Monitoring energy usage without a smart meter

Imlay

Hey Money Savers, 

I am looking for some advice about how we can cut our electricity and gas usage.  We are a family of 5 (parents and 3 teenage girls) who are all out at work and school during the day but have a high electricity usage which I have calculated as just over 9 000kWh per annum.  We have gas central heating so we are not heating the home with electricity.  I have phoned my energy provider to request a smart meter to be told that they are not installing them at the minute.  Does anyone have an suggestions about how I can monitor our electricity usage to discover ways to save money.

Our current fixed rate is due to end in May so I am worried about the increase costs that is coming our way.

Thanks everyone.

Robin9

9,000 KWh WOW

Time for a lot of detective work -  read those meters every hour you can , keep a diary .

Suspect 3 teenage girls   - say no more. Electric showers, hair dryers, washing m/c, tumble dryers, lights 

jbuchanangb

For electricity you can get a separate monitor. There are two types. One with a sensor which clips over the main cable next to your meter and detects how much electricity is in use, and another which relies on counting the flashes of the red light on the meter to do the same thing. They have remote displays you can have them in a convenient place in your home. If you want to monitor individual devices you can get plug in devices which will measure the consumption of whatever you plug into them.

Imlay

@Robin9 - yes the main suspects are the teenage girls and the electric showers, hairdryers, straighteners, all the lights on.  I am guilty of tumble drying but had been cutting back by using a Dry:Soon and hanging washing outside and we have started washing at 30 degrees.  

Imlay

Thanks @jbuchanangb do you know the name of the meters that clip over the main cable as that sounds a perfect solution to monitor the electricity usage?

Gerry1

Imlay said:

Thanks @jbuchanangb do you know the name of the meters that clip over the main cable as that sounds a perfect solution to monitor the electricity usage?

Search for Energy Monitor.  Around £30 - £45 or so.  The clip on version is independent and therefore can help to detect a faulty meter (but that's quite rare).  The flashing light version is more accurate but can't detect a faulty meter.

Get rid of any electric showers, use water heated by the gas boiler.  Same for any electric heaters, only use gas central heating.

FreeBear

Gerry1 said: Search for Energy Monitor.  Around £30 - £45 or so.  The clip on version is independent and therefore can help to detect a faulty meter (but that's quite rare).

Some, like the Owl are battery operated and do not monitor the mains voltage. As a result, the energy usage reported is based entirely on the current draw. In simple terms, Power = Volts x Amps - Your voltage will be 230V -6% to +10% (229V to 253V).

There are others that are mains powered that will give a true power reading, and many of them include an app so that you can look at consumption on your phone - Expect to pay extra for these sorts of bells & whistles. Although, if you are tech savvy and have a spare Raspberry Pi kicking around, it isn't difficult to roll your own.

Ultrasonic

Would getting smart meters fitted be an option, rather than paying for something else?

jimjames

Or just read meters morning and evening assuming they're relatively accessible. Pattern should emerge after a few days

cx6

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6343447/background-electricity-usage-8760-hours-a-year#latest

k_man

Are most of lights low energy, or are there lots of halogen or 100w bulbs?

Old non energy efficient bulbs on all the time can start to put a big sent in 9000kWh a year