My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?

[WouldBe]

As with using the dishwasher on shorter cycles, I've taken to doing a lot of my laundry on the '30minutes' setting and being more economical with the powder, especially if there's only a half load.
Every few washes I give the towels & sheets their full "official" cycle.

Looking forward to some decent weather, so I can do most of the drying on the line.

I do my washing on a quick wash but for some strange reason the washer doesn't do a spin before the rinse cycle, it just adds more water. So I end up having to do extra rinse cycles to get all the soap out.

 

[MrCurry]

I know smart meters have a bad reputation, but since we got one I can access via my supplier’s website hourly consumption data in KWh for each day of the month, which does help track down where the power goes. For example if you know you had the oven on for an hour, or the tumbledryer, etc then by comparing the consumption with the previous day you can see exactly how much was used.

For lowering overall consumption my top tip is to kill the standby power. Everyone thinks first of the high power devices like washing machine, fridge, etc.. but it’s those things which sit there 24/7 using a small amount which tick the meter higher that you can do something about. The TV and all those little set top boxes with their LEDs on all night and all day are using more than you think even when you don’t use them. I got an “EON powerdown” for £6.99 from Amazon years ago which lowers the standby consumption to only 0.5W - little things like this do help.

 

[WouldBe]

Or you could just turn them off at the wall when not in use.

 

[existentialist]

Or you could just turn them off at the wall when not in use.

Where's the fun in that?

 

[MrCurry]

Or you could just turn them off at the wall when not in use.

The trouble is people don’t do that, because it requires effort and for it to be remembered. the point of the power saver devices is that once set up they are convenient to use, so they actually deliver a useful power saving, as opposed to the theoretical power saving you get if you can remember/ be bothered to switch on and off at the wall all the time.

 

[WouldBe]

Not exactly hard to switch them off. As for remembering I suffer from memory loss and can manage it.

 

[two sheds]

remember what?

 

[High Voltage]

I know smart meters have a bad reputation, but since we got one I can access via my supplier’s website hourly consumption data in KWh for each day of the month, which does help track down where the power goes. For example if you know you had the oven on for an hour, or the tumbledryer, etc then by comparing the consumption with the previous day you can see exactly how much was used.
View attachment 315333
For lowering overall consumption my top tip is to kill the standby power. Everyone thinks first of the high power devices like washing machine, fridge, etc.. but it’s those things which sit there 24/7 using a small amount which tick the meter higher that you can do something about. The TV and all those little set top boxes with their LEDs on all night and all day are using more than you think even when you don’t use them. I got an “EON powerdown” for £6.99 from Amazon years ago which lowers the standby consumption to only 0.5W - little things like this do help.

On one plug I've got a 10 gang adaptor, running:-

• phone base unit / charging point (land line)
• 2 "boxes" that are needed for the fibreoptic broadband
• Sonos speaker
• NAS box

I've put one of my measuring plugs on it and it's been checking the power used for the last 2hr 30min and power used is 0.0053KWh, so in a day, maybe that entire plug socket will use 0.060KWh, so an estimated annual consumption of 21.9KWh

Now, each one of those is either being used OR is on standby, so I can switch off the Sonos speaker and the NAS box, the others will have to stay on

I'll re-check the reading tomorrow, for a 24 hr reading and then I'll switch the 2 units off that I can switch off

 

[Ranbay]

The trouble is people don’t do that, because it requires effort and for it to be remembered. the point of the power saver devices is that once set up they are convenient to use, so they actually deliver a useful power saving, as opposed to the theoretical power saving you get if you can remember/ be bothered to switch on and off at the wall all the time.

I Use a Tapo plug on my boiler and then can turn it on and off from my phone.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Tapo-Wireless-Required-P100/dp/B07Z942YWS/ref=asc_df_B07Z942YWS/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=394317030617&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9953460103267884720&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007413&hvtargid=pla-847766584784&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=80755971054&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=394317030617&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9953460103267884720&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007413&hvtargid=pla-847766584784

when i wake in the morning, i turn the heating on from bed, and then refuse to get out till its warm.

saves me loads.

