[Basil Plumley]

My electricity bills are astronomical - I'm talking £220 a quarter. I'm with Npower and have questioned my bill. They carried out an investigation and discovered that since February (when i had a single read metre put in in place of an economy 7 jobbie), i've been using on average 18 units per day. This equates to £94 per month via direct debit - which is £20 more than some of my neighbours pay for a quarter.

Obviously it's down to my home cinema system which is listed in my signature. My amp and projector are only on for films (probably 6 - 10 hours a week) and I'm not that naive that I don't realise that my Onkyo 875 eats electricity like I scoff liquorice allsorts...my TV is also a plasma which isn't the most energy efficient way of watching TV - it's probably on for 4 hours a day during the week and possibly up to 10 hours at weekends.
The cooker is electric but the central heating is gas as is the hot water...changing the kit is out of the question at the moment so I'm going to have to learn to be more economical with it...and at the same time, reducing my carbon footprint.

First of all, does my usage of 18 units per day on average seem high? If not, I'm obviously paying to much for my electricity and will have to look at changing suppliers. If not, any advice on cutting it down please?

[leon]

hello
that is a high bill i have a home cinema setup and watch a film every night also my bungalow has a 2 bed annix and the electric is combined , i do have solar panels but without them i average around £2.00 a day that is with 2 kitchens 2 freezers and the lodgers tv and hifi etc

the best thing u can buy is one of these takes around 2 min to install then go around the house and unplug everything and try to get the owl metre to zero take the gadget around with u and a pencil and pad ..
u will be amazed what the metre reads when i do things around the house
my parasound amp on standby is 50 watts ( switched of) and my loewe tv that is supposed to be 4w on standby is 20w
after a few weeks of watching the metre u will change your life style u can still live like normal but u will switch stuff of i.e a laptop transformer uses 75% power even if the laptop is charged thats money for nothing converted into heat.
there are some tarrifs out there like eco 20 20 from edf it gives cheap electric after 9 at night and weekends it good for some people like me as i have a pond running 24/7
hello
that is a high bill i have a home cinema setup and watch a film every night also my bungalow has a 2 bed annix and the electric is combined , i do have solar panels but without them i average around £2.00 a day that is with 2 kitchens 2 freezers and the lodgers tv and hifi etc


i am amazed what the metre reads when i do things around the house
my parasound amp on standby is 50 watts ( switched of) and my loewe tv that is supposed to be 4w on standby is 20w
after a few weeks of watching the metre u will change your life style u can still live like normal but u will switch stuff of i.e a laptop transformer uses 75% power even if the laptop is charged thats money for nothing converted into heat

[leon]

OWL | Wireless Electricity Monitor Designed To Save You Money & The Environment - Wireless Electricity Monitors :: OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor

this is money well spent i would say it has saved me over the years around £800

[Basil Plumley]

Originally Posted by leon

OWL | Wireless Electricity Monitor Designed To Save You Money & The Environment - Wireless Electricity Monitors :: OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor

this is money well spent i would say it has saved me over the years around £800

Thanks - I'll look into one of those...

[robh2002]

Have a further look on this forum as there are plenty of people with ideas of how to reduce your energy usage. The energy meter suggested will also help track down what you use and then you can at least make choices of what you have on and for how long.

Switching off _everything_ when it's not in use will probably make a large difference; a friend has an Onkyo amp and even when idling its hot enough to fry eggs. Plasmas are pretty bad for electricity usage so the only option is to town down the brightness (!) or use it less. Neither is ideal of course. We turn of the PVR most of the time (don't tend to record much!) as that uses 10W just to run the clock - the cooker is also off at the wall as the display there uses 10W - we turn off the router as well (20W) that's 1kW/day just for those. At night we are down to 18W which is the boiler clock and the fridge electronics (with the motors off)

We also have an electric cooker, but the wife is as keen as me to reduce our energy usage so tends not to use the oven so much and uses something called a Remoska for smaller items rather than using the cooker oven.

Another area could be your fridge/freezer - our old one was was awful and the new one amazing (0.45kWh/day).

We have a 20 month old son who uses reusable nappies so the washing machine (cold water inlet only) is on a fair bit, but we've still managed to reduce our consumption from around 7 to 8kWh/day to 3.2kWh/day for the last 6 months. We see no change in our standard of living so it can be done!

Hope that's of some use...

[Toddyhead]

Wow, that's crazy high. Try the forums over at Money Saving Expert as they seem full of tips from people trying to save money on fuel whilst still keeping warm. Blankets and hot water bottles seem to be the done thing :-)

Hi Basil,

The Energy Saving Trust was set up to help people do exactly this. The website's got loads of ideas on how to stop wasting energy and save money at the same time.

It covers everything from home improvements, cheap ways to draught proof your home, quick tips to save money and energy every day, and lots more.

Stop Wasting Energy - Reduce Energy Bills - Energy Saving Trust

Hope you get your bills down soon!

Clare
The Energy Saving Trust

Hi Basil

"take a look at how we, as individuals and as families, can stop wasting time, energy and money and cut our fuel-bills into the bargain.
Do you remember the bitter cold of last winter? The problem faced by so many of us in a winter of extreme temperatures, and in winters that are not so extreme, is the cost of trying to keep a warm home despite rising fuel bills. For many, this problem imposes the prospect of yet another cold season along with the realisation that they cannot afford to turn up the heating to make their homes comfortable."

You will find the rest of this helpful article and more help and info on reducing your energy bills, including electricity, and carbon footprint on this page Home Insulation Tips | Energy Saving

They have more articles and information on their site.

Home Insulation Grants | Loft Insulation | Cavity Wall Insulation


hope this helps

Sherrers