What are you doing to reduce your electricity use?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I have Oil CH, no gas so the electricity is quite low, but oil costs are quite high. I dont think I can limit my electricity use too much other than not using the tumble dryer (I already try to avoid it) and dishwasher (was recently given to me, so am used to not having it and don't find it as much help as I thought!)

Anything else? I'm switching lights off more and not leaving the radio on all day but can't see that they use too much anyway

[quote ImFree2doasiwant]@Diditopknot are you everyone's dad?

I'm genuinely confused about the chargers being plugged in and switched on, but not attached to a phone etc. How does it waste electricity? Where does it go? I am guilty of it so will stop doing it now.

I usually go upstairs around this time if I'm at home and draw curtains and put lamps on.[/quote]
The plug that’s still plugged in feels warm so power is going still going to it.

A spokesperson for the Energy Saving Trust adds: Any charger that is plugged in at the wall, and not switched off at the socket, will still use some electricity, even if it's not plugged into the device it is meant to charge
A typical home could save around £30 a year just by making sure chargers and appliances are unplugged, or switched off at the wall, when not in use

I am making sure lights are turned on in rooms we aren’t using, not using tumble dryer, using washing machine & dishwasher on eco setting. Only boiling the amount of water we need to use in the kettle. Trying to reduce time in the showers, but not making great progress with reducing my time in the shower 😂

Trying to remember to take out frozen batch cook meals the day before. Things like stews curry’s cook well once defrosted in the microwave. But go funny if try defrost as some parts heat up while other still solid. Doesn’t work with everything, shepherds pie is nice with crusty top but even if saves 2 h a week it’s something.

Got a smaller kettle years ago so it’s easier to lift think does a litre max which is perfect for me and only costs me 2p to boil.

Recently converted to an EV so expecting a very big increase in electric bill. Consolation is that petrol is at a record high too.

Heating at 16 (not nice - wearing coat indoors) - I have oil

No tumble drying
Switching stuff off at wall
Lights - all led etc bulbs (but don't waste the ones you have already)
No hairdryers, straighteners, heaters
Quick showers

And the one I think saves me the most - hot meals limited to twice a week. Oven time limited to 1 hour a week. Same for stove top. I do use the microwave for 2 mins for soup though.
No baking, no long cook meals, make more than you need and eat it the next day. Often cold. I am getting used to cold food.

We have three big electric drains - hot tub, underfloor heating and EV charger. The first two we can cut down on and the last one will be balanced out by the reduction in petrol costs. Working from home isn’t helping either.

Erm, I have to say, not really anything
I think we are taking the approach that when the bills start coming in we’ll adjust accordingly. Head in the sand!

No baking? Eating cold food? No heating? 2 minute showers? Is life just going to be bleak forever

I got an air source heat pump about a month ago, and I use it the same way I used the gas combi boiler - turn it on for an hour or two in the evening, and live with the cool the rest of the time (I like it cool luckily and kids don't seem to notice). But my house is a terrace with a traditional layout and I'm down south and it's been mild.

Having said this my house does have solid, uninsulated walls. I'm hoping to get some insulation and experiment with the constant, but low heat thing.

Heating stuff up is the killer, everything else is just window dressing. Ovens, kettles, electric showers, tumble dryers, irons, hairdryers, washing machines, dishwashers.

Feel the plugs of chargers and standby appliances - if they're warm they're worth the effort of turning off.

But if you've got a microwave, the five pence it'll cost to heat up a plate of food has got to be worth it. It's by far the most efficient way of getting warmth into you.

Most of the things on here will save next to nothing. It's true: they do all add up. To bugger all

This might be worth checking. When we were staying with my elderly dad, my partner noticed that he had his hot water set up so that the pump was running continuously. If you opened the airing cupboard you could hear it whirring very softly. Nothing was being heated, but the pump was circulating water around the system system 24/7 totally unnecessarily, and burning about 100w in doing so. Depending on the rate you pay, that could be around £1 per day. To stop it just required some rejigging of the controls.

No one mentioned a shower timer yet? I timed the teenagers and they were both having a 10 minute shower! I probably wasn't. I bought a 4 minute and 5 minute timer. 5 minute is for when I wash my hair. We have all been really strict with it.

Got rid of the E7 storage heaters and had oil-fired central heating installed. (No gas here.) The amount I was paying in electricity was obscene and I wasn't even flipping warm !

@TheSnowyOwl

We have three big electric drains - hot tub, underfloor heating and EV charger. The first two we can cut down on and the last one will be balanced out by the reduction in petrol costs. Working from home isn’t helping either.

Hot tubs and electrical floor heating were ruinously expensive under that old regime. If you can keep those fuckers going next winter you'll make the Times Rich List

Switching the heating off and watching telly in bed with the electric blanket on. Wouldn't want to do that with a house full of kids though!

@ElegantPuma

Got rid of the E7 storage heaters and had oil-fired central heating installed. (No gas here.) The amount I was paying in electricity was obscene and I wasn't even flipping warm !

Have you had bills that show this has actually saved you money yet? Non-economy-7 electrical space heating is absolutely exorbitant

(And it doesn't matter whether they're oil-filled radiators, blowers, or your Nan's old three-bar fire! They all burn 1kWh of lecky to produce 1kWh of heat and all cost the same).

Charge my phone, headphones and Fitbit at work or on the bus

Switch the landing light off

Spot clean school uniforms

Wash everything not whites or towels at 20

Have breakfast at work

Doh, "oil-fired" - I'll put on the dunce's cap

Thermostat set at 17.5

Electric blanket on a timer

@TheChosenTwo

No baking? Eating cold food? No heating? 2 minute showers? Is life just going to be bleak forever

I have to confess I hate cooking. These are very personal choices.

I do think life is bleak in terms of rising costs. The rise in energy prices is the start. Food prices have been steadily rising for a while.

I think that for some people the costs of energy alone will cause very real hardship and that is tragic.

There is then a bulk of people (myself included) who will be able to suck up the price rise increases if we continue working. But we will have a lot less income after bills. After bills have been paid - we look at what we have left I can see the following:
Spend less on food (change brands, get better with leftovers etc)
Reduce or stop entertainment spend including going to pubs, cinema , coffees etc
Reduce holiday budgets or not go on holiday at all as this is a luxury
Reduce spend on new cars (second hand market is already over inflated)
Reduce spend on hobbies and activties - eg Gym, craft supplies etc
Clothes spending - reduced to necessities
Beauty spending - reduced and maybe stop visits to salons, no more tattoos for example, cut hair at home etc
Online subscriptions - review what you need/want and reduce or stop altogether. I think people will be reluctant to let Netflix go for example if you compare its monthly cost to a night out on the town or even 2 coffees
Home spends - reduce / cut out non-essential stuff like new soft furnishings, colour scheme changes. Maintenance will continue etc

It is bleak. But I don't think people will all cut in the same area so it's not clear to me which industries will be worst affected by change in spending habits. Some will curtail a lot to keep social entertaining such as pubs and meals out. Some will cut everything to keep a big holiday.

@BocolateChiscuits that's interesting, I find the house takes about 2 days to heat up from cold, so always assumed it needed to just be on the whole time. I turned mine onto summer setting last week, so just hot water, which solar does boost if it's sunny at least.
I might look at it this week, turn it down to a lesser difference to outside, so it only kicks in if really cold, and turn off the pipes to upstairs. That way we just heat downstairs maybe. Need to see how much I'm using in a day first, to compare. Its 15/16 degrees in my living room right now, were ok but my nose is cold 👃🤣 kitchen is crazy cold.
Life does feel bleak right now. I've got less that 50 quid to last me until payday, 10 days from now. Plus the car needs to go to the garage tomorrow, no idea how I'll pay for that.
It's just relentless.

There's a discussion thread here if it helps.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4471775-Confused-about-the-price-cap-and-energy-consumption-Heres-the-thread-for-the-physics-and-the-maths-to-help-you

Some things make a big difference. Others will make little difference.

Nothing except turning the odd light off , we fixed fairly early and last Feb / March got new white goods ( dishwasher / tumble dryer / washing machine ) so everything is as energy efficient as it can be aside from not using them !

I'm trying to wear everything one more day. Got a heated dryer rack and use that rather than the tumble dryer. If I do tumble things then I tend to either part dry it on the line ( if it's not raining and goes out before 10am it does dry 75% by 4pm). Then ican either finish it off in the dryer or put things in the dryer for 30 minutes then put it on the dryer rack.

But mostly wearing oodies all the time and showering / washing clothes less. It's very depressing and scary in equal measure. Roll on summer

My phone battery is rubbish and quite often needs a top up charge during the day. I've started doing this in the car on school run. I've also bought a power bank which I have on charge in the car so if I go to anyones house and my phone is dying I don't have to ask to charge my phone at their house

Closing all doors all the time, especially if the heating is on to keep the heat in that room. Radiators on low in rooms that aren't used or minimally

Constantly turning lights off, trying to reduce shower times etc. Only washing my hair when it needs it