Are we still using too much?

moments_of_sanity

I have started to reduce our gas and electric usage and over the last couple of weeks we have managed to reduce the electricity by 9 units, gas hasn't been reduced at all but we don't use much. Here are my readings for the last three weeks but could someone tell me if we are still using too much electricity, I turn lights out when not in the room, have stopped using my tumble dryer and use a mini oven rather than the full size one.

Electric
1st reading. 14328
2nd reading. 14460
3rd dreading. 14583

The 9 units have been calculated by taking week 2 from week 1 and week 3 from usage in week 2.

Any help gratefully received

HappyMJ

It may be right but it may still be too much. You are using an average of 125kWh per week which is quite high as almost twice the national average. You need to list everything that is used and for how many hours and if possible the power rating of each.

moments_of_sanity

HappyMJ wrote: »

It may be right but it may still be too much. You are using an average of 125kWh per week which is quite high as almost twice the national average. You need to list everything that is used and for how many hours and if possible the power rating of each.

We have a 4 bedroom semi but my daughter has a bearded dragon which needs constant heat for at least 12 hours a day and then it's reduced over night, it also needs a UV light on for 12 hours and DH keeps tropical fish and the tank is a large one. Could these be contributing?

The only other things we have running are 2 tv's, sky box, 2laptops (kids homework), 2 fridge freezers and 1 full height fridge freezer, lighting in the evening. The tv's are only on for the evening as well.
Washing machine is run about 4 to 5 times a week.

HappyMJ

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

We have a 4 bedroom semi but my daughter has a bearded dragon which needs constant heat for at least 12 hours a day and then it's reduced over night, it also needs a UV light on for 12 hours and DH keeps tropical fish and the tank is a large one. Could these be contributing?

The only other things we have running are 2 tv's, sky box, 2laptops (kids homework), 2 fridge freezers and 1 full height fridge freezer, lighting in the evening. The tv's are only on for the evening as well.
Washing machine is run about 4 to 5 times a week.

Heat costs the most money...so if the heat lamp for the dragon is rated at 100W then that will add another 17kWh per week. The aquarium heater will also probably be rated at 100W so that's another 17kWh per week. The UV light doesn't use much. TV's and all the associated stuff use quite a bit so turn them off as much as possible. Washing machine runs quite a few times so your family must be larger than average...or the machine you have is a small one which needs multiple loads. Each cycle uses a little more than 1kWh so that's at least 5kWh per week. Consider changing with a large capacity machine so you can run it less.

The fridges should have an estimated annual usage published somewhere on the internet...if not you can use a similar one to estimate usage...Each small fridge uses about 3kWh per week.

moments_of_sanity

HappyMJ wrote: »

Heat costs the most money...so if the heat lamp for the dragon is rated at 100W then that will add another 17kWh per week. The aquarium heater will also probably be rated at 100W so that's another 17kWh per week. The UV light doesn't use much. TV's and all the associated stuff use quite a bit so turn them off as much as possible. Washing machine runs quite a few times so your family must be larger than average...or the machine you have is a small one which needs multiple loads. Each cycle uses a little more than 1kWh so that's at least 5kWh per week. Consider changing with a large capacity machine so you can run it less.

The fridges should have an estimated annual usage published somewhere on the internet...if not you can use a similar one to estimate usage...Each small fridge uses about 3kWh per week.

Thank you, I am surprised at how costly the fish tank and bearded dragon cage are! We are a family of 4, teenagers over 16 so essentially a household of adults.

rogerblack

moments_of_sanity wrote: »

Thank you, I am surprised at how costly the fish tank and bearded dragon cage are! We are a family of 4, teenagers over 16 so essentially a household of adults.

It can be hard to work out the actual power use of theremostatically controlled loads.
The easy way to do this is to purchase a http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Energenie-ENERGY-SAVING-POWER-METER-SAVE-MONEY-/221168627440?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item337ead6ef0 plug in energy meter, and go round each appliance, to get an idea of how much it uses a day.