Southern Electric, electricity monitoring device, anyone got one??

melissa'smoney

hi all,

In a quest to downsize my outgoings did another search for cheaper G+E. I've recently moved to British Gas from Scottish Power but then did a uswitch search which told me that Southern electric could save me £194pa. Rang them and they promised to get my bills down (currently paying £55pm and i'm a single person in a 3 bed terrace!) they are 4pm cheaper pkwph (apparently) and are sending em a device that monitors how much electricity i'm using and helps me rectify this?!!? :rolleyes:

Anyone else had/got this, is it any good??

thanks x

Cardew

If you ring any company they are always cheaper!!! The sales staff are on commission!!

What matters is the price you pay for a kWh and what discounts on top.

I believe the meter they offer is similar to the electrisave in that it monitors total electricity consumption. They have limited use as they don't tell you what individual appliances like fridges, freezers, washing machines dishwashers etc use.

DeeCee

Guessing it's this ...
http://www.currentcost.com/ .... supplied by Southern Electric

I am with Atlantic... part of Southern Electric. Asked Southern if they could supply one free or to buy, they said no !

Cardew

There have been a number of threads on the merits or demerits of these type of meter.

The vast majority of electrical appliances have variable consumption normally because they have a thermostat.

To give just one example. A freezer.

This has a compressor that(for the sake of simplicity) uses 200 watts will cost 2p an hour to run when the compressor is running.

So look at your monitor and switch off the freezer as they suggest and you will get 2 results.

1. It will show your freezer costs 2p an hour to run - that is £175 a year!

2. It will show that your freezer costs nothing to run(as the compressor is not running)

The test of how economical your freezer is, depends on how often and for how long the compressor runs.

That monitor simply cannot tell you.

The same applies to fridges, washing machines, dishwashers, dryers, irons, heaters, immersion heaters, PC equipment, irons, cookers, microwaves etc etc - in fact just about everything, except lighting, that we use.

The £6 Lidl/Aldi device that monitors individual appliance consumption is of far more use IMO. For instance plug that freezer into the monitor and leave it for a week and it will show you that it has used,say, 50p as it measures exactly the consumption over a period of time.