Sub £50 energy consumption monitor. It says it'll save you 25% off energy bills

MSE_Martin

What's this about?

Home energy monitors are devices which allow you to monitor your total home energy use. Its makers claim this means users very quickly become more aware of their energy usage and turn more appliances off, making serious savings.

I suspect some of this is spin, but it's likely to have some impact and thus for high energy users should make back its puchase price and help the environment. As they're very popular I'd thought I'd check out the cheapest and the alternatives.

Of course the best way to cut your energy costs is by switching to Get the Cheapest Gas & Elec. Plus find out what environmental grants may be available in Grant Grabbing.

The cheapest wireless home energy monitors

These clip into your mains supply and collate info from all appliances in the house and wirelessly beam the info back to the remote display.

• Wireless energy saving meter, Maplin, £40 inc delivery. Maplin is currently offering its wireless monitor at £39.99 (dont confuse it with the web only deal which isn't the same thing).

• The Owl, £55 inc delivery. The next cheapest is The Owl at £54.90 inlcuding delivery.

The cheapest plug in monitors

These only work directly at the plug socket and thus only measure that socket's specfic usage. They are much cheaper but you will have to add up the consumption at different points in the house.

• Lidl, £6. Get yourself down to a Lidl and you might be able to bag a plug in monitor for around £6 which will still do the job of measuring energy consumption but only directly at the plug socket, so you would need a couple or to switch them around the house to get a good idea of energy use.

You may be able to get one for free

Energy providers are currently testing energy consumption calculators in specific areas and some MoneySavers have reported getting one. Call your provider up and ask if you can have one for free. It's worth a try... (and do report any successes below, what region you're in and who your provider is)

You could just wait for a smart meter

Smart meters, different from home energy meters will, under new European regulations, have to be installed when any energy meter is replaced after 2008. As well as tracking energy consumption they will take readings and automatically send them back to your energy provider.

Martin

bugsonic

I bought one of the plug in monitors from Lidl's a couple of years ago and it proved invaluable.

My Mum didn't believe her fridge and freezer were the biggest drain on her electric each month. Think about it, they're always switched on. Using this device I proved to her her old fridge and freezer, combined, were using over £30 of electric a month.

I pursuaded her to buy new energy efficient products and they now use around £10 a month. They weren't expensive to purchase either, just over £200 for the both.

Now 2 years later she's reaping the benefits of her new appliances, having more than paid for themselves. She's really switched on about energy saving now. Like most people she thought energy efficiency took a long to recoup the initial financial outlay, but with this cheap Lidl device it proved her wrong.

Xbigman

Its not about the monitor, its about being aware of what you are using.
I now read my meters every month but when I started trying to save energy I read them weekly. If you do that you get the same psychological effect of thinking about whats using energy that these monitors give you, and its free.

If you think a monitor will help you get in the right frame of mind then get one and it will be worth it.
If you think a monitor will do the work for you, don't bother.
Regards


X

Cardew

I understand that some electricity companies are giving away the total energy monitors.

The problem with the expensive total energy monitors like the wireless monitors is that they are useless for the majority of our appliances that use the most of our power.

These appliances(fridge, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, heaters, microwave, computer, immersion heater etc etc etc) have thermostats or variable power. So you simply have no idea how much power they consume.

For instance take a fridge/freezer. It will use, say, 250 Watts when the compressor is running.(2p an hour) The crucial point is for how long each day the compessor runs. If it runs for 4 hours it will use 1kWh(say 8p) if it runs 12 hours it will be 3kWh(24p). The wireless monitor has simply no idea how much electricity the fridge freezer uses - it will either register 250watts or zero.

The same is true for all other appliances.

The £6 Lidl device can have the fridge freezer plugged in and demonstrate(as indicated above by bugsonic) exactly how much power the fridge freezer uses in a day or a week or a year.

stphnstevey

Cardew wrote: »

I understand that some electricity companies are giving away the total energy monitors.

Which electricity companies?

martin998877

The Maplin meter is 39.99 in Maplin shops but is also available for 29.99 online, from the web page link in Martin's email above. Postage is an extra 2.97, but it is still cheaper than getting it from a shop!

Martin F

alictait

Aldi had some of the plug in ones last week for £6.99 if this helps anyone, I got one but haven't tried it yet

jimbo_the_jetset

I think the one for 29.99 is to monitor the power from a socket, like the Lidl one. Hang your mouse over the name and it comes up with a description

Judith_Proctor

I bought one of the plug in gadgets and it really surprised me. My 25 year old fridge freezer was costing me around £90 a year. I had a replacement in a couple of weeks that will pay for itself in 3 years just from the electricity savings.

My stereo turned out to be costing me a staggering amount of money on standby - it is now switched off at the socket when not in use.

My kitchen radio on the other hand uses such a tiny amount on standby that I don't have to worry about it.

My computer monitor was a big surprise, using around 80 W in screensaver mode. I switch the screen off manually whenever I leave the office, now. And I turn the computer off completely if I'm going out for more than an hour.

I made these changes earlier this year. I've reduced my electricity payments by more than enough to cover the cost of buying the meter (Maplin often have them on special offer which also helps).

randomtask72

Are they worth it? I think so, but only if you are willing to check the monitor and change how you use electricity. I have had an Electrisave monitor for 3 months now. I haven't had a bill yet for that period but I would hope that I have saved some electricity.

One of the biggest energy uses is our shower - 8000 watts! What I found was that in the summer we were using almost the full 8000 watts even though the temperature gauge was much lower than we have it in the winter. We now use the showers half power setting in the summer and save 24p per day (30 min showers @ 12p per kwh)

DocBambs

Judith_Proctor wrote: »

I bought one of the plug in gadgets and it really surprised me....

My stereo turned out to be costing me a staggering amount of money on standby - it is now switched off at the socket when not in use.

My kitchen radio on the other hand uses such a tiny amount on standby that I don't have to worry about it.

My computer monitor was a big surprise, using around 80 W in screensaver mode. I switch the screen off manually whenever I leave the office, now. And I turn the computer off completely if I'm going out for more than an hour.

I made these changes earlier this year. I've reduced my electricity payments by more than enough to cover the cost of buying the meter (Maplin often have them on special offer which also helps).

I got a Maplin unit on special offer. I was very interested to see what my LCD TV and PVR used on standby. 12W between the two rather impressed me!

However, I'm not taking it into my study as it looks like mission control most days with the number of computers I have running (being careful at the moment - two plus a laptop!)

DB (sat here in the dark to save power)

(BTW anyone aware of energy bulbs that can work with dimmers?)