how low is your leccy consumption now, this very week..... asking for a friend

PennineAcute

Single person, one bed bungalow - moved in May 2022.  Gas combi boiler. Really started to economise at the end of June.  Noticed by boiler was not on economy mode, sadly using 3 kWh a day.

Since 1 July, my elec average is 4.64 kWh a day and 0.5 kWh a day for gas.  I could get my elec down to just over three kWh, but that would mean getting rid of my fish tank, which I will not do.

maxmycardagain

PennineAcute said:

Single person, one bed bungalow - moved in May 2022.  Gas combi boiler. Really started to economise at the end of June.  Noticed by boiler was not on economy mode, sadly using 3 kWh a day.

Since 1 July, my elec average is 4.64 kWh a day and 0.5 kWh a day for gas.  I could get my elec down to just over three kWh, but that would mean getting rid of my fish tank, which I will not do.

  You must shower a lot...lol

maxmycardagain

Opinions....

We boil 2 cups of water at a time leaving 90% of the kettle empty, is this delaying it switching off? would a kettle half the size or less boil 2 cups faster?

PennineAcute

maxmycardagain said:

PennineAcute said:

Single person, one bed bungalow - moved in May 2022.  Gas combi boiler. Really started to economise at the end of June.  Noticed by boiler was not on economy mode, sadly using 3 kWh a day.

Since 1 July, my elec average is 4.64 kWh a day and 0.5 kWh a day for gas.  I could get my elec down to just over three kWh, but that would mean getting rid of my fish tank, which I will not do.

  You must shower a lot...lol

I do try and keep clean

I do use washing machine twice a week and - depending what time I manage to get the clothes in the washer - two drys a week (Heat Pump).  This uses 3 kWh.  Add just over 1 kWh for one use of the dishwasher a week.  Call that just over 0.5 kWh a day.  Knocks my overall average down to 4 kWh a day. 

June's use was 152 kWh.  July's was 148 kWh and August's was 139 kWh.  My cutting back on daily shower usage is working, it seems.

QrizB

maxmycardagain said:

For the "low" consumption items (smart TV, set top box, PC, games consoles and monitor) id seriously consider an inverter off a leisure battery with a solar panel charger via an extension cable to the items

That's only really worth doing if the leisure battery is free.

Here's a good-quality 110Ah leisure battery. It's £100.

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/12v-110ah-leoch-adventurer-low-height-leisure-battery-sfl110l/

It is rated for a life of 150 cycles at 50% depth of discharge. 110Ah at 12 volts nominal is 1.32 kWh, so 50% of that is 0.66kWh. 150 cycles is 99kWh (call it 100kWh). Over the entire rated life of the battery, you'll get 100kWh out of it - for £100. That's £1 per kWh, more expensive than mains electricity, and if you cycle it daily it's likely to die in five months.

Yes there are cheaper leisure batteries, but you'll probably find they have a shorter cycle life.

On the other hand, here's a 100Ah lithium battery. It's £770.

https://www.alpha-batteries.co.uk/12v-renogy-100ah-lithium-iron-phosphate-battery/

It is rated for a life of 4000 cycles at 80% depth of discharge. 100Ah at 12 volts nominal is 1.2 kWh, so 80% of that is 0.96kWh. 4000 cycles is 3840kWh. Over the entire rated life of that battery, you'll get 3840kWh out of it - for £770. That's 20p per kWh.

But you need to find £770 and cycle it daily for a decade.

Broomstick

Just to compare figures for a one-person household deliberately being frugal, no solar...  Through this summer I've been using about 1.5 kWh a day electricity, working from home in a three-bed house (am moving as soon as I can but that's another story). I live somewhere with a choice of local food shops so can shop easily within walking distance, 

I've cut costs down a lot:  no oven, nothing on standby except the electric garage door, no fridge (being vegan and shopping regularly has eliminated the need to store chilled food), no freezer (at the moment), lights off as much as possible, no TV or gaming, no dishwasher, no dryer etc.  I use the vacuum rarely - there are wooden and tiled floors so broom sweeping is fine. I use the sewing machine occasionally and the iron almost never.   I use the washing machine about once a week, occasionally more. The internet is kept switched on, but I've unplugged the wifi landline phones because I was fed up with cold callers. I charge laptop, mobile, toothbrush, AA batteries for the radio and torches etc, and I use the kettle and microwave, but that's about it. 

Space and water heating, and the cooker hob are gas powered.  The gas boiler and timer are switched off at the wall unless I put it on once every day or two for 10-15 minutes to heat water for a quick shower.  I've perfected the two minute or less shower and the flannel/wash basin wash.

My last electric bill for 3 months on svt was about £90 and my gas one for the same period was about £40.

Jyana

Just me here in a one bed bungalow, electricity only at the moment as I haven't turned the oil boiler on since it's yearly service last month. Averaged about 2.7kwh for August, which has been the highest month of the year for me so far due to the extra fan use. I don't do well in heat due to medical reasons, so I'm one of those oddities that usually has a higher electricity bill in summer instead of winter, which never goes down well with a new supplier until they see it for themselves.

brewerdave

Not along ago , we were running @ 17kwh per day leccy only. Now this last month I've got it down to 10.6kwh - and the replacement of a very old, inefficient fridge freezer only happened  half way thru the month ,so hoping to get down to ~ 9kwh per day next month.
Maybe a bit more to shave off - but that would mean sacrificing our TV viewing habits which will become ever more difficult as the days draw shorter.
Some things we won't do without ,is a fresh cooked meal every evening using the oven and (gas) hob and our pumped shower - no going back to gravity fed showers!.

Alnat1

FF sales are going through the roof at the moment it seems.

It's quite a shock when you monitor usage for a week and realise what % of your annual total that one appliance is using. For us, it was 1/3rd! Nice new one now 

I'm definitely cooking us more one pot meals on the gas hob now (doubling up to freeze a portion) 

dunstonh

Not along ago , we were running @ 17kwh per day leccy only. Now this last month I've got it down to 10.6kwh - and the replacement of a very old, inefficient fridge freezer only happened  half way thru the month ,so hoping to get down to ~ 9kwh per day next month.

Well done @brewerdave We have similar figures with mine starting at 18.x kWh per day but yesterday it fell past 10.0kWh for the first time with  9.07kWh.   

We got it to around 13.5kWh just by turning devices off standby and turning night lights off except for some stable lights which were switched to LED and using eco mode on the old dishwasher   The new American FF was a big saver with around 2.5kWh per day now being saved (C rated Samsung at 225kWh/annum).   The new dishwasher arrived yesterday which uses about a quarter of the energy of the old one (A rated Bosch at 54kWh/100).    It was used last night instead of the old one and whilst the programme is longer, the energy save is worth it and no compromise on cleaning quality.

I am monitoring the washing machine and tumbledrier with P110s at the moment.   I think the tumble drier is fine as, although it is 2017 model is was energy efficient at the time (heat pump) and whilst the latest energy efficient models are better but I don't think they are sufficiently different enough to justify the outlay.   The change in energy measuring from 2017 to today make  it difficult to compare.  So, I am hoping that the P110 will give me better information.

The washing machine was also an A+++ in its time but that would put it around B or C on the latest ratings.  Like the tumble, it may not be worth it.  Although it does get heavily used.   Again, I have put a P110 on that to monitor its use and that should give me a better idea.