single person daily electric usage too high?

starkiwi26

Hello MSE fellow members,

For Monday to Friday, I use microwave (750W) for 2 minutes, 2000W kettle for 2 minutes just to warm up the water in the morning. daily mobile phone charging.
For Saturday and Sunday, I cook (ceramic cooker), watch Now TV on a 60 inches TV with a 5.1 surround sound system.

Electrical appliances:
An under counter fridge on 24/7
An under counter freezer on 24/7
An under counter washing machine, only use once a week
An under counter dish washer, only use once a week
combi boiler (minimum gas heating because I seldom turn on central heating)
Sky router modem on 24/7
A Dell laptop, use mainly on weekend.

I had been monitoring my electricity usage for 3 months since November 2017.
I use 746 kWh for 120 days, this is 6.2kWh per day.
This is not high compared to what national average is. However, my point is, I seldom stay at home, with above usage, I doubt I am using 6.2kWh per day.

Appreciate you could help me identify what is draining my electricity?

FullForce

Obviously none of the above.
That probably accounts for about half of your consumption.

Keep searching
Try turning a light or two on to see what else you may be missing

You say you seldom stay at your home, yet you also say you cook Mon-Fri using a microwave and on Saturday & Sunday you cook using a ceramic cooker.
Which begs the question what are the other days have I been missing out on for that last umpteen years :huh:

PLYSU

starkiwi26 wrote: »

Hello MSE fellow members,

For Monday to Friday, I use microwave (750W) for 2 minutes, 2000W kettle for 2 minutes just to warm up the water in the morning. daily mobile phone charging.
For Saturday and Sunday, I cook (ceramic cooker), watch Now TV on a 60 inches TV with a 5.1 surround sound system.

Electrical appliances:
An under counter fridge on 24/7
An under counter freezer on 24/7
An under counter washing machine, only use once a week
An under counter dish washer, only use once a week
combi boiler (minimum gas heating because I seldom turn on central heating)
Sky router modem on 24/7
A Dell laptop, use mainly on weekend.

I had been monitoring my electricity usage for 3 months since November 2017.
I use 746 kWh for 120 days, this is 6.2kWh per day.
This is not high compared to what national average is. However, my point is, I seldom stay at home, with above usage, I doubt I am using 6.2kWh per day.

Appreciate you could help me identify what is draining my electricity?

Hi. I have a similar usage to you, the appliances etc. The only other thing I use that you don't mention is an instant electric shower every day. Also not sure what lighting you use - the bulbs used can make a big difference I think. But your used kw/h is defo similar to my own. I checked my bill and I pay 12p per kw/h. 7 units per day is £0.84p and over the month this is about £25. My Direct Debit varies between £23 and £26 across the year.

What do you pay per kw/h and what is your standing charge per day?

starkiwi26

PLYSU wrote: »

Hi. I have a similar usage to you, the appliances etc. The only other thing I use that you don't mention is an instant electric shower every day. Also not sure what lighting you use - the bulbs used can make a big difference I think. But your used kw/h is defo similar to my own. I checked my bill and I pay 12p per kw/h. 7 units per day is £0.84p and over the month this is about £25. My Direct Debit varies between £23 and £26 across the year.

What do you pay per kw/h and what is your standing charge per day?

My shower hot water is from the boiler. My gas usage is reasonable.

all my bulb is energy saving Fluorescent lamp, which consume only 20-30Wh, I believe they are not the culprit. I didnt change to LED yet, until any of these lamps dead, I will switch to LED lamp in phase.

My per kwh cost is 13.808p, standing charges is 21.39p. but this is not my focus, my concern is I dont want to waste unnecessary energy. for example, if my fridge is too old and consuming a lot more energy, i should then change to a new one.

CashStrapped

In the case of something like a fridge, unless it is an ancient thing, you will be spending a lot of money to save a bit of money.

You will always have some background use. The only way is to test what it is by not using everything for the day except the fridge. Do this for each item. However there are rough guides as to the annual energy use of house hold items. Do a search and work it out yourself.

If you want to replace your fridge- freezer, you have to do the maths as to the cost/benefit.

A 10 year old fridge freezer may be 33% more inefficient than a new one. But that may only equate to an annual saving of around £25.

A new fridge freezer will cost maybe £300 - 400 for an A** one,

So it will take quite a few years to recoup the savings.

----

So it depends on what your aim is. To save money? To be as green as possible, no matter the cost?

You have to decide.

And don't forget the cost of your old fridge probably ending up in landfill, with only some (hopefully) parts being recycled.

PLYSU

Just had a thought. Are you sure the microwave oven is only 2 minutes per day? I can't really think of anything I could eat that required just 2 minutes of heating.

starkiwi26

PLYSU wrote: »

Just had a thought. Are you sure the microwave oven is only 2 minutes per day? I can't really think of anything I could eat that required just 2 minutes of heating.

I have overnight oatmeal porridge in the fridge, 2min in microwave just to warm it up.

starkiwi26

CashStrapped wrote: »

In the case of something like a fridge, unless it is an ancient thing, you will be spending a lot of money to save a bit of money.

You will always have some background use. The only way is to test what it is by not using everything for the day except the fridge. Do this for each item. However there are rough guides as to the annual energy use of house hold items. Do a search and work it out yourself.

If you want to replace your fridge- freezer, you have to do the maths as to the cost/benefit.

A 10 year old fridge freezer may be 33% more inefficient than a new one. But that may only equate to an annual saving of around £25.

A new fridge freezer will cost maybe £300 - 400 for an A** one,

So it will take quite a few years to recoup the savings.

----

So it depends on what your aim is. To save money? To be as green as possible, no matter the cost?

You have to decide.

And don't forget the cost of your old fridge probably ending up in landfill, with only some (hopefully) parts being recycled.

if it is just a small saving, it didnt worth the hassle and effort to change.
What I concern is, I practically didnt use any electricity during 5 weekday (Monday-Friday), only 2 min 750W microwave, and 2 min 2000W kettle to warm up water. I assume the electricity usage should be minimum 1-2kWh a day during weekday for fridge and freezer only (is this make sense?).
If this is the case, this mean my ceramic cooker use a lot electricity?? :eek::eek: a lot of electricity until it raise the daily average up to 6.2kWh a day?? This is huge electricity consumption - I might as well order take away then I cook myself then..?

ok, you are right, the only way to find out is by monitoring each of them one by one.

Robin9

Can we put this 6.2 kwh in perspective? This is costing you less than a £1 a day. For this you are getting on tap all your lighting and power for all your appliances.

Do you really think you buy your takeaway for less than the cost of cooking ?

If you think its expensive try switching off your supply at the consumer unit - sit it the dary, your phone battery goes flat, eat out of tins ...........

ASavvyBuyer

starkiwi26 wrote: »

If this is the case, this mean my ceramic cooker use a lot electricity??

Does your ceramic cooker have touch controls?

Some touch controls use up to 10watts constantly just to keep the controls active.

Our washing machine, dishwasher and hob all have touch controls that would constantly use power if we did not switch them off at the socket; so we turn them off when not in use.

Flt._Lt._Biggles

starkiwi26 wrote: »

...
all my bulb is energy saving Fluorescent lamp, which consume only 20-30Wh, I believe they are not the culprit...

Perhaps it's that Sky router modem and/or the daily mobile phone charging you mention that you should concentrate on?

Try dumping them for say a month or two, and see how much you save