Energy Consumption Reduction excercise

IOWJJBTM2025

Hi All,

There is a lot in the news with regards energy prices so thought I would note down the findings of both my old and recent exercises performed to reduce electric consumption.

Back in July 2022 the cost of electric doubled and we were averaging 14 kWh of Electric per day. The estimated bill was surprisingly high, so back then I did a big exercise to find out where the energy was going and try to reduce.

• The main saving included an old CCTV system with 6 cameras recording 24 hours per day including a TV monitor switched on permanently running at a combined 90W. Now replaced with solar cameras that link to Wi-Fi.
• We had a very old fridge and 3xfreezers. We took to the tip and replaced with new energy efficient Fridge and freezer. The old washing machine was on its last legs so we also purchased a new energy efficient one to replace.
• We swapped out all the old light bulbs throughout the house and replaced with new LED. We actually had 3x 5 bulb chandeliers in the front room/dining room with a total of 15 x 40W bulbs. We bought 3 new light fittings with a single LED bulb fitting.
• We also had a permanent drain of 15W on the lighting circuit. After help from electrician brother in-law, he traced an old redundant doorbell transformer hard wired into the hallway light pendant. It was located in the loft under the insulation and was so hot we could not touch it. It must of weighed 1Kg made out of solid steel. We left it for a few hours to cool down before we could pick it up to remove.

After all the above changes were implemented we got the consumption average down to a more palatable 9 kWh per day. Back in 2022 we was paying 42p per kWh so big savings were had. If I use todays rate of 23p per kWh this would equate to a saving now of over £400 per year.

Since 2022 we have had a few changes in the house and I noted that we are creeping back to 10 kWh per day average. Today I decided with the help of the Smart Meter remote display to find out what electrical equipment uses and see if there are any easy win savings to be had. Not much savings found this time but I did find the following: -

I found that the biggest recent background electric usage is our new Wi-Fi routers. We have an 'All House' system including TV installed by our internet supplier in January. It has a single main wall unit running with 3x Routers that boost the Wi-Fi around the House. Total background consumption 25W = 600W per day. As much as I would like to switch off at night, I think that the family would kick off so will leave on for the sake of an easy life. Cost at 23p per kWh is £50 per year to have Wi-Fi switched on 24/7. Just an after thought - the Wi-fi also links to the outside Security Cameras.

Note - found today the Gas Heating system has an electric pump - This uses 95W when running but does not run 24 hours per day. We only have heating on when we need so no savings to be had here.

The Bathroom extractor Fan is old and noisy and operated manually by a pull cord. It is sometimes left on for hours = 15W. I have found a 'Quiet' 7W replacement on line with a timer for £25 and will get my Electrician brother-in-law to install it when he visits in the summer. Spoke to him and he said he can easily wire into the bathroom light so it comes on when the bathroom light does. Not going to save much on this but it will stop the noisy rattling when it is switched on. maybe save 15 kWh per year at best.

Possible Savings found that I can implement today without any kickback from the family : -

• EV Charger. Even when the car is not connected it is drawing 5W continuously. It was professionally installed in June 2022 and is no longer supported. It works but occasionally needs resetting to commence charge so may need to get a new one installed at some point. We have an isolator by the main meter where I can switch it off when not in use.
• Electric Shower - We just leave the Power supply on all the time (Pull Cord Isolator on Bathroom Ceiling) - Drain 1W. Isolator is now off.
• I found an old doorbell chime that has not worked for a while 2W. Have unplugged and thrown away.
• Main TV and DVD player supply has 1W drain - Can easily switch off plug supply at night - 12 hours saving per day.

Savings Possible found - Not much to be honest but it adds up to 65.7 kWh per year or £15 per year.

Ms_Chocaholic

Read with interest. 9kw per day seems a lot though, we use 4-5kw per day.

tfhnota

When I was on Agile and rates went very high, lowest daily consumption was 0.75kw, against a usual of 1.5kw. Lately, turned off the CH and use a halogen heater for a bit of spot heat, so close to 2kw a day. I live alone so easy to limit things without a riot from kids or wife. Fairly recent small fridge and 55 inch TV (you can fiddle the settings to get power consumption down), modern monitor and laptop computer and mobile phone that also works as 4G/5G hotspot. Stream TV on-demand so no sat boxes etc and no TV licence. They still get me on the standing charges and council tax but get my monthly tax rebate (aka state pension) which more than covers general expenses. Oh, start the day with cold water shower so no need for hot water heating, and microwave meals, the oven is rusting away. So if you are doing more than 2kwh per person per day you can probably save a lot.

