your daily elec usage?

tiger48

will have a word with the wife about using 1 bank of downlighters to save a bit, and will also try hibernating the pc.
the a/c does use a bit - 1.8kw, but as its thermostatically controlled even if i have it on for 5 hrs its not drawing for 5 hrs if that makes sense.....

i switched off the fridge/freezer that's in the house earlier whilst the house was empty and will take a new reading in a few mins - tha will show what was used by the ch pump and 1 freezer and this pc over the past 4 hrs or so......will then do teh same for a few hrs this evening .......

aside from which have arranged today to get rid of teh econ7 meter and will switch to 'normal'......we dont use nightime elec enough and our supplier doesnt have a solid nightime rate - its split which is a pain for tiemclocks etc.....

thx for the thoughts/tips..

joseph1972

so i reckon a monthly useage of £60 for elctricity is about right for a family of four with 2 young children doing around five washes a week with washing machine/tumble dryer also cook with electricity of which is going to change to gas
or am i paying to much?

YORKSHIRELASS

Blimey I knew we were using a lot of electric but it still seems high.

We average around 22kwh p/day. Our electric is about to go from 8.5p per kwh on a fixed deal that has just ended to 13p per kwh so I need to reduce this.

We have oil central heating so use electric heaters (sparingly) with our open fire/woodburner to avoid putting the heating on. My son has health problems so we are at home most of the time.

We put the immersion heater on for half an hour a day during the summer for a bit of hot water rather than using the oil boiler.

I never tumble dry clothes from wet and only wash what I need to wash.

We dont overuse the shower. And hopefully we dont smell either!

I use the slow cooker most days - our oven is electric. We do have two freezers but I am reluctant to change this as I like to buy in bulk.

There are four of us and my kids are older so we have lots of electric gadgets and maybe could do better at switching lights off. We try to use lamps with low energy lightbulbs rather than spotlights where we can.

We have an energy monitor but it was a freebie and only basic. I need to try and find the instructions as I cant remember how to access the stored info on it!

Any advice or suggestions welcome.

victor2

Read your meter daily for a few weeks and log how much you use each day. Then look to explain any higher than average days.
If your energy monitor is one that shows the entire usage for the house, they're notoriously inaccurate but useful to identify sudden large changes in usage.
If you want to get into the usage of individual items, look for a plug-in monitor (plenty on fleabay), which will show you what an individual item (so long as it has a plug on it) is using.

YORKSHIRELASS

Thanks victor. We have a very old electric meter with dials so you cant get a very accurate reading. I might get one of those plug in monitors though.

I am going to buy a less powerful electric heater for our study. My son studies in there during the day and has a habit of putting the 2kw heater on full, its a tiny room so no need for that much heat.

I also need to buy a door curtain for the front door.

blisteringblue

@picardygirl I feel your pain. We are not far from you, I've just got my yearly figures ready to move to the cheapest (First Utility) and it was just over 10,300 kwh for Electric and 15,000 kwh for Gas !!

Main culprits here are 21 year old twin girls !! Who think nothing of having a daily 45min shower (electric) Seriously, I even show them how much elec its using on the BG Energy Monitor and they say "but I need that long to get my conditioner out" drives me insane.

They are both at Uni too, and when they are away we use around £3 a day (estimate on the energy monitor and just me, SHMBO and youngest (10)) but the minute they are back in the house its back up around £6 a day.

We've tried everything to make them aware but nothing sinks in. Our only saving grace is one of the twins rent this year is without inclusive bills so we really hope it sinks in the minute she gets the first bill.

Anyway switching from BG rip off merchants to First Utility is going to save over £300 a year on our actual figures, so that is a plus. Will keep chipping away at the twins when they are back, but confident I can get it down over the next 12 months.

All those who took their free/cheap shares when they privatised the utility companies must be pleased with themselves now.

good_advice

Morning all.
A dull wet day here in Hampshire.

Sad, I have washing to do.Machine on at 30C and then washing on clothes horse to dry.

Meal planning - got frozen sausages out of freezer earlier so that they defrost all day. Quicker to cook defrosted. Fresh veg with a twist...decided to do pumpkin, carrot and onion base with mashed potato on the top, so it will look like a veggie cottage pie. A new idea for me so trying it out tonight.

Read the meters yesterday for 1 week. Running at £1.97 per day for gas and electric.

Temp. in the hall of house now is 21.2C with no heating.
I went mad last night and put the convector heater on for half an hour. Did the trick and felt warmer.

I think instead of putting the heating on a lot more people are investing in thermal clothes. Hot Water bottles.

I cannot see how those of you with 2/3 freezers are saving with buying food in bulk and then having to store it in freezers with the costly running costs?
The shops are open every day except maybe Christmas day. Last week in my large local grocery store I picked up quite a lot of reduced meat that will last for many dinners. Tip - shop mid afternoon or evening for the reductions.

I hope people managed to move onto a fixed rate tariff before the prices went up. I did, so no price increase for us till 31st December 2013.

Take care and keep unplugging

Taiko

7kwh a day on average for a two bed flat, two working adults. 1 is term time only, whereas I am office based. Fair amount of tech in there, with two laptops and a PC alongside broadband, TV box and the TV.

I'm a relatively heavy user when I am home, as I'll quite often be up working until 2am then getting up at 7. It's a reasonable cost, but probably a few more things that can be done to bring it down.

YORKSHIRELASS

good_advice wrote: »

I cannot see how those of you with 2/3 freezers are saving with buying food in bulk and then having to store it in freezers with the costly running costs?

Mmm, this is something I have been thinking about. I live in a rural area - 50 mile round trip to the nearest Tesco or Asda - so there is the cost of petrol to take into account. Local shops and markets are expensive sadly and I also find that the more often I shop the more I spend.

My second freezer is 20 years old so its not going to last much longer then I can get an A rated one.

Anyhow sun is shining here so washing out on the line. I have had the heating on for an hour this morning because my son isnt feeling great but hopefully that will be it for today. Tea is in the slow cooker - elec monitor says 7p at the moment - washing machine is on but not much else.

GooliesOfFire

I just checked the readings for the whole week and divided by 7...

Currently I'm using per day:
- electricity (day time): 4.1 kWh
- electricity (night time): 0.7 kWh
- gas: 16.3 kWh

No gas heating being used (except water). Temperature inside the house 20'C currently.