Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[Haggisman]

Good stuff, I think everyone needs to take such action.

Another good one is putting your PC to hibernate/sleep when not used, and making sure Balanced power mode is on. This should allow it to lower power to CPU when not needing extra horse power.

I used to always set mine to max performance, and just leave it running for hours on end when not using it!

I switch my PC off when not in use anyway, so not really much to save there unless I decide to do a major downgrade (which isn't happening ).

One thing I do need to start is turning my work laptop off at the end of the day. Been putting that off as I often have several VS and SSMS windows open with work in progress, and it doesn't seem to like hibernating for some reason

My idle usage overnight when everything* is switched off is still at ~140w though, and the laptop is probably close to half of that. 70w doesn't sound like a lot - 2.5p/hour at 35p/kWh, but do the maths and it's ~40p/day (for the 16 hours I'm not working) or ~£12/month!

Looking at electric blankets for us and our 10 year old, but we have a 2 year old as well who can't really have one, so there's a limit to how low we can drop the temperature :s


* overnight we still have actively powered:

Router
Alarm
Boiler
Smart thermostat & bridge
A couple of nightlights for the kids (LED bulbs)
Security lights (LED bulbs)
Fridge Freezer
Work laptop
Phone chargers

Along with a load of stuff left on standby - I really need to take a wander around the house at night and start turning things off, even if I can get that down to say 50w that would still save ~£10/month

 

[HungryHippos]

My baseline is about 200W of power usage by just stuff existing, I'm getting solar soon to assist with base load and electric usage, but I didn't want to muddy the waters here too much, as good as solar is as an option it's not something everyone can afford to do.

 

[Doobedoo]

Now our electricity bill will be well under £500 per year even with the huge cost increases coming.

I expect ours to be along similar lines.

 

[ljt]

May have to be a bit more militant about not going above 21C, those 1-2 extra C will just add to an already high cost. Better to consider more blankets or a hot water bottle or something.

Your situation otherwise doesn't sound great but then it's kind of immovable object meets unstoppable force, you can't not heat the house to a higher temp, but to do so you must pay the cost.

I'd like to see gov stepping in with more measures to help those who need it the most, but I'm currently planning around that not being the case. Hopefully we get a mild winter!

Yup it does feel like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. To be fair they have been willing to try lowering the temperature on the thermostat to see how things go, but it's ridiculous we even have to contemplate that in this day and age. Thankfully, being a boring sod most of my life meant I have managed to save, so at a push I'll just have to break into those, but if energy costs stabiise at these new rates, it will become unsustainable in the long term.

 

[theone8181]

Over the last 4-5 years, all electric house(no gas) storage heaters/hot water eco 7 tariff, we have gone from using 9000+ KW pre year
to under 2000KW.

Lot of changes to get that number/cost down, All lighting is now low energy led, changed the cooker to Gas (runs off calor)
Multyfuel stove for most of our heating (one storage heater left on medium settings for background heat for 3 months of the year). Time shifting 90% of our usage to the GO off peak time.

Small solar setup in the garden, DIY battery setup to offset day use as much as possible.

Now our electricity bill will be well under £500 per year even with the huge cost increases coming.

That seems like a massive drop. Are you just not turning anything on?

 

[Curlyriff]

If you get poor service (from any company, not specifically utility suppliers) then take your business elsewhere, contrary to popular opinion they aren't all the same. I work hard for my money (well, I turn up on time and pretend to be busy ) so I'm choosy with who gets it.

There's good reason why I'll never be a British gas, Scottish power or BT customer ever again, Plusnet and octopus on the other hand seem to understand what customer service entails.

Tbh I had had awesome customer service from BT but it is their fibre department that is different to their other general internet and so might be different and never had TV or phone from them so not worried about that. Sky was awful as was Plusnet but Octopus have been great every time I have needed anything tbh. E-ON was the worst and still arguing about my final bill on my credit report. Just don't care etc.

 

[Curlyriff]

I'm not sure how a variable DD is less stressful? You're very much exaggerating how much "messing about" it takes to log into your account and enter the DD amount you want to pay.

A lot of places don't let you drop it below a minimum amount they deem is suitable regardless of your current bill or credit. Many don't even let you do it through an app or online and require you phoning up. For instance when I was with E-on I couldn't do that and they just set it to what they wanted and argued with them every quarter for 4 years about it even though I was hundreds of £££ in credit every time.

 

[413x]

Going to drop temp to. 20c this winter see if it's too cold!
By too cold I mean comfort cold.

Any of you in the 'it's too hot' thread will know I hate the cold!

