My Energy use Diary

cw18

Many thanks to all for the congrats on getting the job - now 2 Induction sessions and 2 shifts into it......

Just entered readings for this week

Electricity (now 59kWh) is down 6kWh on last week. Can only assume this is down to a few early nights, an evening and full day of inductions, and an afternoon and full day of work meaning less lights, TV and laptop useage

But my gas (now 103kWh) is more than double last weeks :eek: This can only be down to the fact I've run the heating on low for 2 days last week (got cold very fast as soon as I turned it off), plus the fact I've had to boost the water once for showers etc. There wasn't a lot of hot water before it kicked in for the normal session this morning either, so I'm going to have to boost it again tonight - and I think I'm going to have to change the controls so it actually heats more on regular basis

CO2 for the household was 43kg last week, but is up to 51kg this week - so I'm not expecting to retain the 'double C' position I managed to hand on to for the third week in a row

Frugaldom

CW, we're only monitoring our electricity in an effort to cut down on CO2 and save the planet one kWh at a time, so try not to panic too much about things like gas doubling if it was exceptionally low to begin with. My readings will at least treble from summer to winter, it's unavoidable. Also, remember our results are based on the MSE carbon club only, not the national averages, so we're up against some stiff frugal 'competition'. (Not that I'm suggesting there should be any competitiveness goin on - we all have different circumstances to deal with at home.)

gazza975526570

nykmedia wrote: »

Also, remember our results are based on the MSE carbon club only, not the national averages, so we're up against some stiff frugal 'competition'. (Not that I'm suggesting there should be any competitiveness goin on - we all have different circumstances to deal with at home.)

I think its really important to remember this.

I sometimes think ive been a bit rubbish when i show as half way down the MSE club - but then the majority are actively reducing their useage - so against the "general" population im sure im doing much better!

cw18

I know my bills are a LOT lower than my friends and neighbours (even those with larger families in smaller properties), but I have to admit that the main reason I monitor mine is to be sure I can afford the bills..... and just 'cos I've now got an additional income doesn't mean I want the bills sliding up!!!

For now I'm just going to have to settle for the fact that my useage is well down on this week of last year - but it's going to be the middle of January before I get a real like-for-like comparison (with only 2 of us in the household)

danjackson999

Hi All
I have read the first 20 pages to this thread and i am truly amazed at how low all of your electricity bills are. 'I wish' comes to mind.
In my old property i lived in, my bill was £90 a month for gas and electric and to be honest i was not quite sure on how many units i was using etc
I have lived in my new address for 14 months and until one month ago i never took a reading from my meter.
The reason i started investigating was because of an extremely high bill that i had received, £2000!!!!!!
Scottish Power say during my first 6 months of living at the property i was using 50 units a day :huh:
I mean who uses 50 units a day? Some of you are using 25 units for a whole week.
They say now my usage is around 25 units per day but the problem is nothing has changed, not a thing.
We do have 1 plasma, ps3 and 2 laptops but that is it really. We tend to do 5 washes a week and use the dishwasher once every 2 days.
We cannot be using no more than the average family surely. Bear in mind it is not a family. Just me, my brother and a friend.
I have been doing tests over the last week or so and it seems that my washing machine and dishwasher use 3 units each every time there on. Is this normal?
My consumption is around 25-30 units per day still and now in the day time nothing is left on. I work from home but my laptop battery lasts 5 hours so nothing is plugged in apart from Fridge/Freezer.
Iv tried everything to get down further but i just dont see how i can reduce my bills in the long run.
Sorry if that was loads of imformation for a first time poster but could really do with some help.
Thanks
Dan

ktpie

Hello Dan, this website might help you work out whether your appliances are using normal amounts of electric. What is your lighting like? Is your heating gas? Do you have an immersion heater or anything like that?
Have you been checking your meter? Do you actually use 25 units a day or are they just estimating that? If you switch everything off does the meter stop?

I'm sure everyone else will have some good ideas too, hope you manage to get on top of it.

danjackson999

Thankyou for your reply.

Basically we live in 4 bed house but only 3 of us there and do tend to turn off all lights that are not in use.We dont ever have the heating on unless it gets really cold then we just press the boost button on our heatings controls and it will give us heating for an hour.

