What does it REALLY cost to run your energy guzzling household appliances? (Less than you think)

bouicca21

Clearly my little Breville slow cooker is not as efficient as JobbingMusician’s bigger one. But the exercise in meter reading has persuaded me to think about changing the way I use it.  I’ve always just done stews in it.  I now realise I don’t need to cook them so long. I also think putting some foil under the lid to make a better seal might be a good idea.

The real revelation was repeating the meal (fish and roast veg) that I did a few days ago in my small oven in the slow cooker.  Oven took 35 mins (takes a long time to get to temperature) and used a unit.  Slow cooker took an hour and a half and used 0.2 units.  Plus I think it all cooked better.  I shall now explore what else I can ´roast’ in the sc.

Floss

diystarter7 said:

Many thanks for your help I really appreciate that. I always post honestly even if it makes me look awful. We are aware about the drier but the clothing is softer and the garden does not look messy plus our towels are now not great as well as a few other things so hanging them outside for both reasons is a no, no. We have a south-facing home  and a glass wall and long windows but we would never dry them inside as it will make the house look like a mess. We have a spare, south-facing bedroom but recently redecorated so dont want to ruin that.
Yes, I want cheaper bills but so used to the drier for years plus we have 2 fridge freezers.

We will start soon hanging the bedsheets out in a few weeks, its a start.

The tv's are on as background but the other day started using the smart speakers we have more so as we have them in every room and hall and landing, so did turn the tv of for a long while today, so that is another start

I hope I do not sound ungrateful as I'm not and again, thank you.

Drying laundry outside does not mean a garden will be a mess, and hanging laundry on an airer in a spare room or overnight downstairs doesn't mean your home will be a mess. 

If you live in a property that has strict restrictions on what you are allowed to do then that is a different matter. However you are already paying £300 a month & you may wish to consider being open to making some sacrifices to save fuel even if it means you may sometimes have a slightly messy garden or home. 

jobbingmusician

diystarter7 said:

Slinky said:

@diystarter7 there's definitely scope for some good reductions in your bills if you are starting from a high number (silver lining to every cloud!). I agree with Katie, the tumble drier will be eating a good chunk of money. I'd reconsider the drying in the garden, or if you can't do that, airers inside, particularly in front of your sunny windows will help. Using the TD at the end just to finish off will use much less.

Re the TVs - are they always being watched when they are on? Ours is on much less now in the background. If there's nothing worth watching, it's switched off.

I have really noticed the reduction in our electric since I started filling the washing machine with gas heated water, via a 10 litre watering can tipped in through the powder drawer. That and washing everything at 30 degrees. I've managed to get our daily usage down from 8.5 to 6.5 kw per day. That's with builders in using kettles and concrete mixers, and both of us at home with computers on most of the day.

My contribution to knowledge of energy guzzling appliances is that concrete mixers don't use as much as I feared. We had a huge amount of concrete made on 1st April when the rates had gone up. I read the meters on 31st March and again after they'd finished with the mixer and it only used about 1.5kw.

Many thanks for your help I really appreciate that. I always post honestly even if it makes me look awful. We are aware about the drier but the clothing is softer and the garden does not look messy plus our towels are now not great as well as a few other things so hanging them outside for both reasons is a no, no. We have a south-facing home  and a glass wall and long windows but we would never dry them inside as it will make the house look like a mess. We have a spare, south-facing bedroom but recently redecorated so dont want to ruin that.
Yes, I want cheaper bills but so used to the drier for years plus we have 2 fridge freezers.

We will start soon hanging the bedsheets out in a few weeks, its a start.

The tv's are on as background but the other day started using the smart speakers we have more so as we have them in every room and hall and landing, so did turn the tv of for a long while today, so that is another start

I hope I do not sound ungrateful as I'm not and again, thank you.

You really *don't* sound ungrateful, and this thread is supposed to help (directly or indirectly) for people to make their own informed choices and be happy.  You are allowed to use a tumble dryer if you prefer it, of course!  My DH prefers one as well, and uses it for a bit of his stuff, although I never do.

victor2

Interesting comments about electric kettles versus gas earlier in this thread. I did an experiment back in 2012 when I had both type of appliance....

Boiling one litre of tap water (on a January day, so quite cold) in a 2KW electric kettle and on a kettle on the gas hob.

The electric kettle took 3 min 20 secs and used 0.108kWh

The gas kettle took 6 min 4 secs and used 0.297kWh

At today's (Octopus) standard variable rate that would cost 2.98p in electricity or 2.16p in gas.

The difference in cost was even less back in 2012 and I concluded it wasn't worth the fraction of a penny to wait an extra 3 minutes for the gas kettle to boil! The difference is a bit more in favour of gas now, but it isn't really going to add up to much, unless you're a huge hot drink consumer.

Zandoni

victor2 said:

Interesting comments about electric kettles versus gas earlier in this thread. I did an experiment back in 2012 when I had both type of appliance....

Boiling one litre of tap water (on a January day, so quite cold) in a 2KW electric kettle and on a kettle on the gas hob.

The electric kettle took 3 min 20 secs and used 0.108kWh

The gas kettle took 6 min 4 secs and used 0.297kWh

At today's (Octopus) standard variable rate that would cost 2.98p in electricity or 2.16p in gas.

The difference in cost was even less back in 2012 and I concluded it wasn't worth the fraction of a penny to wait an extra 3 minutes for the gas kettle to boil! The difference is a bit more in favour of gas now, but it isn't really going to add up to much, unless you're a huge hot drink consumer.

I’m really impressed that you done an experiment 10 years ago and you still have the results, did you measure the gas by observing the revolutions of the pointer?

