Controlling Energy Costs

kwakagent

My household electricity and heating bills have got to such an extent (largely through wastage/lazyness) that I need to find a way of stopping the other people in my home from being inefficient with electricity and heating. So I have 2 questions.

1. Is there a way (or what's the best way) of enforcing that the washing machine and dishwasher are only used at night during economy 7? The other half keeps using them in the day!

2. What's the best way to control when the heating and hot water are on? We have a timer, but I suspect my other half has it on all day every day when I am not around, which is ridiculous as she sits in a room that has a log burning fire in it (which is obviously very very cheap to run/use).

It pains me greatly that I have to try to control everything like this, but she's spending over £180 a month on heat and electric which is doing my head in when we have a largely free source of heat in the room we spend most of our time in!

Nada666

I believe, in the 21st Century, talking with, rather than shackles, is the preferred solution.

There is no physical fix to your problem.

kwakagent

Unfortunately that has proved ineffective, so I'm looking for more practical solutions.

Nada666

You can spend thousands of pounds rewiring the house to introduce a dedicated night circuit (if one does not already exist) and wire the machines direct to that circuit. You will then have to padlock access to the clock on the timer so that can not be changed.

There may be heaters that can bought that will only be controlled by a dedicated circuit with no on button on the heater - but that won't stop the cold blooded buying a plug-in heater and using that.

Any unwanted very costly fixes will be circumvented.

Norman_Castle

Do the washing and dishwashing yourself at night.

lstar337

kwakagent wrote: »

Unfortunately that has proved ineffective, so I'm looking for more practical solutions.

Tell your OH that she will be responsible for the bills until she can follow the rules.:D

My OH had a good understanding of money, but a poor understanding of energy use. I curtailed her wasteful behaviour by pointing out how much each thing costs. She used to use the tumble during the day all the time. When I told her that it cost ~72p to do it during the day, but only ~28p to do it at night, she soon started doing it at night. She was most shocked about the shower!:D

If it is serious, then I think you should explain clearly what will happen if your bills continue to spiral out of control.

kwakagent

That's the point, it goes in one ear and out the other! We even watched a feature on TV about how only 40% of people use the economy 7 to save money, and within 10 mins the washing machine was on! She's a full time housewife so asking her to pay is not an option.

lstar337

Do you give her an allowance?

If you do, deduct the bill from it. Tell her that because of her irresponsible appliance use, you cannot afford food this week.

Use any trick at your disposal. The trick is to inconvenience her as much as she is you.

You need to start getting tough! (not abusive obviously)