Help us to reduce our energy costs

lstar337

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Yes, this is perfectly possible actually. Our freezer was given to me by my brother at least 10 years ago - and I am not even sure how long he had it before he moved. We have found one thats A rated for £160 so I think its worth the investment.

We only used 15 units yesterday which is much better. I am still monitoring it.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

Might be worth using a plug in monitor to actually check the freezer is the culprit before you go ahead and buy a new one.

Otherwise you may spend £160 for nothing.

captainhindsight_2

Have you thought of switching to biomass, p/kWh can be less than even mains gas depending on the size of deliveries you can take. Could be a straight swap from your old oil boiler.

Intelligent controls for your heating will help.

Sounds like you are already well insulated, low energy lighting, A rated appliances

Install solar PV

Being 'green' isn't cheap, but it pays off in the long run. I spent a fortune insulating my house, fitting renewables, making it as 'green' as possible but based on current performance the payback will be circa 6-7 years for everything I did based on fuel prices when I did it.

Even quicker if you take into account raising fuel prices.

unicell

Yes, for domestic energy efficiencies 6-7 years is a payback period for many items. I think suppliers use this when setting a price. PV Panels are the classic example. 10 years ago £15,000 plus with feed-in-tariff around £0.50
Today approx £6,000 cost with feed-in-tariff less than £0.20 but payback remains approx the same.

chrisreboot

Here's some tips for you. Some of these we've done in the last 12 months have changed our bill significantly:


1) install solar PV panels - best thing by far!
2) swap all light bulbs to low energy/LED. your kitchen alone will make a difference with 11 x 50W = 550Wh used. my LEDs use something like 90% less than before.
3) really think twice about using the tumble dryer for longer than needed.
4) purchased an electric heated clothes airer to maximise our use of PV energy to dry clothes compared with the dryer. Also use the washing line outside as much as poss!
5) boil only what is needed (500ml does 2 mugs) in the kettle and refill immediately to 500ml level to pre-warm next brew.
6) got an electric monitoring device to track consumption. there are plenty on the market. Our local library 'rents' them for a 2 week period so you can see real time consumption figures. i.e. turn something off and see what you'd save.
7) get up earlier and go to bed earlier to use natural daylight more vs electric light.
8) started swapping appliances for more energy efficient models (over time)


If I can think of more I'll add them.