Forget Smart Meters, here are my practical top tips for saving energy and using less water,

Liku

Keu said:

Liku said:

20-22 are very bad for your health (and social life). 

Well my health is already shot and I do not have a social life, can't afford it anyway.

It really does not make a difference, the cotton air freshener makes it smell like a hotel room.

I have three duvet's for seasons

Some people have their dogs in their bed, that is far worse. 

I get skin problems so couldn't do it anyway, allergies too so I have to change things more. If it works ok for you then that's fine. But my body is too weak for anything like that. Means higher energy usage but not much I can do.
But the rest of the stuff looks like good advice.

QrizB

Swipe said:

Keu said:

Ultrasonic said:

BigSpenderLittleSpender said:

Which is better a hot water bottle or an electric blanket?

On a practical level an electric blanket since it heats a larger area rather than just the bit by the hot water bottle. If you're purely talking about cost then I bet the electric blanket is cheaper to use too (but more expensive to buy).

I seriously doubt that, maybe if you follow instructions that say you pre-heat bed and then turn it off or else you risk damaging thin wires that are vulnerable when heated and this can create a fire risk.

Any non cheapo modern electric blanket worth its salt can safely be left on all night

I've got a relatively cheap electric blanket but the instructions say it can be left on overnight. And at 40 watts it could run 24/7/365 on £70-worth of electricity.

Mrs QrizB however doesn't like electric blankets and uses a hot water bottle. Heating 2 litres of water from 10C to 60C takes 120 watt-hours, the same amount of energy as running my electric blanket for three hours. We heat water using gas so that's about a ha'pennny's worth; one hot water bottle every night for a year would cost about £2.

Keu

LippyDoodle said:

Keu said:

LippyDoodle said:

Are you sure you are not entitled to any help? Have a chat with citizens advice. Do you qualify for warm home discount?

I am not entitled, I have tried over the years, sometimes it is was "we have fulfilled our quota" other times it was "we don't operate that scheme it is only run by the big companies"  I tried to get some help in January when I was very ill with Covid for 7 weeks and then had 5 months of getting back to where I was.  I was signposted left and right, some very nice guy did call me back but in the end said the best they could do was buy a new coat.  Same thing with food, for all the volunteers and we are all in this together, they told me to call Aldi, I did and they told me they don't deliver but they charge to click and collect.  I lost 18lbs in two weeks.  

If you are with a company that does the warm home scheme then you have to apply in time unless you are in the core group and that is done automatically (as far as I'm aware). 

You have to pay for all shopping deliveries. 

You can try these. They are good. https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/services

It's unusual for citizens advice to not help. 

You are aware you could get help at a food bank? 

If you are suffering with your health there must be more avenues to go down. 

I have tried and each time it is a different reason, too late, we don't do it, or whatever, no is no.

You missed my point re ALDI, they were not charging to deliver, they were charging and wanted me to collect. 

I was not allowed to collect and to be charged for them to pick the products when it actually saves Aldi because they do not have to put on so many till operators did not feel right.

They all just signposted me to each other.

I went to a food bank once, they gave me a load of dried food that I am not allowed to eat and guy put his hand on my thigh and said he wanted to pray for me, it was very intimidating and I was very vulnerable.  Needless to say I was not going back there.

Keu

Ultrasonic said:

Keu said:

Ultrasonic said:

Keu said:
Even at my low usage I am facing over £1k extra on energy so those with bigger bills will be facing much more.

Are you talking about bills based on the Shell tariff you'll be moving to? If so there is no way a low energy user will have an (annual) bill increasing by anythng like as much as £1,000. If you are genuinely stressing because of this then you really don't need to. 

The move to Shell at capped Tarriff is only part of it.

Gov said last week they are adding £190 to gas bills according to radio news. There may be a reduction in Electricity but I will not benefit from it.

OFGEM predicts 30% increase in Tarriff Cap in April because it is based on what wholesalers are paying and spot rates, we are already well into the assessment period and things are not getting better, I think it could be higher than 30% but that is the amount I used.

This site says that customers of Green go from £810 to £1,277 at Shell at average will face increase of £467

moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/energy-firm-gone-bust--how-your-new-firm-and-tariff-stacks-up

add 30% at £383 is £850 increase taking annual to £1660

Add the £190 takes it to £1850, so over £1000 more.

So work out your own figures because the cap is not on the amount paid it is on the tariff.

OFGEM said it would be £138 increase in Tariff cap well straight off I got hit with more than 3x that, not because I am a high energy user but because I did what we were told to do, I got a good deal.

What really pisses me off is that even if I use zero energy I still have to pay those standing charges.

OFGEM should make every supplier have to provide a zero standing charge tariff with no pre-conditions and the rate no higher than the average of all their tariffs.  At least then we could batten down the hatches and reduce our costs.

The energy companies must be laughing they got us to pay £13bn for their smart meter programme when they are the on beneficiaries, even when they botched it up with meters that turned dumb it was obvious the programme should have been scrapped or the cost simply passed back to the energy companies with a zero standing for all tariffs and the cap we had before.

If the Energy companies has to use their own money they would never have done it because it was obvious it was a failure.

The most relevant figure in all of that is the £1277 cap figure you quoted. Your own costs for this winter will be significantly below this and so nowhere near a £1000 increase on what you have you have been paying. Thoughts on what longer term increases may be are speculation at this point, and in your particular situation you need to be very mindful of not thinking increases quoted in terms of typical bills apply to yourself. 

I asked above if you know your own energy use in kWh per year? I did so as looking at you will actually be paying is what to focus on. Right now I am genuinely concerned that you are putting your health at risk because of flawed assumptions that make you think the situation is far worse than it actually is. 

