How best to find out high energy culprit
Hi I recently had a almost 2 x increase in my British gas bill (mulitple factors) wrong tariff, staying loyal (doesn't pay!) and wrong DD per month I was paying anyhow, but I wanted to find out how to go about finding what devices are zapping my energy (gas and electricity)
Do I just go round the house with the smart meter and switch everything off one by one ?
Extra Info on my home usage
I have a 3 bedroom house family of 4 and pay £2.50-£3.50p per day for both Gas and electricity roughly and can see anywhere from 18-27 Kw per day. Fridge freezer is rated E, also use an old 15 year old Valiant Boiler with water tank in loft and Hot water Cylinder/Immersion tank in one of the rooms still. Use hot water baths (no shower).
Ch is on roughly 4hrs per day and Hw is roughly 4hrs per day (both come on 4 different times during day not together I will lower these soon) however Ch is off in summer etc
Do I just go round the house with the smart meter and switch everything off one by one ?
Extra Info on my home usage
I have a 3 bedroom house family of 4 and pay £2.50-£3.50p per day for both Gas and electricity roughly and can see anywhere from 18-27 Kw per day. Fridge freezer is rated E, also use an old 15 year old Valiant Boiler with water tank in loft and Hot water Cylinder/Immersion tank in one of the rooms still. Use hot water baths (no shower).
Ch is on roughly 4hrs per day and Hw is roughly 4hrs per day (both come on 4 different times during day not together I will lower these soon) however Ch is off in summer etc
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Comments
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I would think that one of your culprits is your fridge freezer. That will be using a big chunk. Lower the rating, the more it uses, unfortunately.0
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And yes, switch everything off and turn on each appliance at a time. This is the only way to work out what is using how much electricity.0
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Unfortunately you don't have a sufficiently good grasp of the basics and / or have not conveyed the facts sufficiently precisely and completely. Yes, I know that sounds a bit harsh, but at present it's like saying 'Doctor, I'm ill, cure me !'. You have to start by saying where it hurts...
Firstly, it's meaningless talking about paying £x per day, especially when you don't make it clear whether it's £x for each fuel or £x for both, and whether these figures relate to summer, winter or the whole year. The cost of one August day's gas usage on a cheap tariff will be very different to one January day's electricity + gas usage on an expensive deemed tariff ! It's like trying to weigh a handful of fog.
Secondly, you MUST start by telling us your annual measured (not estimated) consumption for each fuel in kWh. Yes, kWh, not kW as you've been stating. Not today's usage, not yesterday's, but the whole year. Not in £££.
So please come back with something meaningful such as Gas: 12,000kWh p.a., Electricity 3,000kWh p.a. and then we can help you.
Also rule out obvious problems such as the serial numbers on the meters not matching those on the bills, meter readings not taken when moving in / meter exchanged etc.
You may well find that your usage is quite normal and that there's no magic bullet.
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My energy consumption varies between around 3-4kwh a day when we are on holiday to 60kwh when the heating is on in the winter but I know what is using it it and when it's being used and I know what my annual consumption should be. At this time of the year we use around 8kwh a day but as today was washing day we used about 19.2kwh (which cost us £2.208)
As Gerry1 suggest, stop looking at your consumption in £££s but in kwh and start checking what is using it by turning stuff off first.
I'm guessing that you've suddenly got a smart meter with pretty IHD and the results have panicked you into trying to do something about your consumption.
It's pretty easy, tun stuff OFF and then turn it on one at a time to see whats using it. Even things that you think don't use much can surprise you and can chew through quite a bit of energy. There's no magic bullet, the two ways to reduce your bills is to use less energy by turning stuff off or down or getting yourself a cheaper tariff.
We can all give you suggestions but in the end it's only you who know what you use, when you use it and whether it's really necessary.Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers0 -
PennineAcute wrote: »And yes, switch everything off and turn on each appliance at a time. This is the only way to work out what is using how much electricity.I would think that one of your culprits is your fridge freezer.
Not that simple I am afraid as most electrical equipment have a thermostat.
Your example of a fridge freezer is a good example. Switch it on and if the compressor is running it will show it is using, say, 200w(0.2kW). If the compressor is not running it will show zero consumption. Well at 200w for 24/7 your fridge freezer consumption would be around 1,800kWh pa:eek:
An immersion heater will show as 3kW, but of course it will only be using that amount of electricity for a short period during the day.0 -
OP has posted additional information in their other thread.oh my mistake, checked the smart meter and selected price and kwh as of yesterdays readings it was:
Gas: £0.74p
electricity: £2.08
kw button:
gas :11.58kwh
elec:10.09kwh
Todays current smart meter reading is:
Gas £0.69
elec:£1.24
kw:
Gas 11.07kwh
elec 5.55kwh
These usage figures don't seem too extravagant to me, considering it's a three bedroom house with four people living in it.
No shower; bath only. OP mentions an immersion heater being used to heat some of the household's water and a power guzzling fridge freezer.
OP doesn't appear to be on a particularly good energy tariff.
Gas: 11.58kWh cost £0.74
Electricity: 10.09kWh cost £2.08
Total: £2.82
That usage would cost me £1.95, including standing charge.0 -
I don't know if this will help but my old fridge & oldish freezer use almost 3 times as much power as new ones would!0
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There are a few things that spring to mind that could be easy enough to sort out for the OP.
Replace the fridge freezer for a modern energy efficient version. Our Samsung is A+ rated and uses very little power compared to our older Hotpoint model.
Reduce the number of house the water is heated. It really should not need 4 hours per day.
Change to a better energy tarrif as the costs seem quite high per kwh.0 -
You have 2 hot water tanks, both being heated and kept up to temp - this will be gobbling up a lot of energy.
Try turning off the heaters for the electric one and see if you can manage on the other one on its own.
Also try turning down the thermostats - for the hot water, try a temp setting of around 45 to 50c and turn down your heating by 5c and, if it feels cold, increase by a degree for a day and if it still feels cold, increase again the next day another degree. If still feeling a little cool, get everyone to wear a pullover or something - far cheaper to buy a vest and use it than to pay an exorbitant amount for heating.0 -
What temperature wash do you have your washing machine set too?
Modern washing powders/liquids can wash at a much lower temperature which saves the machine heating the water and saves some pennies on the electric bill.0
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