Free £30 energy monitor - if you give us some feedback on it (50 available)

gillm66

Set monitor up yesterday and was easier than I thought –set-up only took about 10 minutes in total. Easy to follow on-line instructions and have also set the app up on my phoneas well.

Spent about half an hour running about the house switchingvarious items on and off to see what effect this had on the live reading whichis very useful. Makes you very aware ofjust how certain appliances cost more than you think (i.e. kettle and iron!!).

Wish there were some way however you could get a similarpiece of kit for the gas supply and would be good if you could compare usingtwo halogen heaters in kid’s bedrooms and the fire in the lounge for heatingand then the next week not using those but putting the gas central heating onand see which is best cost wise as have no idea which will work out cheaper forus. Was however pleasantly surprised tosee how reasonable the cost of using two halogen heaters was as I thought theywould be more expensive than they are.

Have set the first budget and am on a mission to stick to it– watch this space!!

Am really pleased to have been given the chance to test thismonitor – it makes you very much aware of how even small things, i.e. switchingtv’s off standby and not leaving things plugged in unnecessarily (mobiles beingleft plugged in when fully charged is another thing that will now stop!) canmake a difference over the year. I wouldhappily pay the £4.99 per year for future monitoring purposes.

victor2

gillm66 wrote: »

Am really pleased to have been given the chance to test thismonitor – it makes you very much aware of how even small things, i.e. switchingtv’s off standby and not leaving things plugged in unnecessarily (mobiles beingleft plugged in when fully charged is another thing that will now stop!) canmake a difference over the year.

Just be aware that that type of monitor is notoriously inaccurate on equipment that uses very little power. For example, a modern TV (e.g. a flat screen one) will probably use less than 1 watt on standby. Similarly, mobile phone chargers use a tiny amount if not actually charging. My TV costs me a little over 20p a YEAR on standby, equivalent to a few extra seconds in the shower. I've concluded it's worth it for the convenience.

If you want to see how accurate your monitor is, compare what it says you've used over a week with what your meter says you've used...

zita230175

Thanks MSE for letting me try one of these. I have been using this for over a week now and like everyone else I found it really easy to set up. I love the website, I have entered my energy tariff and it shows me how much electric I have used in the day / week / month in actual cost (you can also swap it to show kWh if you are more tech minded). The graphs are good, I tend to look at it at the end of the day and try to justify the peaks such as when I switched the washing machine/ dishwasher etc on. I was surprised just how much electric the appliances use- especially my iron! I was a bit disappointed there wasn't an iPad app, but it was no hardship to go on the website. I have downloaded the smartphone app for my phone, but didn't like it. You have to log in every time (so it didn't feel like a true app) it also took ages to come up, even when using wifi rather than the mobile network. I also found that the present time usage reading was showing vastly different readings on my phone to my iPad - no idea why!?!?
Ok, the verdict. Has it changed my usage behaviour? Probably not, I knew before I got the monitor that it is expensive to use household appliances, however I still like my clothes and house clean so will continue to use the washing machine / Hoover etc. I have always used the tumble dryer sensibly and will continue to do so. However the one thing it has done, is by looking at the usage every night, it makes you very aware that there is a cost implication every time you switch a light or appliance on, so chances are, you will remember to switch lights off and make sure the dishwasher is properly full before switching it on which will save some money.
I don't know if I will use this long term, I doubt I will continue to check it daily for much longer, but I have set my monthly budget to equal my monthly electric direct debit, so it will alert me if I am about to go over. That way I know I will not end up with a huge electric bill in a few months.

nataliegiraffe

Thanks for letting me take part in the trial, however my energy cables are encased in metal trunking and as such I can't actually connect the meter.

I proceeded with the setup instructions online anyway and found it very easy to do. If I could actually track my energy use, I think I would use it long term and check every week to see if there is anything I could change.

Mokeyjen

Hello!

I have now been using my energy monitor for about a month and wanted to report on it...

The setup was so easy - just a case of following the online instructions and away you go!

Since it has been set up, I have set weekly budget targets which so far I am hitting! :-)

I am not sure how accurate it is exactly, but when I look at the weekly graphs, it is obvious which days I do my washing and drying! :eek:

I did use a British Gas one previously which was a lot more in depth and you could see past hour usage etc, whereas on this one it is a bit more general.

I haven't yet really changed how much energy I am using, but it is good to know on which days it is highest!

Overall not a bad piece of kit for those who aren't too bothered about knowing exactly what they are using, but there are much better ones out there!

Thanks for letting me try it out! :beer:

pinkcoops

Thanks for including us in the free trial. We've had our Loop monitor for about a month now - so here is our feedback

- How easy was it to set up?

It was easy to set it up with the instructions online - although finding a spare socket near the router was difficult!

- Did it change your energy efficiency behaviour?

Setting up the profile online was easy and we have randomly been checking our usage. Due to me and my partner working shifts it's difficult to show regular patterns of our usage but interesting to see the peaks and troughs! It's also useful to see which appliances are guzzlers of electric! We are certainly now more aware and as such try to take more care.


Would you use it long-term?

Not quite sure yet. Will have to monitor our useage and see if the savings we make would justify the initial price........ Probably I suspect. It's down to individual discipline I think.

Was the dashboard easy to use?

Yes

Did you spot any glitches?

No obvious glitches.

Thanks again - certainly an eye-opener

kgw1009

Anyone know if there are any left ?

thanks

skcollobcat10

ooooiiiiooo

penrhyn

Smart meters use the mobile phone network to communicate. This is. a totally different wavelength to that used by cheap clip on monitors.

Nerakano

Hi

We have one of these from Npower.

It shows we're using around £100-110 a month under the new pricing.
The complaints team have said these are a guide only and shouldnt be taken too literally. They say we have to pay £186 a month for electric as this is what theyve calculated us at over a year.

We were paying £256 (dual fuel) at the start of 2013, this jumped to £289 and then down to £150(they said we were over paying and should come down to £65...it was my husband who insisted on the £150 ..which tied in with the energy monitor)
(We're a 2 bed semi with 2 adults in it)

At the moment because we've an ongoing complaint I'm taking daily meter readings ....its a dial meter....I going on the lowest number always and if dead on take the number rule the complaints team told me (I've another 4 ways of reading from support) ...and I cant explain the £256 / £289s..... we aren't using that much electric....
The only things we arent using now are the lawn mower, strimmer and ceiling fans...but to counteract these I'm using the tumble dryer instead of putting the washing on the line....the heatings on longer in the winter etc ....

According to the energy monitor we're over paying at £229 but they say these aren't reliable....

Which must beg the question ...why did they send us one in the first place?????