It's also worth noting that it's easy to let a gas kettle keep boiling, wiping out any savings.

victor2

Zandoni said:

victor2 said:

Interesting comments about electric kettles versus gas earlier in this thread. I did an experiment back in 2012 when I had both type of appliance....

Boiling one litre of tap water (on a January day, so quite cold) in a 2KW electric kettle and on a kettle on the gas hob.

The electric kettle took 3 min 20 secs and used 0.108kWh

The gas kettle took 6 min 4 secs and used 0.297kWh

At today's (Octopus) standard variable rate that would cost 2.98p in electricity or 2.16p in gas.

The difference in cost was even less back in 2012 and I concluded it wasn't worth the fraction of a penny to wait an extra 3 minutes for the gas kettle to boil! The difference is a bit more in favour of gas now, but it isn't really going to add up to much, unless you're a huge hot drink consumer.

I’m really impressed that you done an experiment 10 years ago and you still have the results, did you measure the gas by observing the revolutions of the pointer?

It's also worth noting that it's easy to let a gas kettle keep boiling, wiping out any savings.

It would have been an old imperial gas meter then, so I probably did watch the dials!
Good point about leaving the gas kettle on - that’s what finally destroyed it when the OH was chatting on the phone to a friend and forgot she’d put it on!

jobbingmusician

By the way, darling husband is telling me that I must post this.

The simplest and most efficient way to save electricity in your home is to replace any old-fashioned tungsten or halogen lights, or fluorescent lights, with modern LED lights.  He would urge people to think about ALL the lights in your house - table lamps, cooker hood bulbs, anything with a light bulb in it. 

A 100W old-fashioned lightbulb uses 100W an hour.  That's 29p in a 10 hour stint just for one light. Say you run it for 5 hours a day for 30 days - that's £4.35.  For one light bulb.  For one month.  You could replace this with (for example) a Phillips 13W BED LED Classic Bulb.  That costs £4 and has a 2 year guarantee.  Running this for the same amount of time would cost 57p. So if the lightbulb cost you £4 it would pay for itself in electricity saved in just over a month.  And you can get LED bulbs much cheaper than this (£2.50 in Sainsburys for example).

Zandoni

One of my favourite money savers is to wash you hands under the cold tap, when you think about it the warm water can take a long time to get through (longer than 2 Happy Birthdays), then all you've achieved is warm pipes.

RAS

jobbingmusician said:

A 100W old-fashioned lightbulb uses 100W an hour.  That's 29p in a 10 hour stint just for one light. Say you run it for 5 hours a day for 30 days - that's £4.35.  For one light bulb.  For one month.  You could replace this with (for example) a Phillips 13W BED LED Classic Bulb.  That costs £4 and has a 2 year guarantee.  Running this for the same amount of time would cost 57p. So if the lightbulb cost you £4 it would pay for itself in electricity saved in just over a month.  And you can get LED bulbs much cheaper than this (£2.50 in Sainsburys for example).

When I moved into my first house, an old fashioned light bulb cost about 60p and someone (CAT?) sold energy saving bulbs with huge ballasts at about £8. 

I worked out that with an expected 8 year lifespan, I'd save half the cost over that time just by not replacing lamps.  And by using them in the three sockets which I used most I'd cut the running cost of lighting those rooms by 80% as well. So the outlay would be recouped in year 3 anyway. Plus I'd not have to balance on step-ladders or arrive home to a dark staircase.

A few years later I installed compact fluorescents in my mother's house mainly as a safety measure. It was a lot cheaper and easier than repairing sockets she's damaged as well.

My bulky lamps lasted 9 years or more and the replacements were a quarter the volume, weight and price. The odd old fashioned lamp was reserved for the attic where it might get used for 20-80 hours a year. 

Lighting might not be a guzzler but it is the thing we use for most hours, so any saving there is most effective.

Spendless

Loving this thread. Thanks for the clarification over slow cooker. I'm on a social media page for feeding on a budget and quite a few worried posts about whether it's cheaper because it's on for longer. I've always said yes it is (even if I was going by the cost of a lightbulb rule).

Years ago I also did an experiement on here with another poster where she boiled her gas kettle and me my electric kettle and I still remember that mine took 3 mins to boil, whereas hers took 6. Ok wasn't an exact science just a general idea and think someone must have done the maths for us. I do recall the other person stopped posting c2008 so I think it must of been in response to the credit crunch that happened around then.

We've dug our energy monitor back out and though I don't think it's input with the correct charges I'm currently just using it as a guide in the manner of Play Your Cards Right (higher than, lower than - lol). I've always noticed that the higher costs that show are with appliances that throw out more heat. I first discovered this when we first got one around 10 years ago (been in use on and off over the years). I noticed that the cost per hour had gone up from pennies to over £1. I raced upstairs preparing to yell at my then adolescent son and mate about exactly what they were doing on the Xbox, only to discover the actual culprit was Mr S having an (electric) shower. Of course it won't have cost £1, because you're not in the shower for an hour - not even my teenage daughter hahahaha.

I look earlier today and think the costs are high for what is currently running, couple of lightbulbs, fridge/freezer and separate fridge, the PC I'm posting on. I go around the house turning off lights and a phone charger still plugged in. Check barely any difference so I go and tackle who I thought the culprit was all along and sure enough Mr S is WFH down our summer house with the electric heater on! I tell him about it and get the reply 'he's cold'. He's wearing a t-shirt! It is grey, miserable and about to rain outside. I point out the obvious and tell him when he returns from his business trip he can go back to working from the office instead (his work pays for petrol)