How to reduce electric costs in a home…

[psd99]

Hi, Crikey I nearly had a heart attack looking at the electric energy usage in this home in the last 3 months….

i know there is a massive problem with gas costs but the gas aspect of the bill is pretty decent considering the usage but the electric was just really too high for my liking.

the story:


- dishwasher used daily always eco mode
- oven used prob 5-8 times a week eco mode i beleive.
- washing machine on eco mode always
- lighting mostly led everywhere
- i am an it geek so I got
A nas running 24/7 along with other stuff like
Networking switches, cctv etc

- do use a tumble dryer a fair bit, i bet that costs a lot to run though.


I had a quick google to see how to save money etc but any of u got any tips

does a LED tv on standby mostly overnight cost a lot to run btw?

is there some kind of maths formula to establish the cost
Of running something?

 

[Journey]

is there some kind of maths formula to establish the cost
Of running something?

power of device in watts x hours used x kWh pricing from your supplier.

You have a smart meter with an IHD to show live usage?

 

[Maccapacca]

Tumble dryer will be eating the electric. Whilst there’s not much you can do about it in the winter. As soon as you can dry outside and inside do it. If anything my missus just will not hang anything out, the dryer is over the WM simply because of time. We have agreed that the larger items say hoodies and towels are hung out as much as possible.

One thing to check, turn everything off then see if you’re clocking up the meter. Make sure there’s nothing draining.

TVs on standby are so minor I wouldn’t concern myself about them.

 

[casper_uk]

The tumble dryers that use a heatpump are meant to use much less leccy to run.

 

[Semple]

A daily dishwasher cycle is a big flag. How many are in your household? Make sure you're reusing cups/glasses throughout the day - no point in having a new mug for each brew you make.

Oven on once a day will be costly. Are these just evening meals only, or is someone warming up some food for lunch etc?

If the NAS is separate from the CCTV then you could look at scheduling it to power off at night. Mine switches off about 1am during the week as it's never used then, it also doesn't come back on till early evening as it doesn't get watched while me and the missus are at work. So that's saving 16 hours a day of power.

 

[darael]

The two things I would start on are the washing machine and dishwasher. Only turn them on when they are at full to maximise savings. Smaller loads in today's large capacity machines could hurt your bill in the long run.

If you have space, try to put things on an airer in the bathroom with the window ajar or opened on lock. The tumble drier will definitely be eating a chunk of your bill.

 

[kindai]

Wash up in the sink

 

[bazzabear]

We got a smart meter just the other day. In general our electricity costs 'in the moment' are about 6 or 7p an hour. There are a couple of items which crank that up to around 50p an hour:

Tumble dryer
Kettle
Plug in convector heater
Dishwasher
Washing machine

Everything else has a pretty minor effect. But those are all about 2000W, and make that larger large difference.

Mind you - I haven't tried using our aircon unit which is 7500W yet.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I think our dishwasher goes on most days, sometimes more than once a day.

It is normally full also. Can't do much about that.

Washing machine goes on far to regularly, Mrs over washes things, I'm a t shirt for 5 days kinda guy, particularly during the week, working from home I don't see anyone. I do change underwear everyday.


But she washes **** far too often, and irons things that don't need to be.

Then complains how long it takes her.....and complains about the electricity bill.

TVs and such on standby use so little energy it really isn't worth turning that off, as the power supplies might not like it.

Turn PCs off when not in use, although a PC idling doesn't use too much power, don't leave them in needlessly.

Your oven use is high also, I cook everything at home, but I'd only use the oven a couple of times a week.

Only put enough water in a kettle to boil then you need.

It's the heating items that use the juice though, kettle, iron, oven, any kind of heater, hair dryer, immersion tank etc.

Dishwashers and washing machines heat water so those.

TVs radio, LED lights and such don't use much, PCs not really either unless you are hardcore gaming all day.

 

[Doobedoo]

Me and my misses live in a house without gas which means we also heat our home up with electric. Our monthly bill is roughly £60 a month in the winter, maybe a tad more if it’s cold.

We don’t heat rooms we are not in, we seldom use the tumble drier but we do have a battery which charges using off peak electric over night.

 

[psd99]

I think our dishwasher goes on most days, sometimes more than once a day.

It is normally full also. Can't do much about that.

Washing machine goes on far to regularly, Mrs over washes things, I'm a t shirt for 5 days kinda guy, particularly during the week, working from home I don't see anyone. I do change underwear everyday.


But she washes **** far too often, and irons things that don't need to be.

Then complains how long it takes her.....and complains about the electricity bill.

TVs and such on standby use so little energy it really isn't worth turning that off, as the power supplies might not like it.

