further?

What is your average usage?

how have you cut back further?

Thanks

Three bed house with GCH. Average daily use was 13.5 kwh in 2008.

We ditched a chest freezer that was in the garage and replaced the old kitchen fridge/freezer with an 'A' rated one. Together with the replacement of the lighting for low energy units, this now puts our average daily usage at 9kwh. The savings have covered the cost of the replacements.

northernsoul

3 bed house. 3 adults, 3 freezers, 1 fridge, 1 desktop computer, 2 laptops, 2 teles on most of time during evening, cook meals seperately (try to combine when possible). Average 14 units per day over the last year and pay £60 a month.

pink_princess

We got a meter a few weeks back when we switched supplier. It has made us really think about our usage.
When we first plugged it in we were using 21 units a day :eek: Family of 5, 3 teenagers and 2 adults.
I've found it is the kettle, iron and cooker that use the most. Also the electric shower.
Since getting the meter I now only put the oven on when full, we have also made the kids turn everything off stand by. The last 7 days our usage has dropped to 97.
It really has made us think about our waste.

penrhyn

It sounds too low to me. OP are you sure you are reading your meter correctly? i.e Is it dual rate and you are only counting the day time units?

victor2

pink_princess wrote: »

I've found it is the kettle, iron and cooker that use the most. Also the electric shower.

While they are high usage items, they're not running for long periods of time - except if there's a family member who likes to spend an eternity under the shower! :mad:
Our fridge/freezer is a pretty high usage item, not because it uses a huge amount when the compressor is running, but because it is on 24/7, so adds up. I did turn its thermostat down to set both fridge and freezer compartments at the recommended temperatures for these things, which is about half way on its controls.

pink_princess

victor2 wrote: »

While they are high usage items, they're not running for long periods of time - except if there's a family member who likes to spend an eternity under the shower! :mad:
Our fridge/freezer is a pretty high usage item, not because it uses a huge amount when the compressor is running, but because it is on 24/7, so adds up. I did turn its thermostat down to set both fridge and freezer compartments at the recommended temperatures for these things, which is about half way on its controls.

Teenage girls, need I say more :cool:

Our fridge freezer and also a seperate freezer are quite new so A grade low usage. I did just find out also that our TV came with an energy saver on it that you can switch on. I really had never even thought about our usage until this gadget came.

I'd recommend people get one if their electric company offer them.

victor2

pink_princess wrote: »

Teenage girls, need I say more :cool:

Our fridge freezer and also a seperate freezer are quite new so A grade low usage. I did just find out also that our TV came with an energy saver on it that you can switch on. I really had never even thought about our usage until this gadget came.

I'd recommend people get one if their electric company offer them.

They are handy little gadgets, not terribly accurate IME, particularly as you get down to lower usage items. From a glance at ours though, I can tell if the fridge compressor is running and even when its defrost heater kicks in.
As you get down to finer details, I still favour the monitors that plug into a socket and report on an individual item.
Bugs me a little bit when people say to switch off my TV at the socket to save more. Modern TVs use so little in standby, like less than 1 watt. I worked out ours costs about 20p a YEAR to leave it on standby. I can live with that.

zagfles

victor2 wrote: »

They are handy little gadgets, not terribly accurate IME, particularly as you get down to lower usage items. From a glance at ours though, I can tell if the fridge compressor is running and even when its defrost heater kicks in.
As you get down to finer details, I still favour the monitors that plug into a socket and report on an individual item.
Bugs me a little bit when people say to switch off my TV at the socket to save more. Modern TVs use so little in standby, like less than 1 watt. I worked out ours costs about 20p a YEAR to leave it on standby. I can live with that.

Yes mine seems to under-read by about 10-20% at low usage, but is more accurate at higher usage.

They can give a misleading impression because as above kettles, showers, cookers etc will show that they use massively more than lights, TVs, fridge etc while in use, but they are used for a tiny fraction of the time that lights, fridges etc are used... I think they can get people to focus on the wrong things.

Was talking to a someone the other day who claims they are saving electricity by using their travel kettle, because the monitor shows it uses less than half the electricity compared to their normal kettle. I pointed out the flaw in her reasoning ("oh yes, it does take ages to boil the water...." :rotfl:)

macman

pink_princess wrote: »

We got a meter a few weeks back when we switched supplier. It has made us really think about our usage.
When we first plugged it in we were using 21 units a day :eek: Family of 5, 3 teenagers and 2 adults.
I've found it is the kettle, iron and cooker that use the most. Also the electric shower.
Since getting the meter I now only put the oven on when full, we have also made the kids turn everything off stand by. The last 7 days our usage has dropped to 97.
It really has made us think about our waste.

Yes, they'll draw the greatest load, but these items are not generally on for very long. If you don't have gas CH and DHW, it is electric heating and hot water that accounts for the largest usage.

pink_princess

I have gas CH.