Background Electricity Usage 8760 hours a year

MakingUpGround

Washing machines are something else you can unplug when not in use. Mines hardwired in, but I can turn it off at the wall 

Ultrasonic

MakingUpGround said:

Washing machines are something else you can unplug when not in use. Mines hardwired in, but I can turn it off at the wall 

I tried turning mine off at the wall earlier but it made no difference to the instantaneous electricity usage indicted on my IHD, so if there was a saving it was < 1W. I can easily believe older models may use more power though so it's worth testing.

cx6

I guess a good way of thinking about it is that every 1W saved per year saves you 8760 x 28p = £2.45 per year

Whether that is important to you only you can decide !

Ultrasonic

cx6 said:

I guess a good way of thinking about it is that every 1W saved per year saves you 8760 x 28p = £2.45 per year

Whether that is important to you only you can decide !

I'd add that there are environmental benefits that add up even if the cost is irrelevant to an individual. If we all use less energy this may also help bring the unit price down too.

MakingUpGround

Ultrasonic said:

cx6 said:

I guess a good way of thinking about it is that every 1W saved per year saves you 8760 x 28p = £2.45 per year

Whether that is important to you only you can decide !

I'd add that there are environmental benefits that add up even if the cost is irrelevant to an individual. If we all use less energy this may also help bring the unit price down too.

and be less reliant on energy from other countries

Ultrasonic

MakingUpGround said:

Ultrasonic said:

cx6 said:

I guess a good way of thinking about it is that every 1W saved per year saves you 8760 x 28p = £2.45 per year

Whether that is important to you only you can decide !

I'd add that there are environmental benefits that add up even if the cost is irrelevant to an individual. If we all use less energy this may also help bring the unit price down too.

and be less reliant on energy from other countries

Indeed.  

Gerry1

Sea_Shell said:

If the background electricity usage in my house is a fairly constant 45w, does that equate to 0.045kwh? *

Not quite correct, 45W equals 0.045kW. Otherwise your calculations are fine.

Sea_Shell

Gerry1 said:

Sea_Shell said:

If the background electricity usage in my house is a fairly constant 45w, does that equate to 0.045kwh? *

Not quite correct, 45W equals 0.045kW. Otherwise your calculations are fine.

But if it had used 45W consistently for an hour, then it would have used 0.045kwh, yes?


Anyway, the figures are in, and for the first 6.5 hours of the day, our IHD shows 0.46kwh used.   Including the fridge/freezer.

So average background usage of ~71W.     So the F/F is using an average of 26W per hour (over a 6.5 hour period - in a cool kitchen)

I have no idea how many cycles that included, and for how long...but even if I did, what would I actually do with that information.   And no, I'm not buying new ones to potentially save a handful of watts!! 


So 71W over the course of 24 hours would be 1.70kwh. x 365 = 622kwh per year.   Out of actual annual usage of 1600, so that leaves 1000 kwh for everything else!!    Wow, does that seem right? 

If so, it's surprising what proportion of our use is actually background.   But then we don't have any electric heavy appliances, no shower, dishwasher, tumble dryer, fish tank, or hot tub!! (Gas CH/HW and hob)



I would just add that, personally, this is not about the cost, but I just find it an interesting exercise, and the information may be useful for someone who really is struggling with their bills.   For me, there are much lower hanging fruit that can go, before I start becoming obsessive about a watt here or there.   But it helps to be "aware" of what's using what watts!!

Ultrasonic

Sea_Shell said:

Gerry1 said:

Sea_Shell said:

If the background electricity usage in my house is a fairly constant 45w, does that equate to 0.045kwh? *

Not quite correct, 45W equals 0.045kW. Otherwise your calculations are fine.

But if it had used 45W consistently for an hour, then it would have used 0.045kwh, yes?


Anyway, the figures are in, and for the first 6.5 hours of the day, our IHD shows 0.46kwh used.   Including the fridge/freezer.

So average background usage of ~71W.     So the F/F is using an average of 26W per hour (over a 6.5 hour period - in a cool kitchen)

I have no idea how many cycles that included, and for how long...but even if I did, what would I actually do with that information.   And no, I'm not buying new ones to potentially save a handful of watts!! 


