Saving electricity tips

Robin9

Alnat1 said:

Money saving tip, don't get pets!!

On the credit side a cat on the bed keeps you warm

Alnat1

Can cope with the dog on my bed, warms my feet, but not the cat. Cat heads for the warmest place, back of my neck, then digs his claws in at 3am

EssexHebridean

Our cat used to curl up round the top of my head on the coldest nights - my heat loss kept her warm and her being there stopped some of my heat loss - win/win! 

Some other thoughts/things we've put in place:
- in cooler weather particularly really stop to think whether you're washing clothes from habit or need - I find as a rule a top worn for just my working hours (and only while actually IN the office too - I wear a tech material top & leggings for my commute as I cycle some of it) will hang up, air and be easily fresh enough for an extra day. As a rule even for fitness wear leggings or shorts can be worn a second day while tops and sports bras get washed each time they're worn, as do items of underwear or socks. 
- learn about your own home - by which I mean for example if you have storage heaters REALLY learn about them, exactly how they operate, how they need to be set, and whether those settings need to be changed for impending weather. Newer style ones will to a degree adjust themselves but even then it's well worth keeping an eye on weather a few days ahead. Similarly learn whether it makes more economic sense to switch your immersion heater (if you have one) off totally when you're going to be away overnight, or even couple of nights, or whether if you're not using the contents leaving it ticking over on it's cheap-rate timer is better financially. 
- At this time of year the first boil of the kettle on days when either of us are at home is full to the line, done on cheap rate (E7 system here), and the balance transferred to a flask. MrEH then makes his following coffee from the water in the flask, I tip a cupful back to the flask to reboil for tea. (Please don't turn this into another "boiling a kettle" thread, there are at least eleventy billion of them already!) 
- an old bathmat, rolled up and tied at each end, is a good length as a draught excluder for an average width door.
- At this time of year, we can sit outside and read for a lot longer than we could sit inside and read without putting a light on - and we get the advantage of being outside, which is lovely!
- Batch cooking is a winner - uses less energy and gets you home made "ready meals" for future days!

Alnat1

We do mostly 30C 25 minute quick wash loads now, clothes are rarely dirty, just need a freshen up. Even when hubby drips ketchup etc. down his t-shirt, can rub 1 drop of washing up liquid on it before the quick wash and it comes out clean.

Petriix

Alnat1 said:

We do mostly 30C 25 minute quick wash loads now, clothes are rarely dirty, just need a freshen up. Even when hubby drips ketchup etc. down his t-shirt, can rub 1 drop of washing up liquid on it before the quick wash and it comes out clean.

Double check your particular washing machine. The lowest energy cycle in mine is the longest (over 3 hours); I believe it uses time soaking to do the majority of the cleaning. 

Alter_ego

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.

Burglar alarm? Smoke detector?Doorbell?

Coffeekup

wild666 said:

Coffeekup said:

MattMattMattUK said:

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.

I started turning things off at the wall in September last year to see how much I could save in kw'h. Not having much in the house anyway I didn't expect much of a reduction. Turning the CD player, amplifier, tv, digital tv box, and washing machine off at the wall saved me 40kw'h over a month over the previous 3 year's reading's. Although I agree phone chargers use next to nothing. 

For you it's maybe pointless for me it's a saving of £6 a month till my current deal finishes then it'll be £11+ saving on the current price cap.

It's less pollutants I've released into the atmosphere bringing down my "carbon footprint", with 25 million + homes in the UK if they all cut back an average of 40kwh a month the air will be clearer for us all.

If there is anything we all should know from this website is how quickly numbers compound, so to say things use miniscule kWh per hour soon add up over a number of devices/appliances over time.

I started turning everything off at the wall socket when Avro went under. I expected to save around £3 per month, maybe a bit more, but I was surprised when I worked out the usage and SC to find it was £16 that I had saved that month, it's now £21.67 per month at the current prices. My kWh used dropped from 196 kWh down to just 116 kWh but can rise to 126 kWh if I use the games console a few times a month. 

People do say that saving just a couple of pounds by turning an appliance off at the socket is nothing and wouldn't bother but when you take 15 or 16 items then it soon adds up to ten pounds plus per month. I have heard people say it's only 35 p to 40 p per day so not worth it but what if they were that amount short of paying for something in a shop they would be annoyed that they didn't have the correct amount of money to buy the item. 
I did similar with the boiler turning the temperatures on the boiler down and the thermostat down to 18 degrees whilst the boiler temperatures were reduced to 50 degrees for water and 55 for heating.

Mine went down from 120kwh a month to 80kwh a month March - September, and winter months 160 - 120 units. For me it is a significant saving, fortunately still on a cheap tariff as I said if I was on the current price cap that would save me £11 a month.

Alnat1

Alter ego, those 3 you mention don't have a plug you can turn off at the socket, the fridge, freezer and router do.

GaleSF63

Alnat1 said:

We do mostly 30C 25 minute quick wash loads now, clothes are rarely dirty, just need a freshen up. Even when hubby drips ketchup etc. down his t-shirt, can rub 1 drop of washing up liquid on it before the quick wash and it comes out clean.

Rinse and spin may also be sufficient  (and is probably more efficient than hand washing) only difference no detergent. But having run out of detergent occasionally and done a wash anyway, I'm not sure what it adds to a wash of average dirt. But I still buy detergent - have I been brainwashed?

Alnat1

I use an Ecoegg which some say has nothing in it to really clean clothes, so perhaps I am only doing rinse and spin anyway. That's the reason I go with a 25 mins wash rather than using the eco 3 hours, less of the granules dissolve in the short wash and I get more uses out of my egg. I'm happy enough with the results although I do sometimes use a very small amount of box powder with my whites as it bleaches them a bit.

I'd rather not put a lot of chemicals down the drain anyway, my cleaning products tend to be quite basic