Turn PCs off when not in use, although a PC idling doesn't use too much power, don't leave them in needlessly.

Your oven use is high also, I cook everything at home, but I'd only use the oven a couple of times a week.

Only put enough water in a kettle to boil then you need.

It's the heating items that use the juice though, kettle, iron, oven, any kind of heater, hair dryer, immersion tank etc.

Dishwashers and washing machines heat water so those.

TVs radio, LED lights and such don't use much, PCs not really either unless you are hardcore gaming all day.

sounds like u got a good mrs there at least she actually bothers to pick up the iron and stick the clothes in the machine.

 

[Semple]

I think our dishwasher goes on most days, sometimes more than once a day.

It is normally full also. Can't do much about that.

That seems pretty extreme to me.

With just the 2 of us, our dishwasher goes on probably every 3-4 days. You must use a tonne of cookware / plates / glasses etc.

 

[psd99]

A daily dishwasher cycle is a big flag. How many are in your household? Make sure you're reusing cups/glasses throughout the day - no point in having a new mug for each brew you make.

Oven on once a day will be costly. Are these just evening meals only, or is someone warming up some food for lunch etc?

If the NAS is separate from the CCTV then you could look at scheduling it to power off at night. Mine switches off about 1am during the week as it's never used then, it also doesn't come back on till early evening as it doesn't get watched while me and the missus are at work. So that's saving 16 hours a day of power.

Just the 4 of us, good tip about the cups and mugs but I don't think it will prevent having to run the dishwasher daily esp on the weekends
this WFH life prob made me use the dishwasher more.

with oven meals - I'd say mostly in the evenings but yes also occasionaly at lunch times. But if it's on eco mode surely can't be that bad?

Yer NAS is seperate point noted just looking into how I can get it turned off for a schedule etc but do wonder the constant on/off for the HDD's and how bad it could be?

 

[psd99]

power of device in watts x hours used x kWh pricing from your supplier.

You have a smart meter with an IHD to show live usage?

Thanks and not yet... work in progress to get that do u know if the IHD also submits automatic bills? I dont like the sound if that if so.

 

[psd99]

I also thought the tumble dryer was a massive factor here, will stop using it tbh and get one of those meter things to see how much each day has been spent thanks for the suggestions

 

[dlockers]

Presumably you've offset a lot of your travel costs by WFH? So don't be too upset at the larger number if you're in a net saving position. Especially if you aren't putting as much expensive petrol in your car.

I can't imagine a dishwasher uses a huge amount of leccy? But for sure, a tumble drier will be disastrous to bills if run often.

I use a dehumidifier and hang the clothes inside on a clothes horse. The dehumidifier basically sucks the water out of them and they're dry, less battered (tumble drying often miserable for the clothes longevity) and smell better IMO.

Don't forget to claim your government tax incentive if you are WFH and never have before. It's at least £100 a year IIRC.

 

[Semple]

I can't imagine a dishwasher uses a huge amount of leccy?

They're fairly thirsty. Mines on a smart plug so looking back at it's energy use it uses about 2kWh per cycle (i don't use the economy cycle). Based on current kWh rates being about 30p? would mean 60p a cycle. If that's on 7 days a week (£4.20) or 30 days a month (£18).

 

[dlockers]

They're fairly thirsty. Mines on a smart plug so looking back at it's energy use it uses about 2kWh per cycle (i don't use the economy cycle). Based on current kWh rates being about 30p? would mean 60p a cycle. If that's on 7 days a week (£4.20) or 30 days a month (£18).

r/theydidthemaths

Definitely a decent percentage.

I think that's the thing with leccy bills, it is properly death by 1000 cuts isn't it. I've progressively added a home server, raspberry pi, hive, hue hub; got into the habit of leaving the PC on... several monitors etc. No single device will make a big impact but collectively I guess that's a decent percentage of overall bills.

 

[Martynt74]

Before you start making huge changes. Other than being shocked at the cost, ask yourself if it's worth making changes? For the dishwasher, i'd sure as hell rather pay £15 a month than hand wash stuff every day. I'd rather leave a tv on whilst i go for a dump than worry i'm wasting a few pence and turning it off.

With electricity it's probably a case of lots of small things that add up and so to make a big saving you'd have to make widespread changes,

 

[ivrytwr3]

We're with Bulb and have Economy 7 and dual fuel - 4 bed detached and 2 teenagers.

Oct 20 - £129 per month
Nov 20 - £169 per month
Nov 21 - £239 per month
Jan 22 - Bulb wanted £309 per month! But said it was an over estimate - so i am currently paying £249 per month.

Anybody else in a 4 bed detached? What are they paying?