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

[Karl Masks]

By the way, does anyone know if it's cost effective to run a laptop on battery and then charge it. In other words, do I save anything by running off battery for 3 hours and then plugging it in to charge it? Or do you lose the savings from running off battery by any extra juice required to charge?

 

[gentlegreen]

You will wear the batteries out quicker.

 

[Saunders]

My savings?

Mainly replacing a 20 year old fridge-freezer that was eating around 2kwh a day, the new one only uses 0.6kwh a day and will pay for itself in about 18 months, then using a air-fryer instead of the oven.

Oh gosh sorry I didn’t mean ‘where have your savings come from’ but ‘where has all my electric gone these last few days?’
Interesting you mention fridge and oven though as they’re things I’m thinking of monitoring

 

[Karl Masks]

You will wear the batteries out quicker.

I'm more concerned about reducing energy bills right now

 

[two sheds]

I'd have thought charging/discharging the battery would take more than keeping it topped up so you're just (I assume) supplying the computer. Which did something on this recently though. I shall look.

Eta:

Charging a laptop differently, what's the price difference?​

We took four different laptops of different ages and measured the kilowatt hours of energy used during a 24-hour period for three popular charging scenarios:

Plugged in We left each laptop plugged in for a full 24-hour period

Charging when you need it (20% to 100%) Over an eight-hour working day we put each laptop onto charge every time it got down to 20% battery remaining. We left it on charge and then unplugged the charger every time each laptop reached 100% fully charged. After the eight hours we unplugged the charger for a further 16 hours, then took our measurements.

Charging when you need it (30% to 80%) Over an eight-hour working day we put each laptop onto charge every time it got down to 30% battery remaining. We left it on charge and then unplugged the charger every time each laptop reached 80% fully charged. After the eight hours we unplugged the charger for a further 16 hours, then took our measurements.

Here's what we found:

Method of charging	Average yearly cost	Yearly savings by switching from 'Plugged in' to this method
Plugged in	£7.74	n/a
Charging when you need it (20% to 100%)	£7.60	£0.14
Charging when you need it (30% to 80%)	£6.83	£0.91
Table notes: average laptop age 2.5 years, average laptop battery capacity 48.1Wh, average yearly cost - assumed a laptop is used five days a week, representing a typical working week, electricity unit price £0.34/kWh

It turns out that charging a laptop isn't one of the big energy guzzlers. Although leaving your laptop plugged in all day uses a little more energy than just charging when you need it, the yearly savings aren't huge.

The most our snapshot test showed was an average saving of 91p a year if you charge your laptop when you need it.

But if you have multiple laptops in your home, or feel charging your laptop in the cheapest way possible is a habit you can change, there are savings to be made.

Shows how much I know

Eta - but if it does wear the battery out faster as GG says I'd imagine that would be fair bit higher cost.

 

[two sheds]

From the same Which e-mail:

Given that changing the way you charge your laptop isn't going to make a significant saving as energy bills rise, we asked Emily Seymour, Which? sustainability editor, what changes would make a difference around the home.

Emily said: 'For most households the biggest energy guzzlers through the winter are central heating and appliances such as tumble dryers.'

Her advice on the best place to focus your energy saving? 'Making sure your home is as insulated and draught-proofed as possible, so that the heat you generate stays inside.

'Many households could also make savings while staying warm by lowering their boiler's flow temperature,' Emily says.

And if you find you're unable to pay your energy bills this winter? 'Contact your energy provider,' Emily says. 'It's obliged to help you with a payment plan you can afford, and may be able to grant you access to hardship funds or other financial support.'

 

[kabbes]

Does anyone know — with these power use plug in thingies, if I have multiple ring circuits, do I need to check each ring separately?

 

[gentlegreen]

Does anyone know — with these power use plug in thingies, if I have multiple ring circuits, do I need to check each ring separately?

You're testing the individual appliances

 

[kabbes]

You're testing the individual appliances

Ah, I misunderstood how they worked. So what do I do — plug the appliance in through the tester? Tricky for things in difficult to reach places, of course, but so be it

 

[gentlegreen]

Ah, I misunderstood how they worked. So what do I do — plug the appliance in through the tester? Tricky for things in difficult to reach places, of course, but so be it

It's even hard to tell exactly what the power limit is - certainly no more than 13 amps and not bloody great inductive loads ..
I was careful to run my kettle and toaster separately when evaluating breakfast energy use.
I'm probably not going to try to run my immersion heater through mine !
My house runs on extension cables

 

[kabbes]

The big thing I want to test is the storage heater oven.

 

[2hats]

Mine has max current (15A) and max power (3750VA ie Watts) indicated on the reverse. I'd only use them to measure one [wall socket] appliance at a time. If you want to measure anything more juice hungry then use an inductive meter ('energy monitor') at the consumer unit (one which clamps around the incoming live).

 

[gentlegreen]

There are apparently some fit and forget ones available in some places - remote control sockets that also log usage data which is accessible via WIFI ...

 

[gentlegreen]

Mine has served its purpose for random testing of things - I have a ballpark figure for cooking etc .. and for the winter will be used just to monitor the fan heater in my bedroom.

I dug out my collection of temp control modules and mains relays so I will go proactive now - certainly when it comes to better regulating things like my my immersion heater temperature - not that i use it much...

 

[teuchter]

Mine has max current (15A) and max power (3750VA ie Watts) indicated on the reverse. I'd only use them to measure one [wall socket] appliance at a time. If you want to measure anything more juice hungry then use an inductive meter ('energy monitor') at the consumer unit (one which fits around the incoming live).

