Saving electricity tips

lisyloo

It madness using a tumble dryer if you don’t have to at this time of year.
they are really expensive.
get a fold up dryer (or line) to put outside or if you have loads of washing then I’d suggest investing in a dehumidifier if you can’t manage with outside.

MattMattMattUK

Alnat1 said:

Make sure you turn off everything at the plug socket when not in use, especially overnight. Only things that really need to stay on are fridge/freezer and internet router.

You really do not need to do that, modern TVs use less than half a watt in standby, routers might use a few watts, single digit to teens at most, phone chargers plugged but not in use consume no power. Turning things off at the socket is pointless.

markin

Desperadoo said:

aaiiee said:

Are your light bulbs all LED, especially those which are used a lot?

My other recent change is to use the washing machine at 30 degrees.

Most lights LED and have started the 30 degree wash just a few days ago.  Also been using a quick was for some things as only a 14 minute wash...my idea is if I was washing by hand would not take 1.5 hour like the washing machine does lol 

If you read the manual its usually the long washes that use less energy and water, but a 14min wash is very quick maybe that's different on yours.

Petriix

The only advice which matters is simply to avoid unnecessarily making stuff warm - be that water, air, power adapters or whatever. All consumed energy ultimately becomes heat; the items which give out the most heat will use the most energy.

Usually the longest cycles on your washing machine and dishwasher will use less energy. The shorter cycles are more intensive to make up for the lack of time. Often it's the washing powder/liquid or the dishwasher tablet which costs the most when running such appliances.

Energy efficient devices (bulbs as well) give out less heat. Direct electric heating is the most expensive form of heating and should be avoided wherever possible.

Gas is still ~ 1/4 of the price of electricity so, even if the gas boiler or hob are relatively inefficient, using gas for heating stuff is cheaper. The exception is when a heat pump is involved as these effectively capture ambient heat and therefore consume as little as 1/5 of the energy of a conventional heater.

If you must make stuff warm then try to do so as little and as efficiently as possible. Only heat exactly the amount of water you need (and minimise your hot water usage). Avoid tumble drying, ironing, hair drying etc. Have short showers and turn off the water while lathering up - this is especially fun if you're already turning the heating as low as you can cope with.

In the colder months turn your thermostat as low as you can possibly cope with. Keep doors and windows closed while you're heating the house. Only heat the rooms you need and try to condense your activity to one area of the house for as long as possible, and only heat that area. Wear warm clothes.

Turn stuff off when you're not using it. Modern devices use almost nothing on standby so don't bother about turning off things which are already off. There are exceptions, particularly with older devices but you can easily check to see which plugs get warm if you can't be bothered to actually measure the energy usage.

SAC2334

electric shower uses from 7kw to 12 kw , so its by far the biggest using electric appliance.

My method is to just switch shower on for no more than 90 sec s to wet yourself, then switch off .Take as long as you like washing yourself properly, no rushing needed and no needless waste of water. Then switch on for another minute or so to rinse off.. 2.5 minute shower max. 

wild666

Alnat1 said:

Make sure you turn off everything at the plug socket when not in use, especially overnight. Only things that really need to stay on are fridge/freezer and internet router.

And do the same throughout the day if the appliances are not in use. Most people buy appliances on cost i.e an A rated fridge at £500 V a C rated one at £175 they buy the C rated fridge because the cost of the appliance is £325 cheaper than the A rated appliance and are thinking the A rated appliance will break before any saving can be made in usage plus the extra cost against the C rated appliance. 

wild666

Petriix I have to disagree with you on that as turning everything off not in use at the wall socket and lowering the temperatures on the boiler and thermostat is saving me over £300 per year, that's an average of £25 per month. Its more than £25 in summer and less than £25 in winter, the only constant is the electric saving at £18 per all month year round plus only heat the one room or use a hot water bottle sometimes in the winter months.

Mstty

I have calculated turning things off standby is a good idea but it doesn't save everyone bundles of money .e.g. 20 items on 1w standby for 12 hours a day as we don't have a PVR or sky box to muddy the power saving waters.

So the saving for 12 hours per day for the year is £25.61 a year @ our capped rate of 29.24p per kWh

It's not massive but we will still do it as it represents 1.5% of our yearly usage.

@wild666 your savings are mainly your heating reduction and to be honest most people would not want to reduce to the levels you have set yourself as they have a balance of enjoying life over not enjoying home life. 

Astria

MattMattMattUK said:

Alnat1 said:

Make sure you turn off everything at the plug socket when not in use, especially overnight. Only things that really need to stay on are fridge/freezer and internet router.

You really do not need to do that, modern TVs use less than half a watt in standby, routers might use a few watts, single digit to teens at most, phone chargers plugged but not in use consume no power. Turning things off at the socket is pointless.

Not exactly correct, they use very little power, but they do use power. Some can still use 1 - 2 watts. It's small but it adds up. Depends how often you need to use them, if it's every day I'd leave them connected, if it's once a week I'd unplug them (or turn them off). If you are going on holiday for a few weeks then unplug everything unnecessary regardless.

I still use the tumble drier, but only on the "warm" setting for 20 minutes, no-heat for 20 minutes then onto a hanger. Still gets the "benefits" of a drier, but only costs about 0.5kWh.

Mstty

Astria said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Alnat1 said:

Make sure you turn off everything at the plug socket when not in use, especially overnight. Only things that really need to stay on are fridge/freezer and internet router.

You really do not need to do that, modern TVs use less than half a watt in standby, routers might use a few watts, single digit to teens at most, phone chargers plugged but not in use consume no power. Turning things off at the socket is pointless.

Not exactly correct, they use very little power, but they do use power. Some can still use 1 - 2 watts. It's small but it adds up. Depends how often you need to use them, if it's every day I'd leave them connected, if it's once a week I'd unplug them (or turn them off). If you are going on holiday for a few weeks then unplug everything unnecessary regardless.

I still use the tumble drier, but only on the "warm" setting for 20 minutes, no-heat for 20 minutes then onto a hanger. Still gets the "benefits" of a drier, but only costs about 0.5kWh.

I am glad someone else knows the true cost of tumbledryers and how to use them efficiently👍

Most just chose a program rather than working out the time for load themselves.

As an example we know our bedding takes 50 mins which includes a cool down cycle of 10 mins so that's 40 mins and approx 40p at our current capped rate and for a full load(rammed) 1 hour 10 mins including a 10 min cool down cycle 60p