The difference on my spreadsheet is a little less but I still do not have the money and no way of getting it.

Keu

Swipe said:

Keu said:

Ultrasonic said:

BigSpenderLittleSpender said:

Which is better a hot water bottle or an electric blanket?

On a practical level an electric blanket since it heats a larger area rather than just the bit by the hot water bottle. If you're purely talking about cost then I bet the electric blanket is cheaper to use too (but more expensive to buy).

I seriously doubt that, maybe if you follow instructions that say you pre-heat bed and then turn it off or else you risk damaging thin wires that are vulnerable when heated and this can create a fire risk.

theguardian.com/environment/2009/jan/08/ethicalliving

Any non cheapo modern electric blanket worth its salt can safely be left on all night

Not according to Argos when my Ex had one that caught fire, but hey, knock yourself out.

Keu

Verdigris said:

The Dunning-Kreuger is strong in this one.

Please stop your abuse, insulting people and liking insults is abusive and unfriendly.

Keu

GingerTim said:

And if you really want to micro-manage your consumption, a smart meter would actually be really useful.

As I understand it, Smart Meter displays do not itemise where it is coming from, they go a lovely shade of red if you put the kettle on, once the thing knows your typical usage it will just accept your fridge usage as a baseline.  Writing usage from the device I suggest tells you what the device is using, you can compare that online, decide to replace etc.

Ultrasonic

Keu said:

Ultrasonic said:

Keu said:

Ultrasonic said:

Keu said:
Even at my low usage I am facing over £1k extra on energy so those with bigger bills will be facing much more.

Are you talking about bills based on the Shell tariff you'll be moving to? If so there is no way a low energy user will have an (annual) bill increasing by anythng like as much as £1,000. If you are genuinely stressing because of this then you really don't need to. 

The move to Shell at capped Tarriff is only part of it.

Gov said last week they are adding £190 to gas bills according to radio news. There may be a reduction in Electricity but I will not benefit from it.

OFGEM predicts 30% increase in Tarriff Cap in April because it is based on what wholesalers are paying and spot rates, we are already well into the assessment period and things are not getting better, I think it could be higher than 30% but that is the amount I used.

This site says that customers of Green go from £810 to £1,277 at Shell at average will face increase of £467

moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/energy-firm-gone-bust--how-your-new-firm-and-tariff-stacks-up

add 30% at £383 is £850 increase taking annual to £1660

Add the £190 takes it to £1850, so over £1000 more.

So work out your own figures because the cap is not on the amount paid it is on the tariff.

OFGEM said it would be £138 increase in Tariff cap well straight off I got hit with more than 3x that, not because I am a high energy user but because I did what we were told to do, I got a good deal.

What really pisses me off is that even if I use zero energy I still have to pay those standing charges.

OFGEM should make every supplier have to provide a zero standing charge tariff with no pre-conditions and the rate no higher than the average of all their tariffs.  At least then we could batten down the hatches and reduce our costs.

The energy companies must be laughing they got us to pay £13bn for their smart meter programme when they are the on beneficiaries, even when they botched it up with meters that turned dumb it was obvious the programme should have been scrapped or the cost simply passed back to the energy companies with a zero standing for all tariffs and the cap we had before.

If the Energy companies has to use their own money they would never have done it because it was obvious it was a failure.

The most relevant figure in all of that is the £1277 cap figure you quoted. Your own costs for this winter will be significantly below this and so nowhere near a £1000 increase on what you have you have been paying. Thoughts on what longer term increases may be are speculation at this point, and in your particular situation you need to be very mindful of not thinking increases quoted in terms of typical bills apply to yourself. 

I asked above if you know your own energy use in kWh per year? I did so as looking at you will actually be paying is what to focus on. Right now I am genuinely concerned that you are putting your health at risk because of flawed assumptions that make you think the situation is far worse than it actually is. 

The difference on my spreadsheet is a little less but I still do not have the money and no way of getting it.

I'm sure an accurate calculation should be a lot less than £1000 difference though, as per my personal example numbers I posted above for you.

Keu

[Deleted User] said:

Keu said:

26. Resist until your dying breathe getting a smart meter, they are totally useless and you pay for the in house display, I mean, no sheet sherlock it uses more when the kettle is on or the washing machine.

The IHD costs the consumer less than a £1 a year to run. If you turn on a 3kW kettle or washing machine then the IHD will show high usage because it is reflecting the cost of the energy that is being used. The actual smart meter costs the consumer nothing in running costs. It is powered from the supply side of the meter.

So that is why people stick the IHD in kitchen draw and forget about it.

My Kettle is shows a range of kW, not sure how hat works, the IHD would tell me what I already know, a 2.5kW-3kW device uses a lot of energy but as I have shown in point 10 you can reduce that, smart meter not required, it is bleeding obvious, the ebay device is all you need, would be better if it had an app and could show usage every 15m over 24h to 7 days.

QrizB

Keu said:

QrizB said:

Keu said:

...Get to know your device, for example my fridge uses 1kWh more a day if I have heating on.

Your fridge should be using less than 1kWh per day, even with the heating on. Is it ancient and/or faulty?

Shoulda Coulda Woulda it does not live up to the promises on the side, it is relatively modern Liebherr, the current model of same size etc uses less but why would I believe that label when this one does not match up.

OK, well I've got an energy meter (like the one you link to) and I've just put it on my fridge. According to the label ithe fridge should use less than one kWh per day. I'll check the meter tomorrow and report back with what it says.