So 71W over the course of 24 hours would be 1.70kwh. x 365 = 622kwh per year.   Out of actual annual usage of 1600, so that leaves 1000 kwh for everything else!!    Wow, does that seem right? 

If so, it's surprising what proportion of our use is actually background.   But then we don't have any electric heavy appliances, no shower, dishwasher, tumble dryer, fish tank, or hot tub!! (Gas CH/HW and hob)



I would just add that, personally, this is not about the cost, but I just find it an interesting exercise, and the information may be useful for someone who really is struggling with their bills.   For me, there are much lower hanging fruit that can go, before I start becoming obsessive about a watt here or there.   But it helps to be "aware" of what's using what watts!!

I think I can believe those numbers, particularly if your fridge/freezer is old and/or big. If you have its manual it probably gives an estimate annual energy use figure in kWh. Do you have gas central heating that came on before you took your reading? If you did then there will be some energy used by its water pump contributing too.

My electricity use over the last exact 12 month period I checked was about 1400 kWh. As you're finding, there is a limit to how low any of us is realistically likely to get this figure simply because of 'hidden' use that's happening all the time that we don't think about. It's partly why when you see people posting things like 'I use 500 kWh or electricity per year' I'm basically certain they've got it wrong (unless they have solar panels etc).

It does show the value of thinking about what things really need to be on all of the time though.

Sea_Shell

Ultrasonic said:

Sea_Shell said:

Gerry1 said:

Sea_Shell said:

If the background electricity usage in my house is a fairly constant 45w, does that equate to 0.045kwh? *

Not quite correct, 45W equals 0.045kW. Otherwise your calculations are fine.

But if it had used 45W consistently for an hour, then it would have used 0.045kwh, yes?


Anyway, the figures are in, and for the first 6.5 hours of the day, our IHD shows 0.46kwh used.   Including the fridge/freezer.

So average background usage of ~71W.     So the F/F is using an average of 26W per hour (over a 6.5 hour period - in a cool kitchen)

I have no idea how many cycles that included, and for how long...but even if I did, what would I actually do with that information.   And no, I'm not buying new ones to potentially save a handful of watts!! 


So 71W over the course of 24 hours would be 1.70kwh. x 365 = 622kwh per year.   Out of actual annual usage of 1600, so that leaves 1000 kwh for everything else!!    Wow, does that seem right? 

If so, it's surprising what proportion of our use is actually background.   But then we don't have any electric heavy appliances, no shower, dishwasher, tumble dryer, fish tank, or hot tub!! (Gas CH/HW and hob)



I would just add that, personally, this is not about the cost, but I just find it an interesting exercise, and the information may be useful for someone who really is struggling with their bills.   For me, there are much lower hanging fruit that can go, before I start becoming obsessive about a watt here or there.   But it helps to be "aware" of what's using what watts!!

I think I can believe those numbers, particularly if your fridge/freezer is old and/or big. If you have its manual it probably gives an estimate annual energy use figure in kWh. Do you have gas central heating that came on before you took your reading? If you did then there will be some energy used by its water pump contributing too.

My electricity use over the last exact 12 month period I checked was about 1400 kWh. As you're finding, there is a limit to how low any of us is realistically likely to get this figure simply because of 'hidden' use that's happening all the time that we don't think about. It's partly why when you see people posting things like 'I use 500 kWh or electricity per year' I'm basically certain they've got it wrong (unless they have solar panels etc).

It does show the value of thinking about what things really need to be on all of the time though.

The fridge and freezer are big, but not particularly old.  They are a matching pair that stand about 145cm high!   We try and keep the freezer pretty full, even if it's just with bread, and defrost it regularly.   The fridge is a bit bigger than we probably need in winter, but about right over summer when it's full of beer .   If prices stay this high, then next time we change them, we'd definitely look at the size and rating of them.    We don't have a separate beer/wine fridge or garage freezer.

Just found the manuals (2014).   Freezer 222kwh per year, fridge 134kwh per year.  Both A+ rated.


The gas doesn't come on until 7am, so no, it didn't include any pump running.


I agree there is value in being conscious of usage, especially at ~33p per unit.