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660325/energy-consumption-reduction-excercise

Why have an electric shower when you could save 75% by using gas?

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660325/energy-consumption-reduction-excercise

Not a good idea to link CCTV cameras by wifi. They can be jammed by burglars so they'll not be visible in the recording.

Best to use a hard wired connection that's out of reach.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928716#Comment_81928716

I think you are doing really well to get daily average consumption down so low. We do have a 7kWh Electric Car charger and have excluded the consumption from 10kWh per day average. We purchased an Air Fryer three years ago and only use the oven rarely now. Our biggest single item that I have limited control over is our electric shower. It is rated at 8.5 kWh and we limit the length of the shower down as far as possible for both cost of electric and water. In the summer we run the shower on the economy setting which is 5.7kWh. In the summer the incoming water temp is higher so the economy setting works well. In July/August it is impossible to have a shower on the high setting as the water is too hot.

Where we struggle is my youngest son likes to have extended showers. Apparently he claims that to wash properly you need to run the shower for an hour to exfoliate the skin properly. After 20 minutes my wife gives him a warning and then switches on the cold tap in the kitchen to force him to switch it off. Stamping of feet and shouting follows 🤣

I am impressed that you have a cold shower.

Heating is only on for an hour in the morning and an hour at night now. We have a log burner and a supply of chopped wood to keep us toastie. Hopefully the weather will continue to warm up so we can not have any heating on at all in a few weeks.

As an update I spoke to my wife about the internet routers. We have now switched one of them off which saves 5W or 44 kWh (£10) per year. It was her suggestion so happy with that.

"Read with interest. 9kw per day seems a lot though, we use 4-5kw per day."

We are a family of 4 plus my son's girlfriend stays over sometimes. If I could get rid of the electric shower it would help. I Have previously looked into using the gas boiler to supply hot water for the shower. I think it is possible and will cost approx £500 to install properly with a thermostat. That equates roughly to the cost of running the Electric shower for a year for an hour a day.

paradigital

Unless you are doing this as a purely altruistic effort to reduce energy use and not simply to reduce cost then unit rate has to come into this more importantly than overall consumption, surely?

If you could time-shift most of your load to an off-peak rate it would make more of a difference to your bill than reducing consumption, no?

Of course both tactics combined will achieve the ultimate in bill reduction, but considering the changes already made in 2022, additional changes are now impacting ease and quality of life for little gain from what I’m seeing in your opening post.

We’re a family of four that averages closer to 15kwh/day, but our average unit rate is 8.14p/kwh.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928747#Comment_81928747

A while ago a number of people on the forum gave really helpful advice on this. I intend to purchase the kit that converts the existing bath taps to be a thermostatic shower and also feed the bath as well. I am still a bit challenged as to how much it will save by having the gas powered shower and how well it will work but am happy to give it a try and will feed back on this forum for how it works.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928825#Comment_81928825

Hi, I looked at time of use rates previously and they always worked out more expensive overall. In January I did a 12 month fix @ 23p per kWh with Outfox Energy so am now tied.

There was a few reasons for doing the post. I wanted to see if I could find savings without doing anything and hopefully help other people to have a think. The other reason is that I have been doing some analysis of my electric consumption data and compared two months a year apart to see any differences. See graph attached - I compared Jan'25 (dashed) and Jan'26 (solid) and this found that through the night when everyone is asleep we are using more energy this year. Our time of use is show in the graph below. The graph excludes charging the EV which can currently be done at any time during the day. Over the last 6 months we have used 500 kWh in addition to the graph charging the car. Anticipate this may increase slightly as my wife may start using the EV more now that petrol prices have gone up instead of using her petrol MPV. The peaks on the graph tie up with meal times and shower times which I would struggle to move to off peak.

Energy Compare.jpg

tfhnota

OP, perhaps you can get your son to youtube the health benefits of cold water showers - sounds like it would save you a small fortune on electric (and also a lot on the water bill). The idea freaks a lot of people out but it is actually a splendid way to wake the body up in the morning and rather invigorating, though perhaps not for those with dodgy hearts.

EssexHebridean

There are a lot of folk for whom cold showers aren't a great idea - and the actual health benefits from cold water immersion and cold showering are, at best, questionable, so while it might well save money, we probably shouldn't really be recommending it on any other basis! 😉

OP - for a full comparison here, have you added up what all your changes have cost so that you know when your break even on the energy saving mission is/will be?

I reckon your best way of driving your use and costs down further is as stated to get the shower switched out for one using gas - it's one of our biggest savings since moving from a flat with an electric shower to a house with one fed from the boiler, and that is just with two of us using the shower for a far shorter time than it sounds like members of your household do!