How to reduce the electricity bill by 70%

Cardew

Refusnik,

As I said at the beginning of my original post your contribution is most useful in explaining the principles of calculating power consumption to those who did not know how this was done.

However I suggest that those who have not understood those calculations before will simply look at the headline financial figures( I hesitate to say facts) you have provided and think that these savings are achievable for themselves, and for the vast majority they are simply not remotely within reach.

As MMD states his useage is 2,400 units in daytime electricity – and if you read his early posts you will see that he tries hard to keep his ratio of Day/Night useage to his advantage. My consumption(again with Gas CH) is far higher than MMD’s and the average consumption, of those who have posted on this forum, is in excess of MMDs'. I cannot believe anyone living in a property could approach consumption of less than 200 units per quarter.

The ‘error’ in your calculations is simply that you have used the ‘wrong’ figures in the formulae to calculate savings; or at least figures that have no relevance to consumers.

refusnik

Cardew wrote:

I cannot believe anyone living in a property could approach consumption of less than 200 units per quarter.

You have the right to believe in what you want. Here are my last 10 days counter readings:

Date            Rate 1  Rate 4 (night)
12-May-05	21049	22369
22-May-05	21070	22405

Cardew

refusnik wrote:

You have the right to believe in what you want. Here are my last 10 days counter readings:

Date            Rate 1  Rate 4 (night)
12-May-05	21049	22369
22-May-05	21070	22405

2 units a day is almost unbelievable. 3 units a night is even more impressive.

I used the term "living in a property" to mean just that. With a Fridge, cooking, kettle, lights, TV, a computer even!

Well Done!

TheSaint_2

I wouldnt bother going down the route working out how much energy is used to raise a given amount of water by one degree, because unfortunately our kettle's are not 100% efficient, therefore much of the energy used by the kettle is lost, and if you use an electric cooker with the solid base instead of a ring its waaay inefficient.

Best way to do it is to either look at the appliance consumption (ie 1KWh) and work out based on energy used over time. Or use your electric meter to work out how many KW are used during the cycle.

Obviously every device is different from make to make, and therefore you need to do your own sums (Which i believe was pointed out originally)

p.s. I have gas.. and flippin eck its expensive! Even using scottish power (cheapest in the country for elec and gas). I am in the process of putting in loads of insulation to get the cost down!

Cagey

I doubt if Scottish Power are the cheapest for gas but thats another discussion.Depends on which comparison site you visit & even then I wouldn`t believe them.

Rebob

With doing my washing at night. Using an electric shower for me and hubby and bath for son. Changing supplier. Using a couple of energy bulbs. I got my electric bill down from £95 pm to £55 pm. This is for a 99 year old 3 bed detached house.

Now planning on more insulation as pennies afford to cut down even more.

refusnik

TheSaint wrote:

I wouldnt bother going down the route working out how much energy is used to raise a given amount of water by one degree, because unfortunately our kettle's are not 100% efficient, therefore much of the energy used by the kettle is lost, and if you use an electric cooker with the solid base instead of a ring its waaay inefficient.

Amazingly enough, immersion heaters and kettles are extremely efficient as the heating element is surrounded by water. The heat cannot escape unless by going through the water itself. I have tested my cheap kettle and it is more than 95% efficient to boil the water. Obviously, if you want it to keep it hot for a long time, it is a poor choice. Don't trust the rating, my kettle is actually 2.5kW while it has 1.8kW written on its base. The best way to calculate its actual wattage is by using ohmmeter.

The best thing is that I can tell you how much energy is needed to heat water from A degrees to B degrees without even asking how you are going to heat it. It is a fundamental fact of nature. 50 years old and brand new kettle will spend roughly the same amount of money to boil the same amount of water.

Also, electric shower would be a bad choice for me. Think again how I do my savings: I accumulate hot water overnight during cheap rate and then use it during the day. Obviously, this requires using a boiler.

isayoldchap

Rebob wrote:

With doing my washing at night. Using an electric shower for me and hubby and bath for son. Changing supplier. Using a couple of energy bulbs. I got my electric bill down from £95 pm to £55 pm. This is for a 99 year old 3 bed detached house.

Now planning on more insulation as pennies afford to cut down even more.

You may get help for the insulation if you receive certain benefits like tax credits etc.I believe you could get around £750+ of work done to your house :beer: