Energy Suppliers

Slade2 said:
Apart from leaving my PC on (its 10 years old and doesn't like being turn on and off) I really cant see where we can shave any usage potentially apart from using the washer and dryer a bit less. All of our household lighting is now LED. There are 5 of us in this house. I suppose swapping out the electric shower would help as we could run that off the boiler. I really don't see where we can save a lot but I suppose there is a decent incentive if its going to double fairly soon.
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Id check how much loft insulation you have before anything else. You should be looking at at least 300mm of normal rock wool by modern standards, many suggest 450+. It’s really very cheap too.

It’s often the small things which add up to a lot of money, eg. Running the thermostat AND TRVs at 18 and getting people to wear jumpers. Asking people not to take 20 mins in the shower rather than the 5-6 you actually need (particularly on electric), make sure the washing machine is actually full and running it only on the most eco setting (these tend to be longer but use way less water and electric), drying clothing outside, even in winter, if it isn’t raining it will still dry etc etc.
 
Slade2 said:
Apart from leaving my PC on (its 10 years old and doesn't like being turn on and off) I really cant see where we can shave any usage potentially apart from using the washer and dryer a bit less. All of our household lighting is now LED. There are 5 of us in this house. I suppose swapping out the electric shower would help as we could run that off the boiler. I really don't see where we can save a lot but I suppose there is a decent incentive if its going to double fairly soon.
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You got a people soup machine aka hottub? Something is using the electricity and unfortunately most of the time people overlook sources of the usage.
 
Puzzled said:
This just shows that there is no room in the energy market to be competitive without some dubious business practices.
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Can't speak for the domestic side but the commercial side is an absolute mess, loads of get-rich-quick utility companies in the North East absolutely fleecing naive business owners or those put in charge of managing those services. They last a few years before going bust when loads of huge contracts fall through, with absolute morons (although I guess not) earning six-figure salaries with the commission.
 
I have recently renewed with Eon, after receiving an email on Sunday evening.
Current fix does not run out till November, but logged on anyway and got the following

2 Year fixed.

Electricity Units: 19.21p
Daily Standing Charge for Electric: 26.82p

Gas Units: 3.77p
Daily Standing Charge for Gas: 26.12p

For our usage, works out around £100 per month. 2 adults, Child & dog.
We have smart meters, paperless billing, direct debit etc.

Glad I did this when I did. A friend logged on this morning, and can get nothing like that.
The 2 year fixed would now work out 20ppm more than I got.
The variable flex option worked out cheaper (for now)
Crazy times.
 
Slade2 said:
Apart from leaving my PC on (its 10 years old and doesn't like being turn on and off) I really cant see where we can shave any usage potentially apart from using the washer and dryer a bit less. All of our household lighting is now LED. There are 5 of us in this house. I suppose swapping out the electric shower would help as we could run that off the boiler. I really don't see where we can save a lot but I suppose there is a decent incentive if its going to double fairly soon.
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Have you had a look at how much your PC is consuming, even when idle? Left on 24/7 is going to be a fair whack. The washing machine you can't really avoid - maybe run with shorter cycles, ours defaults to something like 2h20m but the clothes don't get dirty so dropping that down to an hour is plentiful. Using a dryer on warm/sunny days is probably unnecessary. Otherwise it's more behavioural changes - i.e. only filling up the kettle to boil as much as you need. Using a toaster rather than a grill for toasting bread etc etc.
 
Semple said:
Have you had a look at how much your PC is consuming, even when idle? Left on 24/7 is going to be a fair whack. The washing machine you can't really avoid - maybe run with shorter cycles, ours defaults to something like 2h20m but the clothes don't get dirty so dropping that down to an hour is plentiful. Using a dryer on warm/sunny days is probably unnecessary. Otherwise it's more behavioural changes - i.e. only filling up the kettle to boil as much as you need. Using a toaster rather than a grill for toasting bread etc etc.
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Longer washing machine cycles tend to be more efficient. The energy usage comes from heating the water and the longer cycles use far less water than the shorter ones. Shorter ones wash clothes by drowning them in water with a little agitation from the drum, longer ones use a fraction of the water but a lot more agitation. Check your machines manual, it should list the energy use for each cycle. The most energy efficient programme on my washer takes 2.5 hours.

The same applies to a dishwasher, longer cycles tend to use less water and less energy. The most energy efficient programme on mine takes nearly 3.5 hours. I just put it on last thing at night and empty it first thing in the morning once it’s all dried.

It’s counter intuitive until you understand what its actually doing.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Longer washing machine cycles tend to be more efficient. The energy usage comes from heating the water and the longer cycles use far less water than the shorter ones. Shorter ones wash clothes by drowning them in water with a little agitation from the drum, longer ones use a fraction of the water but a lot more agitation. Check your machines manual, it should list the energy use for each cycle. The most energy efficient programme on my washer takes 2.5 hours.

