I know a lot of people are looking at their bills wondering how the hell can I reduce energy, so I thought I'd basically have a quick look at my leccy bill.
I've only really looked into my electricity bill as tbh I'm not really sure how much I can reduce my gas by... I'm not going to shower less, heating I'll maybe reduce down to 20C instead of 21C and set up the timer a bit more efficiently. And I doubt I'll use the gas hob less, tbh I should use that more save myself on takeaways.
Anyhow think I've still a few things to add and will probably adjust the estimates. I just thought this kinda break down and how I've done it in a general sense might be useful to some people.
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Basically, It's really just a load of estimations, I've googled some of the specific items, just generally googled others to get their watts for standby and for powered on. And in the hours and days column I've just guessed the times.
It's a bit over inflated, as it's coming in at a few hundred more than I expect, but it's there or thereabouts in terms of the obvious impact, gives me a good idea of what I can at least look to reduce anyhow, things like maybe turning off the 2nd fridge for while, or just using the PD machine when I need to rather than leaving it on all the time. I'll defo be unplugging that toshiba tv, never knew the standby was so draining. Other tv, I'll look out the specific numbers later, but it gives me something to work with.
Anyway, as I say, just thought this might be useful. Here's a link to the basic excel file if anyone is interested.
'Herbs grow light' ...
Is that what I think it is? 😄
Aye, my chilli plant and basil. 😆
Should add, based on the 52p per kwh cap.
I think TVs are 1.3 watts in standby
Interesting. We have an electric hob that gets used more than oven and is a big chunk of our electricity and microwave as well but short bursts there
olddog
Full Member
I think TVs are 1.3 watts in standby
Yeah, I think the new 4k tv I've got will be alot low, the toshiba is donkeys old though, I checked that specifically.
Is one of your fridges 'the old one'? Old fridges are renowned for sucking up electricity, so the typical garage beer fridge is often costing you a lot of money.
PS your fridge won't be on 24/7, especially if it's modern one. So your figures might be overinflating that.
PPS How close is your estimated usage to your actual bill?
I'm expecting £2190 based on 4200kwh for leccy. So I'm not including the £167 for the standing charge in that, so I'm overestimating by a bit there on the times I think.
ps yeah you are right, one of the fridges is a dedicated beer fridge, can get 6 perfect draft kegs in it 😆 Was used a lot during lock down, not so much now, is still handy from time to time. Fridge isn't too old, it was from someone else though. I'm going to look out specific numbers for them.
Just had to explain to my wife that putting the dishwasher on when half full so it'll be ready after breakfast for more is completely wasteful, ditto half a load in the washing machine or turning the oven on an hour before we need it so it warms up.
We have loads of permanently connected devices, none of which use much power but together they probably do but unplugging them all isn't very practical (sockets behind cupboards) and would be quite lifestyle change. Already swapped everything to LED and even put timed PIRs on a few lights. Outside lights are PIR and timer.
Gas cost last month was £21 but that was hot water and hob only, might have to play with the thermostat settings when the heating goes back on. Thinking of getting an oiled filled radiator or similar for WFH in the winter so the heating stays of during the day.
Currently paying £455 a month up from £160, will pay off the backlog from the price hikes in March this month and then build up a little credit before winter kicks in, expect the monthly DD to go up again though come October.
"permanently connected devices, none of which use much power but together they probably do but unplugging them all isn’t very practical (sockets behind cupboards) and would be quite lifestyle change."
Could you not fit smart plugs? Not sure what they draw when in standby, but I doubt it is very much and almost certainly less than some older electronics/electrical equipment. Once installed you can turn them off remotely so it's only a hassle once. I have a single smart power-strip that turns all the TV based kit off (Wii, X-Box, DVD player, Smart Speaker etc) when the TV is not in use
EDIT - Google says Smart plugs still draw 1 Watt when 'off' so not the saving I was expecting, but might still be worth considering
O poo, just used the Octopus crystal ball forecaster, looks like it's going to hit £750 a month. Wife just doesn't get it, just out the dish washer on (was fairly full this time), we have an eco mode which takes about w3 hours and an energy intensive mode, guess which she used. Reasoning she didn't want the breakfast stuff in the unit tops waiting for it to finish, were going out FFS.
Same issue with shopping, she's the one that spends, ie makes the decision to buy, her reply is it's stuff we need, personally I'd be quite happy with a lot less biscuits, crisps and other junk, if we haven't got it we can't eat it, which in my case is good as I have little will power.
@bentandbroken have thought about it and do have non smart remote control plugs for a lot of the side lights so they can all be turned off in one go. Trouble is the up front cost of all the smart plugs will outweigh any savings. Might be getting to the point where that's not the case in future. Other problem is a lot of electronics dont like being powered off completely and take a while to reboot (very first world problem I know) and will often update firmware etc. When not in use. We have a lot of Alexas, Firesticks as well as PCs and consoles.
PS fully aware my lifestyle inconvience is nothing compared to what a lot of people are going to face.
Have you worked out how much energy you used to work out how much energy you use!? 😀
or turning the oven on an hour before we need it so it warms up.
I use the oven timer when I turn the oven on, about 6 minutes will get it 200c. Stops me forgetting it's been on for 40 minutes... Doesn't help on the odd occasion we leave it on whilst we eat though!
@stumpyjon - I've installed a few smart plugs for some devices that it would otherwise be too inconvenient to switch on/off manually. They can be had for about £6.50 each so not a huge expense.
If I swapped outside lights to PIR rather than perm, added smart plugs, and bought other such energy saving devices. How long would the payback be do we thing? I am guessing a couple of hundred to change stuff.
I can’t get my head around what is an effective way to deal with this, everything just seems too little.
...Just had to explain to my wife that...
Perfect excuse for a bit of mansplaining, presumably 😁
I was just looking on my Bulb account - assume my variable rate is about to increase from 28p to 52p per kWh.
There is an ev tariff option which is currently 9p 2-6am and then 33p at other times. If I assume that the variable rate is going up to 52p either way then I figure changing to the ev tariff now would make sense even though I don’t have a ev car?? Although I do intend getting one…
Someone shoot down my logic please…? I would arrange to at least put all the washing on between 2 and 6am…
Google says Smart plugs still draw 1 Watt when ‘off’ so not the saving I was expecting, but might still be worth considering
That's probably radio control, BLE or WiFi?
The "proper" home automisation devices (Zigbee and i think 433mhz/telldus type things) are somewhere around 1-200mW when off, according to what specs i can find!
So I've got my place all zigbeed up. The total drain of the entire system (about 80 zigbee/z-wave devices) when it's off works out to be about 25-30 watts including both hubs. And obviously, all the bulbs are now LED, so more savings.
Got the dehimdifier, stereo, TV, playstation etc all wired up to it as well, using the IKEA Äskväder sockets.
So that 25 watt hit is offset by none of my bigger standby devices being on for 16-18 hours a day.
Just switch everything off (with a voice command) when i go to bed, then switch stuff back on as i need it.
Mostly for added nerd value, but being able to not think about switching stuff off at the mains is an added bonus.