 

[Chz]

I know smart meters have a bad reputation, but since we got one I can access via my supplier’s website hourly consumption data in KWh for each day of the month, which does help track down where the power goes. For example if you know you had the oven on for an hour, or the tumbledryer, etc then by comparing the consumption with the previous day you can see exactly how much was used.
View attachment 315333
For lowering overall consumption my top tip is to kill the standby power. Everyone thinks first of the high power devices like washing machine, fridge, etc.. but it’s those things which sit there 24/7 using a small amount which tick the meter higher that you can do something about. The TV and all those little set top boxes with their LEDs on all night and all day are using more than you think even when you don’t use them. I got an “EON powerdown” for £6.99 from Amazon years ago which lowers the standby consumption to only 0.5W - little things like this do help.

By EU law (and I doubt we get anything different here), standby mode for anything made since 2013 must be 0.5W.
The baseline of the house here - which includes router and NAS and appliances when not actually running but plugged in - is under 100W. There's probably not a lot I can cut out of that without turning off things that are inconvenient to switch on and off (like the router and the NAS). The use for the year ends up at 3900kWh.

 

[High Voltage]

By EU law (and I doubt we get anything different here), standby mode for anything made since 2013 must be 0.5W.
The baseline of the house here - which includes router and NAS and appliances when not actually running but plugged in - is under 100W. There's probably not a lot I can cut out of that without turning off things that are inconvenient to switch on and off (like the router and the NAS). The use for the year ends up at 3900kWh.

HOW??//?/? - again, not disputing this but 100W, so a daily "background" consumption of 2.4KWh

I'm currently looking at switching off the cats drinking fountains / cats feeding stations and they don't use 10w in a 24hr period - there's almost nothing I can turn off and my daily BACKGROUND number is 6KWh daily (or at least in the region of)

 

[High Voltage]

Yunno, short of going plug by plug / room by room comparison with you I just don't know where the power is being used, I really don't

 

[oryx]

ours is going up from £135 pcm to £210

 

[Saunders]

Yunno, short of going plug by plug / room by room comparison with you I just don't know where the power is being used, I really don't

Same here. I haven’t given it proper rigorous thought and systematic checking everything as am a bit distracted with other stuff just now but it’s just me and the dog. I don’t watch telly, do laundry once a week (if that) oil fired heating and hot water, don’t cook much as it’s just me and him. Am baffled.

 

[Chz]

HOW??//?/? - again, not disputing this but 100W, so a daily "background" consumption of 2.4KWh

I'm currently looking at switching off the cats drinking fountains / cats feeding stations and they don't use 10w in a 24hr period - there's almost nothing I can turn off and my daily BACKGROUND number is 6KWh daily (or at least in the region of)

Router and NAS are about 10-15W each, cordless phones I've measured at 5W a piece sitting there charging infinitely. The smart meter itself isn't a standby device and draws a few watts, the boiler uses a few as it's wireless. There's an air filter in the asthmatic child's room that, while it's a pretty low-power device, runs 24/7. It adds up.

Edit: Maybe I misunderstood, I thought you were saying it was high. When I say "background", I mean when the compressors on the fridge and freezer are off, the boiler isn't running, etc. Basically when everything is in its lowest power mode that isn't off. The number I posted for our yearly consumption comes in around 10kWh/day.

 

[cupid_stunt]

ours is going up from £135 pcm to £210

Sadly a 50% increase is about right.

Although you have started from a high amount, so that does look shocking*.

*ETA - pun not intended.

 

[High Voltage]

Router and NAS are about 10-15W each, cordless phones I've measured at 5W a piece sitting there charging infinitely. The smart meter itself isn't a standby device and draws a few watts, the boiler uses a few as it's wireless. There's an air filter in the asthmatic child's room that, while it's a pretty low-power device, runs 24/7. It adds up.

Edit: Maybe I misunderstood, I thought you were saying it was high. When I say "background", I mean when the compressors on the fridge and freezer are off, the boiler isn't running, etc. Basically when everything is in its lowest power mode that isn't off. The number I posted for our yearly consumption comes in around 10kWh/day.

