Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

MatsyLR · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:23

V F said:
Set top boxes aren't that much, maybe 40 - 60w during operation. 5 - 10w in standby? The TV will be more than a top box.

Sky boxes don't have a standby mode, they never turn off.
You may think they do as they trick you into thinking it does, but it never actually goes off, plenty of tests done already on it.

Other set top box devices (along with everything else) should be tested (hand ontop is usually all thats needed). Something as stupid as having a PLUG in the socket, even without something plugged into the other end will be drawing power as it will be warm to the touch.

LabR@t · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:24

Put your hand in it I bet it's warm

V F · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:25

MatsyLR said:
Sky boxes don't have a standby mode, they never turn off.
You may think they do as they trick you into thinking it does, but it never actually goes off, plenty of tests done already on it.

There is a full standby mode. The Eco mode, it'll go full red mode but takes 5 minutes to fully operate. It powers down between 2 - 6am or so. The hard drive shuts down in this mode. No drive sounds at all.

MatsyLR · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:28

V F said:
There is a full standby mode. The Eco mode, it'll go full red mode but takes 5 minutes to fully operate. It powers down between 2 - 6am or so. The hard drive shuts down in this mode. No drive sounds at all.

So it has fake standby mode for a very small portion of the day (or in this case night), kind of pointless.
I imagine most people think it goes into "standby" automaticaly after a short time not in use as surely that just...makes sense?. Also how many do you think even have it in Eco mode? I bet its not the default setting (never used a Sky box)

The general public need to be very careful with standby costs as we (in general) have took for granted many things up until this point. For me the only thing left on (including plugs) at night is the fridge/freezer, cats water fountain, alarm and 1 plug for my phone charger. Everything else is physically off.

V F · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:36

No, it's not the default setting. It's standard/active that is the default setting so it's interactive whenever. The off orange light that goes in normal standby.

I always heard the box fire up at 6am when I used Eco mode and you'd hear it power down about 2am. As the light will go full red in this mode.

Services - Options - Sky+ Setup
On Standby Mode there are now 3 options :-

Eco: Reduced power overnight, standby mode when not in use for the rest of the day (4 hours of inactivity during the day or 2 hours after 11pm)

Active: Standby mode when not in use. Same time spans as for Eco mode

None: Stays on, unless you turn place the STB in Standby mode by pressing the on/off button or place it in deep sleep by pressing the on/off button for around 5 seconds

scarps · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:39

LabR@t said:
Put your hand in it I bet it's warm

Warm? Try hot, you can fry an egg on the sky q boxes.
Edit. Though having said that my mates isn't anywhere near as hot as mine just feeling it now.

MatsyLR · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:43

scarps said:
Warm? Try hot, you can fry an egg on the sky q boxes.

Think of it as bonus for giving them a silly amount of money for the service they provide (available MUCH cheaper elsewhere for what is argueably a better experience). No need to use your heating or heat up a frying pan, just hang around the box. Sky subcription should be one of the lowest priority things nowdays.

robgmun · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:48

Locky said:
We use about 20 to 25kwh a day I think. Average 4 bed with 6 people.

I'm using between 17-20 per day as well. I have no idea what to do, I've changed all the lights to LED's, and I've turned off the immersion heater in the water tank. i've gone through my house with a fine-toothed comb and cut out and switched off all my vampire devices. I must have reduced my usage by at least 2-3kwn per day, but my smart meter is still saying I'm using exactly the same as before as if I've done nothing!! I'm going to watch it for another week and if it doesn't fall then I'm calling EDF as they could be ripping me off, laying about my usage or the smart reader is reading wrongly

robgmun · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:49

Surveyor said:
I can't really do anything with that, if you find your annual figures (gas and electric separately) please update the thread.

Here's a tip, multiply it by 365

squerble · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:53

robgmun said:
I'm using between 17-20 per day as well. I have no idea what to do, I've changed all the lights to LED's, and I've turned off the immersion heater in the water tank. i've gone through my house with a fine-toothed comb and cut out and switched off all my vampire devices. I must have reduced my usage by at least 2-3kwn per day, but my smart meter is still saying I'm using exactly the same as before as if I've done nothing!! I'm going to watch it for another week and if it doesn't fall then I'm calling EDF as they could be ripping me off, laying about my usage or the smart reader is reading wrongly

Presuming you have others in your house... some stern words will surely need to be had?

ci_newman · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:55

robgmun said:
I'm using between 17-20 per day as well. I have no idea what to do, I've changed all the lights to LED's, and I've turned off the immersion heater in the water tank. i've gone through my house with a fine-toothed comb and cut out and switched off all my vampire devices. I must have reduced my usage by at least 2-3kwn per day, but my smart meter is still saying I'm using exactly the same as before as if I've done nothing!! I'm going to watch it for another week and if it doesn't fall then I'm calling EDF as they could be ripping me off, laying about my usage or the smart reader is reading wrongly

There must still be some vampire devices somewhere assuming no EV (sorry I haven't read your history in the thread).