I have been checking the meter for the last month and we are using around 25 units a day. We have given them actual readings so i guess we have used what they say but i just dont see how we used to use 50 units a day when nothing has changed since we first moved in.

If we turn everything off then apart from the fridge/freezer then we are using around 1/2 a unit per hour.

I have checked that site out(Thanks for the link) and it shows that most washing machines and dishwahsers use just over a unit per cycle.
From conducting certain tests i have found that both our washing machine and dishwasher use 3 units each cycle.
Our 50" plasma tv also seems to use alot of electricity.
We done a test where everything in the house was turned off apart from ps3 and plasma and fridge freezer and we used 1.2units in 40 minutes. Now that is just way too much.
I have checked against simular tv's on that website and running cost per day are .16p which is just over a unit but we seem to use that in an hour.

Do you think there could be some sort of electrical fault in the house?

ktpie

That site ranks the appliances by power consumption so the most efficient plasma TV you can buy is the one using 16p per day. The least efficient one they list is using 750W so that is going to be more like 1 unit per hour.

Can you get hold of an electricity monitor? Just a cheap one will do to check how much power your appliances are using. You can get them for £10 or less or our local library hires them out. That way you would have a better idea of whether your meter is faulty.

A_fiend_for_life

Hi and welcome,

danjackson999 wrote: »

Thankyou for your reply.

If we turn everything off then apart from the fridge/freezer then we are using around 1/2 a unit per hour.

This sounds wrong what's the longest test you've done on this? I have a 5' Candy A rated fridge that consumes 0.2 kWh over 6 hours in summer. Unless you've got an unusaul fridge I'm suspecting a faulty meter but it costs money to put in a test meter so you need to be certain that your tests are correct and your previoius billing isn't estimated marked with an (E).

You haven't explicitly mentioned switching everything off for an hour or two and ensuring there is no change on the meter reading. This rules that the meter is not registering consumption when everything is switched off (assuming it is possibly to fail in this manner) and also ensures no neighbour is using your electricity (at least at the time of testing).

If it was still registering consumption with everything switched off I would switch the mains off at the consumer board.

I'm not sure that rules the meter ok since it might be possible to fail in such a way that it registers with no load or, over registers only when there is a load.

I would post on the Gas and Electricity board for info on more testing in case I've missed something and, if relevent, how to get a meter test. Be warned there is a charge but this is refundable if there is a fault and I should imagine a recalculation of your bill from when the meter is thought to have gone faulty.

danjackson999

A_fiend_for_life wrote: »

Hi and welcome,

This sounds wrong what's the longest test you've done on this? I have a 5' Candy A rated fridge that consumes 0.2 kWh over 6 hours in summer. Unless you've got an unusaul fridge I'm suspecting a faulty meter but it costs money to put in a test meter so you need to be certain that your tests are correct and your previoius billing isn't estimated marked with an (E).

You haven't explicitly mentioned switching everything off for an hour or two and ensuring there is no change on the meter reading. This rules that the meter is not registering consumption when everything is switched off (assuming it is possibly to fail in this manner) and also ensures no neighbour is using your electricity (at least at the time of testing).

If it was still registering consumption with everything switched off I would switch the mains off at the consumer board.

I'm not sure that rules the meter ok since it might be possible to fail in such a way that it registers with no load or, over registers only when there is a load.

I would post on the Gas and Electricity board for info on more testing in case I've missed something and, if relevent, how to get a meter test. Be warned there is a charge but this is refundable if there is a fault and I should imagine a recalculation of your bill from when the meter is thought to have gone faulty.

All of my bills are actual readings but over the past week i have been taking readings every couple of hours.
I live in a 4 year old house so i havent got any problems of having old faulty equipment.
I have tested having everything turned off for a few hours at a time and for 8 hours overnight and it uses 4 units in 8 hours.
Im not quite sure that a fridge/freezer should be using this much.Do you think i should turn everything off at the switch board to see if the meter is still ticking over then?
We have also literally just had a pay as you go meter put in 3 days ago and we seem to be using the same so thats why i was asking whether there may be a fault in the electrics in the house.
I have read alot of this thread and other sources on the net and it doesnt seem that anybody else uses 3 units per dishwasher/washing maching cycle