How much do you pay for electricity?

bizzybee

I'm in a 3 bed semi with 2 kids. I use the tumble dryer a lot, have an electric oven, dishwasher used every other day, pc on maybe an average of 2 hours a day. Have gas hob and gch.

I am tied into the the British Gas 2010 rate and pay £17 per month for electricity and the same amount for gas.

nickcardwell

Pay £35 a month (semi detached house 2A,1C) oil heating on 4hrs a day, all lights in house are energy efficient ones. Tumble dryer on a few times a week.

For a few years it was estimating only , until they got a accurate reading (then for the last year i was paying £60 a month due to underestimating bills)

Whats annoying is in the ROI it works out at 0.11c a kw, whereas in northern ireland its roughly 10.5p a kw , so roughly a third cheaper down south.

When they get the north /south electric onto one grid, you would think we will get cheaper bills but we wont!

declanh

gibbyni wrote: »

Just got my Efergy monitor, i am using 4.5p per hour with my TV sky etc on a few lights and 2 laptops and my fridge and frezer. Turn the oven on it goes up to 29p, turn the kettle on it goes up to 30p, turn main room light on 4 holigan bulbs it goes up by 2p, turn an enegy saver bulb on it hardly even changes. All in all a good buy i think

very seriously considering getting one so any further opinions would be helpful.

Bigcammy

If you have an NIE pay as you go meter, you can see how much electricity you're currently using by pressing the number 6 on the keypad. You can also see your previous day's usage by hitting 2. Repeatedly hitting 2 should show you your usage over the past week and month, handy to know.

wifeforlife

Bigcammy wrote: »

If you have an NIE pay as you go meter, you can see how much electricity you're currently using by pressing the number 6 on the keypad. You can also see your previous day's usage by hitting 2. Repeatedly hitting 2 should show you your usage over the past week and month, handy to know.

Yes this is true and was why I was able to give the exact usage I had, very handy to monitor usage

Cate

PasturesNew

desdemona wrote: »

Immersion heater used once a week - on for 5 hours at night - just to get enough hot water to bath/wash (no shower in flat).

....

Comments, anyone?

Yes. You only wash once a week?

gibbyni

declanh wrote: »

very seriously considering getting one so any further opinions would be helpful.

I got it of a seller on Amazon (mg-electronics), £41.49 Delivered. I ordered it on Friday Morning it it arrived today (Sat).

Only took me 2 min to set up, sensor cliped onto the power cable no problem and and a quick read through the manual and it was up and working. It gives you readinggs in cost per hour, co2, KW and KWh. I just have it set to cost. there is also a running total but not to sure yet if it resets every night. when you go into memory mode it gives all the info (Cost, co2, KW) for any day, week or month.

It says rechargable batterise are best and will last 2-3 weeks. you need 4 AAA 2 for unit and 2 for sensor (not supplied). Normal one will last about 3 months but rechargables only cost about 1p to charge. Im in a appartment and the metter is outside in the hall, the unit pickes it up no problem through 3 solid walls and about 15m away, even with low power in my batteries. One thing i was worried bout was if you change batteries do you lose all the data but have taken them out and in again twice and it looks like it saves every 30 min roughly so you only lose a small bit of data.

It updates every 6 sec so anything you switch on showes up very quickly, so its easy to test everything in the house to find out how much they cost to run. My biggest surprise was my oven approx 29p per hour to run, i usualy turn it on a good 20 min before i put anything into it even though it only takes about 10 to heat up so that will all add up. Havnt tried the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher yet. also my hologen bulbs cost a lot to run, I never usualy leave them on anyway but cost more than I thought they would.

If yous want to know anything else about it just ask.

declanh

Thanks for the review gibbyni

Just bought one (same supplier on amazon), cost me £42.49 but I'll not quibble over a pound

dmxdave

Cheaper option!

declanh

dmxdave wrote: »

Cheaper option!

dmxdave,
I dont think this is a reliable method for a lot of devices. It may work for things that have VERY constant output but it does not work at all (even closely) for those which are variable.
For example, my pc which has a 480w power supply actually uses about 115watts (ive measured this with a maplin appliance energy meter (see here http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343&doy=5m1&C=SO&U=strat15)

similarly my 280w sony av amp draws about 99 watts.

I would imagine this calculation would perhaps work much better for things like electric kettles.