4-bed house here with 4 people (average use of washing machine and dishwasher daily) and we max out around 8kwh / day unless we've done multiple loads of laundry. Are your white goods all A-rated for efficiency and are you using the economy modes and washing at 30c?

robgmun · 28 Aug 2022 at 18:58

squerble said:
Presuming you have others in your house... some stern words will surely need to be had?

That's not it, just me and the wife, our daily habits and not changed one bit. But the way we use electricity has. So we should have seen a substantial drop in daily usage on the EDF website by now, we started to make huge changes last weekend, but the latest figures up til Thursday say we're still using the same amount. Frankly it seems a little fishy now

pinkpound · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:07

scarps said:
Warm? Try hot, you can fry an egg on the sky q boxes.
Edit. Though having said that my mates isn't anywhere near as hot as mine just feeling it now.

When we had the heat wave I turned the mini boxes off the heat from them was awful

lsg1r · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:08

V F said:
Set top boxes aren't that much, maybe 40 - 60w during operation. 5 - 10w in standby? The TV will be more than a top box.

They were on holiday and those items were all that were on, no tv.

Surveyor · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:10

robgmun said:
Here's a tip, multiply it by 365

Cool. If you're so clever do that and tell him with reasonable accuracy what his actual cost is going to be for gas and electricity.

Locky said:
So I pay 300 a month now and come April that expect me to play 1082 a month..

Surveyor said:

What's your actual usage for gas and electricity in kWh?

Locky said:

We use about 20 to 25kwh a day I think. Average 4 bed with 6 people.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Broken Hope · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:11

Nelly said:
I guess this is accurate? EDF is increasing prices by 54% over in the UK as well, I guess that helps keep the French prices down . . .

EDF are suing the French Governement due to losses.

EDF sues French government for £7bn after being forced to sell energy at a loss

Company has to sell power at prices below market rates as ministers try to tackle cost of living crisis and support households

amp.theguardian.com

bigmike20vt · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:12

Zenduri said:
Yeah the increase is lower because the French gov has spent BILLIONS in taxpayers money to artificially keep it low. Who do you think will end up paying for the BILLIONS spent?

us in part probably. private run essential services I am not a fan of but what ever..... but at least if they were British companies that would be something.

robgmun · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:14

ci_newman said:
There must still be some vampire devices somewhere assuming no EV (sorry I haven't read your history in the thread).

4-bed house here with 4 people (average use of washing machine and dishwasher daily) and we max out around 8kwh / day unless we've done multiple loads of laundry. Are your white goods all A-rated for efficiency and are you using the economy modes and washing at 30c?

no EV

All white goods are rated for at least A-rated. We use the washing machine once every 2 days or so, rated at 0.49Kwh every use. The fridge pulls 80w when running but it's only on to maintain temp (about a 3rd of the time), so that's 0.64kwh per day. Unless someone is stealing electricity from us or the meter is faulty then I don't see how we're pulling on average 18kwh per day

The immersion heater in the water tank was pulling 6kwh per day but we turned that off completely and using the boiler with some clever timings to heat the water 3 times a day for 20mins to keep the tank full of hot water

So i was hoping to for a 30-40% drop in usage overall but it hasn't happened. Compared to the previous month the usage is exactly the same which is baffling.

Simon · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:20

Is the boiler gas or elec

silversurfer · 28 Aug 2022 at 19:21

Broken Hope said:
EDF are suing the French Governement due to losses.

We chose the Chinese to build nuclear instead of EDF think it was. Then decided opps nope we'll use RR. Uk policy has been a muppet show for at least twenty years, thats how long I can remember the idea of energy security being not optional but vital. How can you have a defence budget but not think about the energy to defend with, politics aint the brightest idea factory sadly. Now we intend to literally use military technology to power the country, would be nice and pretty ironic to be bailed out that way from our structural ineptitude.