What reductions in electricity have you made?

stumuz · Post by **stumuz** » 26 Jan 2007, 12:59

I have today received my quarterly electricity bill, 748Kwh units below the estimated reading. This is in addition to the rebate last quarter when the energy efficiency measures had kicked in.
Last quarter monthly payment down from ?60 to ?50 , this quarter ?50 down to ?29 with a ?87 refund!!
The energy investsment certainly do work, also the gas bill will be GONE in April.
Has anyone else seen a sizeable drop in their energy bills? Any further energy saving tips to reduce electricity. The saving on gas was easy. It is the electricity that will be stubborn to get down further.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 26 Jan 2007, 14:05

I would dearly love to reduce my electricity consumption which is about 25KWH/day!

I find it very hard to understand how it is so high. I have even had the local electricity board out to check my meter - but they have confirmed it is measuring correctly. Do you have any kids stumuz? If you can point me to the thread which details your energy saving steps I would be grateful.

I have three teenagers, living in quite a large house.
I have low energy bulbs everywhere they can be fitted - a few lights use these 50W halogen bulbs - 6 in one room - I know that is a problem. I have recently replaced one unit of 3 in another room with a single low energy ceiling light.
I try to get the kids to turn off TVs, Videos, DVD-players, PS2s, phone chargers, ipods, desk lights, etc. but it is an ongoing battle.
My wife uses the washing machine and tumble dryer a lot - we have a damp climate over here and with three teenage boys......
I am regularly switching off lights and reminding the boys, but you can only say it so often......
Every time we buy any electrical applicance I always get A energy rating (I make the decisions on purchases!)
I think I am going to have to make a concerted effort to investigate the source of the problem as I am paying ?78/month and really want to reduce my usage / dependance.
One good note, it has reduced from ?88/month last year!

stumuz · Post by **stumuz** » 26 Jan 2007, 14:33

Yes, I have two girls 14 and 18, it has been like pushing water uphill trying to get them to turn off lights, don' t leave on standby etc but I think the message is getting through.
The house is a 5-bed farmhouse, done the usual things like double insulate, eco bulbs everywhere, only using the necessary ones. In the kitchen alone we had 4 items with digital displays and about 10 items with standbys. Just switching everything off accounted for a reduction of about 5.5kwh a day!
Also we fitted a new kitchen 3 years ago before we knew about peak oil, the large stainless steel electric double sized oven is a big user of juice, but by the use of hot boxes, wood burning stove it hardly goes on.
Another investment, which seems to have paid for itself quickly, is heavy curtains with cotton lining on all windows. The result is we rarely (twice a week) have the central heating on and if we do, with the curtains closed it is just for a couple of hours.
Replaced all the trendy lights with one eco bulb with reflective shade, which saved 1 kwh.

Can anyone think of anything else? This is what powerswitch is all about!

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 26 Jan 2007, 14:45

snow hope wrote:I would dearly love to reduce my electricity consumption which is about 25KWH/day!

We have two toddlers and use 600KWh/quarter (6.5 a day).
Low energy bulbs and banish the tumble drier! It's rated at 2.5Kw -
the same as our kettle.

After that it is death by a thousand tiny cuts. You could get those
remote controlled power expansion boards, get all your kid's
electronics plugged in via them, and then put electronic locks on the
doors using the same circuit...

Probably cheaper to buy a power meter (too lazy to find the thread)
and see what is actually using most power. I've just replaced the
central heating pump. The new one uses 15Watts less power. But
running 12 hours/day, 9 months a year that's 50KWh - another 2%
saved.

Pippa · Post by **Pippa** » 26 Jan 2007, 15:08

When I first checked my electricity usage I realised to my horror that if we were to live on the electricity that could be gained on solar panels a day 3ish KW we would all be stuffed by 8.30 a.m!!!! The only things being used at that time of day were electric shower (very bad 8.5 kw) kettle, stove/toaster/oven.

We have reduced electricity consumption quite alot, generally short showers, not so much tumble drying (sometimes unavoidable, sometimes laziness). I used to use an electric panel heater for the office, now I seldom put it on (used for a few hours only this winter so far). I will have another look and check our daily consumption - haven't done it for a while. Bills are down from ?65 per month to around ?50.00.

I'm spurred on now to get more cost reductions. Well done stumuz!

Cabrone · Post by **Cabrone** » 26 Jan 2007, 16:00

I would like to see power companies putting in real time price feeds into everyone's house. If everyone had an easily visible meter that showed how much power was currently being used and a current pence per kWh figure showing how much it was costing I think that usage patterns would be altered.

The trouble with the current billing system is that we get bills that are somehow averaged out over 3 months but the real cost of power changes every half hour. The grid surges for a couple of hours between 5-7 each day which means that a huge amount of capacity (around 20GW) is needed for just 2 hours supply, bad economics and bad for the environment.

I have a clock in my house that picks up a radio signal from an atomic clock somewhere in the UK. This means that it is as accurate as an atomic clock and never needs adjusting. Why can't the power companies use a similar system to beam price info into our homes and then bill us automatically based on what the meter has clocked up.

