Energy bill saving?

[amyjones329]

Hi
I'm thinkng aout saving money on electric bills. It would be really helpful if you can share any tips or tricks you might have for saving on electricity bills? Thanks!

 

[TransAmDan]

Seems to be many variable tarrifs out there and no matter what supplier you go for there isn't any real savings.
So really the way to save is to use less.
Turn off things when not in use. Maybe only put enough water in the kettle for the drink you are making.
Shorter showers.
If you have an imersion heater, see about turning it off at times.

Hard to know where to save. A smart meter is usually free from your energy supplier, and can highlight what is using power in the house as you can turn things off and see how much money the house is using per hour.

Adding solar to the house has helped. On a sunny day it is possible to cook a roast dinner without using any electric from the supplier. Solar is costly, expecially if you want to add battery storage. The storage is good in the way you can use the energy when you want rather than waiting for the sun to come out.

 

[amyjones329]

Seems to be many variable tarrifs out there and no matter what supplier you go for there isn't any real savings.
So really the way to save is to use less.
Turn off things when not in use. Maybe only put enough water in the kettle for the drink you are making.
Shorter showers.
If you have an imersion heater, see about turning it off at times.

Hard to know where to save. A smart meter is usually free from your energy supplier, and can highlight what is using power in the house as you can turn things off and see how much money the house is using per hour.

Adding solar to the house has helped. On a sunny day it is possible to cook a roast dinner without using any electric from the supplier. Solar is costly, expecially if you want to add battery storage. The storage is good in the way you can use the energy when you want rather than waiting for the sun to come out.

I'm also thinking about solar panels. But it seems to be too expensive for the moment. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has already gone down this route and what their experience was like.

 

[saleen 192]

if you have a smart meter with the unit that plugs into a socket and has a small screen like the picture for reference
(loads of different ones out there now) remember these use power as well depending on your tariffs it was about £3 a year before the cost of living crisis struck, These are good at showing you how much an appliance is using. to help you budget,

basic rule of thumb also is anything with a heating element is what uses the most electric

Appliance cost checker | Consumer Council

Use these tables to help you understand how much money your appliances are costing to use and which are costing you the most money.

www.consumercouncil.org.uk

i.e. a 8.5kw electric shower cost about 50p to 70p to have a shower each day depending on your tariff,
so if we say for example 70p x 7days that £4.90 plus vat 5% plus your standing charge say 55p, at £3.85 that = £9.18 for the week just for a shower for 1 person

your bill should show you your kw price and your daily standing charge ,

IE, 37pkw so a 3kw kettle (some kettles are less ) so if you boiled a kettle for an hour (i know roughly 5mins to boil a kettle) that £1.11 for 1 hour, just a few examples to try and help explain, it all depends on your tariff and what you are using day and night,

 

[amyjones329]

if you have a smart meter with the unit that plugs into a socket and has a small screen like the picture for reference
(loads of different ones out there now) remember these use power as well depending on your tariffs it was about £3 a year before the cost of living crisis struck, These are good at showing you how much an appliance is using. to help you budget,

basic rule of thumb also is anything with a heating element is what uses the most electric

Appliance cost checker | Consumer Council

Use these tables to help you understand how much money your appliances are costing to use and which are costing you the most money.

www.consumercouncil.org.uk

i.e. a 8.5kw electric shower cost about 50p to 70p to have a shower each day depending on your tariff,
so if we say for example 70p x 7days that £4.90 plus vat 5% plus your standing charge say 55p, at £3.85 that = £9.18 for the week just for a shower for 1 person

your bill should show you your kw price and your daily standing charge ,

IE, 37pkw so a 3kw kettle (some kettles are less ) so if you boiled a kettle for an hour (i know roughly 5mins to boil a kettle) that £1.11 for 1 hour, just a few examples to try and help explain, it all depends on your tariff and what you are using day and night,

Thanks for explaining. This is very useful information for me to have so we can properly manage our energy usage and make sure that we are not paying more than we need to.

 

[renchero]

i have got one of these things. the only way i see it saving energy is by not plugging it in, so i don't use it. if you are not using it turn it off, you don't need a device to tell you. could stop driving a V8 but that's going a bit too far. i have one of those solar water heaters i am very disappointed with its performance. best advice i can give on them don't bother.

 

[custisr992]

Jumping in on this older post because I’ve recently been trying to cut my own bills. Swapping to LED bulbs and using smart plugs made a bigger difference than I expected. I also found out my old fridge was eating power, so replacing it helped too. Anyone here tried those energy‑use monitors that show what each appliance costs to run?

 

[TransAmDan]

I have been using Kasa enery monitoring plugs. This one is on the 3D printer. Not had it on this plug for the full 30 days, so that reading will be misleading. It is interesting to know that on average over the past 7 days its 2.4kwh. So around £1 per day to run the 3D printer non stop.

I have a simular plug on the garage dehumidifier too.. Very useful for monitoring things, all connected over Wifi so you can read on an app on the phone. You can also set up timers and remotely turn on/off that plug. I do have the garage dehumidifer on a timer, comes on at 8.30am and goes off at 10pm. So I have a balance of keeping the dehumidity down and saving power. As the days get longer the solar will become stronger and effectivly running the dehumidifier for nothing. Although during the summer there will be little humidity anyway. Could we a rainy day I put a wet car in there. Although I'm switching the power of the dehumidifier, when it is on, it only actually runs when the humidity is below a certain threshold.

 

[custisr992]

I cut mine by switching to LED bulbs, turning stuff off at the wall, and running big appliances at off‑peak times. A smart plug helped me spot power hungry devices.