Estimating my electricity bill - breaking it down

Anchundan · 2 Dec 2007 at 05:21

I'm trying to work out why my electricity bills are so expensive every month. They seem to be far higher than the neighbours bills.

So I've made a list of all my electric appliances, with the intention of estimating how many hours a day I use them, and how many watts of power they consume.

What's confusing me at the moment, is many of these things have the following :

input : 100-240V 0.3A
output : 7.5V 1.3A

I believe Watts is Volts x Amps - but am I calculating the imput or the output to calculate how much I consume?

i.e. would this particular appliance be 220v x 0.3A = 66W
or would it be 7.5v x 1.3A = 9.75W?

4T5 · 2 Dec 2007 at 06:48

Can't help you mate but i had a Meter fitted a few months & it is saving me Loads. Like anything else when you actually See the money tick down & see what you put in them you cut back yourself. I am easily saving a fiver a week & know Exactly what my leccy money is going on rather than trying to work it out after 3 months usage.

Had meter fitted because of up & down bills even though i live alone & nothing changes from Month to Month.

Anchundan · 2 Dec 2007 at 07:23

I think I might buy one of these plug-in energy monitors when next in UK. I'd love to see if things really consume what they say they consume, and also how much power is wasted when things are in 'standby' mode.

I'm currently paying about £50 per month, but already I can see the big consumers are my PC, the TV, and the air conditioning. PC's on all day as I work from home, TV's on all day when my GF's mother stays with us. A/C's only on in the summer, but never realised how much they consume.

4T5 · 2 Dec 2007 at 07:27

In my experience the biggest users are your kettle & your Shower. Your washing machine canes it as well so i have taken to using a timer & doing it during the night. Leccy is half price during the night.
I just felt like i was being robbed when i got my quarterly, now i have my meter i know exactly where i am.

Loki · 2 Dec 2007 at 07:45

malc30 said:
In my experience the biggest users are your kettle & your Shower. Your washing machine canes it as well so i have taken to using a timer & doing it during the night. Leccy is half price during the night.
I just felt like i was being robbed when i got my quarterly, now i have my meter i know exactly where i am.

Are you on a pre payment meter Malc ? I know when I used to work for British Gas ages ago, the actual cost per unit was more expensive for pre payment than for standard payment plan or quaterly bill. Although things may have changed.

at OP, do you leave your PC a lot ? Mine used to be on 24/7 but now it's just on when needed so that has made a bit of an impact

adelburn · 2 Dec 2007 at 08:25

Have you run your details through a price comparison site like Uswitch you may just be on a more expensivfe tariff?

Also get free crate of wine when you switch. Probably the only time electrics and alcohol go together well lol

malfunkshun · 2 Dec 2007 at 09:00

Loki said:
Are you on a pre payment meter Malc ? I know when I used to work for British Gas ages ago, the actual cost per unit was more expensive for pre payment than for standard payment plan or quaterly bill. Although things may have changed.

I think it still is, at the very least the service charge is huge by comparison on most suppliers.

Anchundan · 2 Dec 2007 at 09:14

Loki said:
at OP, do you leave your PC a lot ? Mine used to be on 24/7 but now it's just on when needed so that has made a bit of an impact

I don't leave my PC on when I'm not using it, unless I'm defragging, or virus checking, or encoding stuff. I'm litterally staring at it from 9am to 6pm or later (even when taking breaks from work).

Actually, I know the PSU's rated at 480W, but not too sure how much I use of that on average, maybe about 60%.

My water's solar heated (big solar panels on the roof) - it gets piping hot in summer, at about 80°C. It's only in winter that it only gets to about 20°C, so I need to top it up by plugging it into the mains for an hour or two (37°C is the ideal temperature for me!)

I also don't know how much electricity costs per unit out here, I'll need to find out.

How much is it per unit in UK on average?