Unfortunately I don't have a smart gas meter. And have absolutely no idea of last year's usage! So I won't have a baseline. Unless I do half winter 'normal' and half 'reduced usage'.


Not sure why people don't like smart meters

 

[Haggisman]

My baseline is about 200W of power usage by just stuff existing, I'm getting solar soon to assist with base load and electric usage, but I didn't want to muddy the waters here too much, as good as solar is as an option it's not something everyone can afford to do.

Mortgage renewal next month - we are below 50% LTV, so I'm considering seeing if we can add an extra £10k or so to get solar + battery. Even though the rates have gone up, if the electricity prices stay where they are/keep increasing it will pay for itself within 5 years!

Unfortunately I don't have a smart gas meter. And have absolutely no idea of last year's usage! So I won't have a baseline. Unless I do half winter 'normal' and half 'reduced usage'.

You don't need a smart meter, just look at a reading from ~12 months ago to work out your annual usage. If you can go back multiple years even better, as the longer the period the better the average

 

[Troop]

That seems like a massive drop. Are you just not turning anything on?

Live just the same as before, the 1kw in solar and the battery cover a lot of our use. storage heaters were a massive power draw,
reducing them from 5 to 1 and that one only used on medium for 3 months of the year, saved us over 4000kw a year.

One other change saved a lot, only turning on the gaming pc when it was used for gaming, not the 24/7 it was before.
Now use an Intel NUC i3 that is on 24/7 instead of the gaming PC.

Edit to add
Also changing from the Plasma tv 300w to an led tv 30W.
34"ultrawide screen 56w to my Dell24" 12w, the savings all mount up.

 

[theone8181]

Live just the same as before, the 1kw in solar and the battery cover a lot of our use. storage heaters were a massive power draw,
reducing them from 5 to 1 and that one only used on medium for 3 months of the year, saved us over 4000kw a year.

One other change saved a lot, only turning on the gaming pc when it was used for gaming, not the 24/7 it was before.
Now use an Intel NUC i3 that is on 24/7 instead of the gaming PC.

No kids? We're frugal but use double that, and we have a gas boiler.

 

[Troop]

No kids? We're frugal but use double that, and we have a gas boiler.

Just 2 of us at home, one 24/7.
Here is our estimate for the year starting 24th September 22-23.

For the new Go tariff. on last years metered usage

Night rate 1560.7Kw @ 7.5p a unit = £117.0525

Day rate 160.6Kw @ 0.4229p a unit = £67.9177

SC 365 days @ 0.4731 per day= £172.6816

Total of £357.6528p

The last 3 months of bills, the actual electric cost has been £11 pounds, not including the SC, the SC I think was £24 for that time @ 25p per day

 

[benjii]

I wish you could get EV tariffs without a car. In the middle of the night we're still pulling 250-300w.

 

[touch]

I wish you could get EV tariffs without a car. In the middle of the night we're still pulling 250-300w.

An EV tariff wouldn't be beneficial for that usage.

 

[benjii]

An EV tariff wouldn't be beneficial for that usage.

I thought EV tariffs just meant lower electricity costs overnight?

 

[Troop]

@theone8181

 

[McPhee]

Just done a little experiment; gone round the house and turning sockets off, inc. the oven, washing machine, etc. Only left the fridge/freezer and the boiler running.

The base load has dropped from 92W to 25W. That's easily a 500kWh/year saving!

Realistically, it won't be that low day-to-day as some of the stuff is just going to be a pain to leave off. But Google Home's days are done I think, and there's little reason to leave the washing machine, dishwasher, etc. on standby.

 

[touch]

I thought EV tariffs just meant lower electricity costs overnight?

If you want to switch to it now from the current price cap, the day rate will be higher than what you're currently paying and so the total bill will be higher unless you have a lot of your usage at the cheaper rate (eg have an EV or battery storage).

If you're looking at is as an alternative to another fix then it might work out cheaper.

 

[413x]

I wish you could get EV tariffs without a car. In the middle of the night we're still pulling 250-300w.

That's a lot. Unless something is running

 

[413x]

Mortgage renewal next month - we are below 50% LTV, so I'm considering seeing if we can add an extra £10k or so to get solar + battery. Even though the rates have gone up, if the electricity prices stay where they are/keep increasing it will pay for itself within 5 years!


You don't need a smart meter, just look at a reading from ~12 months ago to work out your annual usage. If you can go back multiple years even better, as the longer the period the better the average

Its all lost with changing suppliers

I was estimated for over a year took a reading when moved in I think another not long after. Then nothing for ages