Not high usage at all, this is an amazingly low usage, I just can't get my head around how I could get down to 3 x this amount

As I posted above, my lowest daily usage is around 6KWh / day so 2000KWh / year where as your background usage appears to be less than 900KWh / year - so, OK not three times but certainly half what we're using, and that's just "stuff" what I can't really turn off - I'm now starting to go through individual plugs and measuring what's using what, but when you get a plug that's running 2 x cat feeds on timers and the meter isn't registering ANYTHING over a 5 day period, then those doo dahs can't be using that much electricity. I know it all adds up but I'm now getting down to ridiculously small power usage things

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

HOW??//?/? - again, not disputing this but 100W, so a daily "background" consumption of 2.4KWh

I'm currently looking at switching off the cats drinking fountains / cats feeding stations and they don't use 10w in a 24hr period - there's almost nothing I can turn off and my daily BACKGROUND number is 6KWh daily (or at least in the region of)

Have you considered changing your username to Low Voltage?

 

[High Voltage]

And the horse you rode in on Tonto

 

[High Voltage]

 

[WouldBe]

The number I posted for our yearly consumption comes in around 10kWh/day.

mine is 5kWh a day. That's just me in the house all day long.

 

[gentlegreen]

I have to say I'm somewhat intrigued now ..
Perhaps I'll order myself a new appliance tester.

 

[cupid_stunt]

mine is 5kWh a day. That's just me in the house all day long.

Same here, that's my average daily usage, including cooking, washing machine, etc.

Although I have gas for heating & hot water, those without that option will tend to have much higher electric usage.

 

[WouldBe]

Although I have gas for heating & hot water, those without that option will tend to have much higher electric usage.

True but Chz mentioned a boiler so I presumed gas not electric.

 

[High Voltage]

As previously posted what kicked me off was my bulb protected usage of 5200KWh against an average for a 3 bed / person house (not sure which tbh) of 3200KWh and why the discrepancy

I reckon I'm now down below average but there's only two of us in a two bed cottage so would be expecting mid-high 200 0' and so far I'm nowhere near that

 

[cupid_stunt]

Oh, and my 5kWh a day is including running a dehumidifier down in my garage/work storage place, which switches on & off 24/7 as needed, which much add a fair bit to the total.

 

[WouldBe]

As previously posted what kicked me off was my bulb protected usage of 5200KWh against an average for a 3 bed / person house (not sure which tbh) of 3200KWh and why the discrepancy

I reckon I'm now down below average but there's only two of us in a two bed cottage so would be expecting mid-high 200 0' and so far I'm nowhere near that

Still seems a lot. Mine is 1800kWh per 13 months.

Might be better if you used your plug meter to monitor things over a longer time period as an hour may not give an accurate representation e.g. with a fridge/freezer it may only switch on towards the end of the hour so you don't get a true reading.

 

[High Voltage]

Still seems a lot. Mine is 1800kWh per 13 months.

Might be better if you used your plug meter to monitor things over a longer time period as an hour may not give an accurate representation e.g. with a fridge/freezer it may only switch on towards the end of the hour so you don't get a true reading.

The fridge freezer uses 1KWh /day. 365KWh give or take per year, such ties in with the quoted figure from the Web site

All bulbs are now LEDs

 

[WouldBe]

The fridge freezer uses 1KWh /day. 365KWh give or take per year, such ties in with the quoted figure from the Web site

All bulbs are now LEDs

There must be something that's using all that power. Do you have anything that's hard wired in that you can't use the power meter on?

 

[cybershot]

\

The fridge freezer uses 1KWh /day. 365KWh give or take per year, such ties in with the quoted figure from the Web site

All bulbs are now LEDs

An A++ rated Fridge/Freezer would probably half that. Obviously the cost of a new one is counter acted by it would take X amount of days to even break even, but it's worth looking at old appliances if you want to be more energy efficient in the long term. Appliances: How much do yours cost to run?