Crazy Energy Bill

theoretica

You haven't said how much electricity the freezers are actually using - which makes it hard to comment sensibly.  If you suspect the seals on the dog food one you could try to tape round it to stop airflow and see if that improves matters enough to be worth buying a new seal.  Might be worth looking out for a second hand one, or considering if you could change your arrangements to only use the kitchen freezer.

QrizB

OP has an energy meter and has done the measurements; see this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6301962/cost-of-running-a-freezer
The dogfood freezer is using around 500kWh/yr.

FreeBear

Astria said:

The only thing better than an IHD is a KWH meter - you connect the appliance(s) to the meter and record the amount of energy used over an hour or a day. You can typically get them for about £10, eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Persdico-Digital-Electricity-Monitors-Analyzers/dp/B07WVWBHC4/

All well and good for appliances that can be plugged in. For hard wired equipment, you need something to clip round a cable (usually, a single wire between the meter and consumer unit). Something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/CM160-Electricity-Monitor-Compatible-Windows/dp/B004BDNR84

Astria

FreeBear said:

Astria said:

The only thing better than an IHD is a KWH meter - you connect the appliance(s) to the meter and record the amount of energy used over an hour or a day. You can typically get them for about £10, eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Persdico-Digital-Electricity-Monitors-Analyzers/dp/B07WVWBHC4/

All well and good for appliances that can be plugged in. For hard wired equipment, you need something to clip round a cable (usually, a single wire between the meter and consumer unit). Something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/CM160-Electricity-Monitor-Compatible-Windows/dp/B004BDNR84

The OP was pointing out specific devices in particular - fridge, freezer, computers, none of which I'd expect to be hard wired, hence my suggestion. Personally I don't have any hard wired devices as even the cooker is only 13A rated so that's on a plug as well.

QrizB

FreeBear said:

My first thought was immersion heater or electric underfloor heating. Electric towel radiators will also eat up a fair bit of energy if left on 24/7...

I've read  the OP's other threads and they have a 4/5-bed Victorian semi (or end-of-terrace) with solid brick walls, basement, draughts, damp and poor insulation. That's a lot of house to heat.

@Happy_Sloth you said in one of your other threads that you've recently fitted central heating. Is that mains gas or something else? A breakdown of your bills and energy use would be really helpful to everyone in this thread.

Swipe

2nd hand small freezers can be bought for very little on sites such as gumtree

wild666

Astria said:

The only thing better than an IHD is a KWH meter - you connect the appliance(s) to the meter and record the amount of energy used over an hour or a day. You can typically get them for about £10, eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Persdico-Digital-Electricity-Monitors-Analyzers/dp/B07WVWBHC4/

You can then see what a device is using and whether it would be worth replacing it with something more "energy friendly".

I have one of those connected to my surge protector that runs all my desktop PC equipment through it, since it's being connected, over 7 years, I've used less than 700 kWh, and it's on every day.

Happy_Sloth

Spies said:

Can't see where you mention if your house is centerally heated?

Yes the house has central heating but we rarely turn radiators on in most of the rooms, we tend to heat the hall as it's the centre of the house, we've found when thats warm no where feels freezing as the heat keep the edge off most rooms. 

1. Other than that we heat my office during the day,
2. My sons bedroom all day (He works in it during the day, then spends most of the evening there) 
3. The Livingroom all day as needed.  

We don't heat kitchen/bathrooms or our main bedroom as we find the heat from the hall keeps those at a sufferable temperature for the short time your in them.  

Our bedroom we use an electric blanket for an hour before sleep to help us get to sleep but don't bother with the central heating.  

tim_p

how are you heating the office and the hall?

QrizB

QrizB said:

Yes, can we have some more details please?

• What fuels - electric & gas, electric and oil/lpg, electric-only, something else?
• How much energy are you using annually? This will be shown on your bills.
  
• Which supplier and tariff?

So we know you've got central heating, but could you answer the other questions please?