That's what i have... and if I want to see what an individual appliance is using, I just switch it on/off and see how much the total energy use goes up and down by. Can test light fittings the same way (which you can't do with a socket plug in thing).

 

[existentialist]

Energy is just so fundamental that we don't even really consider it. Not being able to watch TV or netflix is one thing; a simple trope for Tories to use to beat the poor. But not being able to boil a kettle or power a fridge. Most people's landlines, if they have them, are mains powered. Laptop chargers for people filling in their UC diaries. Charging mobile phones. Making emergency calls. Reading a book by nightlight. Having a fucking warm bath. While I agree that criminality will kick in first, people sat in the dark with nothing else to do in a major town or city will fucking burn the place down. The Tories are playing with fire if they think they can let people go this way

I've always wondered - and been grateful never to have to find out - how people on keycards and the like manage with refrigerators. I mean, sure, you can switch them off for a few hours and they'll still be fine, but it's not really the thing, is it?

Some basic level of electricity supply ought to be as much of a right as sanitation and fresh water.

 

[kabbes]

Mine has max current (15A) and max power (3750VA ie Watts) indicated on the reverse. I'd only use them to measure one [wall socket] appliance at a time. If you want to measure anything more juice hungry then use an inductive meter ('energy monitor') at the consumer unit (one which clamps around the incoming live).

Do you mean this kind of thing?

AmazonCommercial 400A AC Clamp Meter, 2000 Count https://amzn.eu/6W2mPqQ

 

[moochedit]

I'd have thought charging/discharging the battery would take more than keeping it topped up so you're just (I assume) supplying the computer. Which did something on this recently though. I shall look.

Eta:


Shows how much I know

Eta - but if it does wear the battery out faster as GG says I'd imagine that would be fair bit higher cost.

Have they done a similar test for phones?

Best way to save money with phone/laptop charging is plug it in at work!

 

[emanymton]

I'd have thought charging/discharging the battery would take more than keeping it topped up so you're just (I assume) supplying the computer. Which did something on this recently though. I shall look.

Eta:


Shows how much I know

Eta - but if it does wear the battery out faster as GG says I'd imagine that would be fair bit higher cost.

Apart from the fact that the saving is pretty minimal the plugged in scenario is not comparable to the other two as it was over 24 hours while the others were only over 8 hours.

 

[moochedit]

I've just checked, and for some reason OVO customers paying by DD, are getting it as a refund to bank accounts rather than a credit to the bills.

Just had my ovo statement by email for july to september. Can't see anything in it about the £66 or how it will be paid. Or anything about my DD reducing (which an earlier email said it would reduce). It shows me about £300 in credit. Not sure if there is more if i log in. Will do that in a bit.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Just had my ovo statement by email for july to september. Can't see anything in it about the £66 or how it will be paid. Or anything about my DD reducing (which an earlier email said it would reduce). It shows me about £300 in credit. Not sure if there is more if i log in. Will do that in a bit.

How they will do it depends on how you pay your bills, all explained on this page -

Energy Bills Support Scheme I OVO

The scheme gave you a £400 discount to help with your bills. Here’s everything you need to know about how it worked.

www.ovoenergy.com

 

[moochedit]

How they will do it depends on how you pay your bills, all explained on this page -

Energy Bills Support Scheme I OVO

The scheme gave you a £400 discount to help with your bills. Here’s everything you need to know about how it worked.

www.ovoenergy.com

Cheers. Will have a read.

 

[moochedit]

How they will do it depends on how you pay your bills, all explained on this page -

Energy Bills Support Scheme I OVO

The scheme gave you a £400 discount to help with your bills. Here’s everything you need to know about how it worked.

www.ovoenergy.com

Ok. Thanks for that. As i pay by DD it sounds like i will get paid the refund to my bank account. Will keep an eye on my bank app statement. Why they don't just reduce the DD i don't know but i guess it has same effect in the end.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

It's quite depressing looking at the smart meter since the latest rises and seeing our daily spend go up so much.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I knew gas had gone up by more than electric, so I've just done a comparison between what I was paying per kwh in Jan. to now - electric up by around 75%, but the killer - gas is up by around 165%

Even more motivation to save on heating.

 

[Ranbay]

This is so bad now we have had to get LED grow lights for the tent....

 

[Karl Masks]

Just had my ovo statement by email for july to september. Can't see anything in it about the £66 or how it will be paid. Or anything about my DD reducing (which an earlier email said it would reduce). It shows me about £300 in credit. Not sure if there is more if i log in. Will do that in a bit.

isn't the first payment this month?

 

[teuchter]

Do you mean this kind of thing?

AmazonCommercial 400A AC Clamp Meter, 2000 Count https://amzn.eu/6W2mPqQ

You can also get the type where there's a display unit separate from the bit that clips around the wire at the fusebox - then you can have it sat somewhere visible that you walk past frequently, and be continually obsessive about how much per you're using.

 

[gentlegreen]

This is so bad now we have had to get LED grow lights for the tent....

Yes, the good quality high power ones are finally a cost-effective improvement.
I'm only raising seedlings so I will stick with my somewhat crappy LED strips next year, but will put the whole lot on a timer.
It was a shock to learn my 12 volt 10 amp power supplies burn 11 watts just by themselves.

 

[moochedit]

isn't the first payment this month?

Yeah that would explain it.

Also having read cupid_stunt 's link again it seems that they refund the £66 to your bank account once the DD has "cleared" so i think they are doing it that way to discourage people from cancelling their DD's.