The same applies to a dishwasher, longer cycles tend to use less water and less energy. The most energy efficient programme on mine takes nearly 3.5 hours. I just put it on last thing at night and empty it first thing in the morning once it’s all dried.

It’s counter intuitive until you understand what its actually doing.
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Same as dishwasher.
The eco cycle is the longest cycle.
Uses less water and less energy.

Unfortunately I can't really cut out power bill. Not without things like not using the TV and reading instead.

Already use tumble dry only when have to etc.
Already turned off the hot tub as that would now be ridiculously expensive
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Longer washing machine cycles tend to be more efficient. The energy usage comes from heating the water and the longer cycles use far less water than the shorter ones. Shorter ones wash clothes by drowning them in water with a little agitation from the drum, longer ones use a fraction of the water but a lot more agitation. Check your machines manual, it should list the energy use for each cycle. The most energy efficient programme on my washer takes 2.5 hours.

The same applies to a dishwasher, longer cycles tend to use less water and less energy. The most energy efficient programme on mine takes nearly 3.5 hours. I just put it on last thing at night and empty it first thing in the morning once it’s all dried.

It’s counter intuitive until you understand what its actually doing.
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That's a fair point. I'll test it! I can already track energy consumption on the washing machine, so i'll run a wash using the shorter cycles that i do, and then compare the same program on a longer cycle. I'm not doubting your claim, more curious as to how much energy it'll save by running longer cycles.

I can't yet track water consumption though (soon to be added) so can't tell how much less/more one program uses over the other.
 
Slade2 said:
Apart from leaving my PC on (its 10 years old and doesn't like being turn on and off)
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If it's something like a Socket 1366/x58 based machine from that era, then they burn quite a lot (~60w) just idling (with all power saving features turned on).

A more modern system would likely idle in the 10w-20w range (or obviously fix the issue that stops it being turned on/off)
 
Simon said:
The manual tells you water and power usage
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Just checked mine (Electrolux), tells you water and power consumption for the programme, but not the same programme running at 1 hour vs 2.5 hours for example.

Which seems a bit daft really as its pretty obvious a 90C cycle will consume more power than a 40C cycle.
 
Definitely go after the big guns first when watching usage. No point turning your TV off at the wall instead of standby to save half a watt when you take 25 minute long electric showers for example. (teenage daughters eh).
 
jaybee said:
Definitely go after the big guns first when watching usage. No point turning your TV off at the wall instead of standby to save half a watt when you take 25 minute long electric showers for example. (teenage daughters eh).
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Anything that heats using electricity, kettle, oven and hob if they’re not gas, electric shower, tumble dryer etc use massive amounts of electricity and cost a fortune. Put the kettle on then go and watch your meter spin like it’s a helicopter rotor or flash at 60 bpm like some sort of dance hit from the 90’s.
 
Yup so many people fill their kettles right up to make one cup of coffee even though almost all kettles sold in the last two decades will happily just heat a single cup of water for a fraction of the cost.
 
Buckster said:
I think I've measured my 3770k (light overclock) with a AMD 290 at about 90w at wall idle in desktop surprisingly high
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I have a 2700k based Unraid server on 24/7, but no graphics card, so I'd guess it pulls well under 90w.

My leccy has been £60/month for the past 2 months, though will go up as it is getting colder and I can start mining again :D
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Yup so many people fill their kettles right up to make one cup of coffee even though almost all kettles sold in the last two decades will happily just heat a single cup of water for a fraction of the cost.
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Popular myth that was will make much of a difference to the actual bill, according to which a kettle boiled ten times a day will cost ~£70 a year so even if you manage to half this consumption through only boiling the right amount of water you are still only talking ~£35 a year or £3 a month. The real big hitters are Electric showers, tumble dryers, washing machines, cookers etc appliances that draw large amounts of power and are on for a long time Washing clothes at lower temperatures, doing less small loads and avoiding the tumble dryer can make a massive difference. oh and the 25 minute showers someone mentioned earlier!
 
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a1ex2001 said:
Popular myth that was will make much of a difference to the actual bill, according to which a kettle boiled ten times a day will cost ~£7 so even if you manage to half this consumption through only boiling the right amount of water you are still only talking ~£35 a year or £3 a month. The real big hitters are Electric showers, tumble dryers, washing machines, cookers etc appliances that draw large amounts of power and are on for a long time Washing clothes at lower temperatures, doing less small loads and avoiding the tumble dryer can make a massive difference. oh and the 25 minute showers someone mentioned earlier!
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Assume that should be £0.70 :cry: else I am throwing away the kettle.....
 
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