It would improve our national environmental performance with regards to generation as we could get rid of all that inefficient plant that sits there doing nothing for 22 hours a day.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 26 Jan 2007, 16:17

I have a clock in my house that picks up a radio signal from an atomic clock somewhere in the UK. This means that it is as accurate as an atomic clock and never needs adjusting. Why can't the power companies use a similar system to beam price info into our homes and then bill us automatically based on what the meter has clocked up.

They wouldn'd have to beam anything, just send the information out on the grid to a mains modem. They could read meters in the same way.

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 26 Jan 2007, 16:20

There are lots of tips in this old thread:

http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=634

I found it very helpful to get a power meter from maplin.co.uk.

I have also used these to switch off things where the sockets are inaccessible.

The price of the power meter has doubled since I bought mine but the remove switch is cheaper.

monster · Post by **monster** » 26 Jan 2007, 20:33

Snow Hope

You can get CFL bulbs for Halogen GU10 lights - see the 9w bulbs on this page - I have bought them they are fine - the light is a bit too white so I have replaced three out of four in the bathroom....

http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=4

Ballard · Post by **Ballard** » 26 Jan 2007, 21:07

If everyone had an easily visible meter that showed how much power was currently being used and a current pence per kWh figure showing how much it was costing I think that usage patterns would be altered.

I use one of these, however heating is currently bust so electricity consumption has gone through the roof for the mo.

http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/produc ... ts_id=1194

http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?hl= ... &scoring=p

rabbit_hop · Post by **rabbit_hop** » 26 Jan 2007, 21:12

Inspiring post, stumuz. Not had my combined gas/electricity bill from Scottish Power yet; it's due any day. Been trying to reduce consumption as far as possible, but the increased price of power this year compared to last year will probably mean I'll be paying the same as before!

Things like using the tumble dryer are obvious no-nos - people who visit me the day after washday are greeted by festoons of white sheets everywhere - and there are the other obvious improvements such as replacing the light bulbs with energy-saving ones. I don't have many 'leisure' electricals, and those I do have are sufficiently ancient - this PC excepted - not to have a stand-by setting. Once I'm done with using something, off it goes at the wall.

Setting the GCH thermostat at 15 rather than 21, and running it for 90min. a day instead of six hours, has also helped cut down on gas use. The cooler environment took a bit of getting used to, though... a few double-knit woollen jerseys have proved a wise investment!

Regards

Ballard · Post by **Ballard** » 26 Jan 2007, 21:24

people who visit me the day after washday are greeted by festoons of white sheets everywhere

Be careful about condensation !, you might need to open all your windows to ensure that all that water doesn't cause damp and mold growth inside your property.

Or are you drying outside (its very hard in this weather unless you live on top of a hill.)

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 26 Jan 2007, 21:57

monster wrote:Snow Hope

You can get CFL bulbs for Halogen GU10 lights - see the 9w bulbs on this page - I have bought them they are fine - the light is a bit too white so I have replaced three out of four in the bathroom....

http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=4

I've used these in a bathroom too. As monster says, they are a bit white for kitchen/living room use but they're fine for a bathroom. They take about 30 secs to reach full brightness.

The Carbon Trust person we had to advise us at work said that if you dim halogens by 10%, you save 30% of the power. A simpler solution is to replace 50W bulbs with 20W ones.

rabbit_hop · Post by **rabbit_hop** » 26 Jan 2007, 22:32

Ballard wrote:
people who visit me the day after washday are greeted by festoons of white sheets everywhere
Be careful about condensation !, you might need to open all your windows to ensure that all that water doesn't cause damp and mold growth inside your property.

Thanks for the advice, Ballard. The place I live is quite new and is well-ventilated, with little flaps at the top of each window (on windy nights I find it sometimes a bit too well-ventilated) - although I had to buy a dehumidifier for one room soon after moving in. Running it on minimum setting has fixed the problem, and my recent innovation of drying stuff indoors (in another room) doesn't seem to have made things any worse.

The only bugbear I have about this flat is that its sitting room sticks out and thus has three external walls - well, parts of them are external. The main window is huge, and reaches almost to ground level. It faces north-east, giving a panoramic view of the car park, and every time we have heavy rain (which is very often indeed) all manner of horrifying insects and garden creatures take refuge on the window sill, a few minutes' slither up from the flowerbed below.

Anyone got a good recipe for garden snails?

Cabrone · Post by **Cabrone** » 26 Jan 2007, 23:31

Ballard

I've had a look at the electrisave gadget and it looks great for power consumption but as far as I'm aware you have to punch in a pence per KWh price in yourself to estimate your bill.

I'm interested in having a meter that the power company supplies with real time price info that I can read any time of day and night so that I can work out when I turn on my washing machine etc.

Power prices on the wholesale market change every 1/2 hour and yesterday (25th) prices ranged from 1.809p/Kwh at 04:30 to 7.552p/KWh at 17:30 i.e. the 17:30 price was 317% more than the 04:30 price. Until they give out this info the grid is going to peak at 17.30 every day and large inefficiencies will result.

Why are we not given this info in our houses?