I'm thinking about turning my electricity OFF over night

[LaurieFairyCake]

So last night before bed I took a meter reading and right now another

I've used 6 units of electricity over night (only me and Dh, pretty sure the dogs aren't boiling kettles over night)

That works out at £0.85 a night, £25.33 A MONTH

The things that are running every night is fridge freezer, phone chargers, laptop chargers, the clock on the cooker

I've read it's fine to turn off the fridge freezer (no meat in it) as it won't spoil in 8 hours

I can't believe I would save £25 a month doing this !

Anything I've overlooked?

@Polyanthus2

Isn't the charge less at night - we are being encouraged to use off peak electricity?

Not unless you have a special tariff, used to be called "Economy 7".

You will still get the daily standing charge

Equipment such as TV and Sky Box have stand-by mode which uses power all the time.
You can turn off the displays on some ovens if not in use guessing you can do this with other things too, or at least dim the display - but not sure if you save an appreciable amount of power.

@LaurieFairyCake

Well clearly the 6kw was absolutely loads as we've only used a further 12kw between 6am and 10pm

The 6kw overnight last night was between 10-6 (so 8 hours)

The 12kw during the day for 16hours

🤷‍♀️

I only use max 7 kWh a day, 3 bed property, wfh

I only switch off sockets in the kitchen for some reason, lamps left plugged in but off in all rooms when I go to bed, use the cooker most days, washing on non eco modes

I charge during the day, including laptops as I use them, so they are not charging for hours overnight, fridge freezer left on tv amd sky box 9n standby

You must have a horrendous amount of stuff plugged in to use 6kwh overnight, most days I don’t use that much in 24 hours. Perhaps your meter needs checking?

You can also get extension leads that switch off, maybe worthwhile looking into

We're used to paying a fair bit in the winter as we live in a old cold house. I do actually find other people's houses too warm now like my mum's and DH sister's house are like saunas with the heating on. Gives me a banging headache.

One thing in our household that is on 24/7 is our cold water fish tank. Our penultimate fish died recently and I told DH that when our the last fish dies, the tank is being put in the loft. So what does the moron do? Go out and buy 2 more effing fish!! I was so annoyed with him honestly.

When will you charge your phones etc if you turn it off overnight? Turn off your oven when you aren't using it as you don't need the clock but I personally wouldn't letting my freezer defrost every night

@LaurieFairyCake

I can't turn off the sockets without moving heavy furniture- I'm not doing that every day

Apologies if this has been suggested (it probably has) but I am planning on adding smart plugs. Especially for extension leads, where one plug will turn off lots of things at once. You can set them in an app to go off (or on) at a certain time or turn them off with your phone. Ours work with Alexa, so by voice as well. For me, it will be worth it, because I already use them and I have the hub etc etc (they need a hub to work, or they used to. Alexa acts as a hub for us, but its probably not going to save you money if you have to buy one especially) You can get them for a tenner each.

I turn off the oven clock and my pc etc etc at the plug. It’s a bloody pain, because they plugs are all under desks etc. I think you can get smart plugs for about a tenner. I must remember to do meter readings and see how it goes.

it's the extortionate standing charges not usage which is crippling

Have you got kids gaming in the middle of the night on pc/Xbox/PlayStation etc?

Hmmm, we went away for 7 nights and the electricity used over that period was 7 units. I do turn off the sockets with the switch so it was the fridge I guess and the modem.

@DrinkFeckArseGirls

Hmmm, we went away for 7 nights and the electricity used over that period was 7 units. I do turn off the sockets with the switch so it was the fridge I guess and the modem.

So that's about 50 w per hour for 24 hrs (roughly) about 1000 watt hours

So about 28p per day in 'background' usage - about £100

If you turned everything off except the bare minimum, maybe you could halve it?

I suppose it's how much effort you need to make to save £50 a year..

@LaurieFairyCake

So last night before bed I took a meter reading and right now another

I've used 6 units of electricity over night (only me and Dh, pretty sure the dogs aren't boiling kettles over night)

That works out at £0.85 a night, £25.33 A MONTH

The things that are running every night is fridge freezer, phone chargers, laptop chargers, the clock on the cooker

I've read it's fine to turn off the fridge freezer (no meat in it) as it won't spoil in 8 hours

I can't believe I would save £25 a month doing this !

Anything I've overlooked?

Just leave the fridge freezer on and unplug everything else. Sorted!

Just leave the fridge freezer on and unplug everything else. Sorted!

If only there was a way to read the thread! 😂

Haven't time to read the full thread but just came on to say be very, very careful about turning your fridge freezer off. 3-4 Hours of a power cut here and our food is spoiled. Ours doesn't hold the cold well at all (and we've had several instances of this and it's been consistent). Chest freezer may be ok, but not all fridge freezers were created equal.

As said, the amount of electricity used by cooker clocks, small LED indicator lights on sockets is tiny, it's heating, cooling and big screens that use significant power.

You see these threads often on here and it usually comes out at the end that a heat source, often the immersion heater is getting left on overnight. The last house we had, the switch we thought turned it off was the wrong one.

Does the fridge freezer have decent circulation round the back? If the heat generated by it can't escape it ends up fighting itself ( if that makes any sense?!), the more it tries to cool the hotter the back gets. A busy fridge freezer produces quite a bit of heat at the back.

It might be an idea to switch it off for one night to see if that's the problem, but I wouldn't be doing it every night, they are not intended to be used like that.

One other thought, could a neighbour be connected somehow?

Wonder if the OP has an outside sensor light, a shed or loft light? Assuming there is no immersion heater?
More likely it's an inefficient fridge or freezer.

Don't do this food in the fridge rapidly spoils you don't want to get food poisoning.

I don't have an immersion heater (combi boiler), there are no outside lights and no loft at all.

But NEWSFLASH - I DO think it's possible that someone is using my electric

It's a bit of an odd set up but in the meter cupboard is two meters.The guy from the electric company told me which is mine. However there is EXTRA wiring which looks non market to me.

Now I share the supply into the meter with a business in the next road (very odd, they're about 50 metres away)

Now this business runs 'things' overnight - they're coming and going at all hours and there's a lot of lighting

So today my power company have told me to take a dated photo of my meter, turn my supply off and then wait an hour....

And that's where I am now

I can't believe that so many people are ignorant about their bills and how they're calculated.
The standing charge is a daily fee for having the supply to your property. It never varies unless there are price hikes (as in April) or you change tariffs. There will never be more than 31 days or fewer than 28 days in any month so if your s/c is 27p (as is the price cap next month) then your s/c for March will be 31 days x 27p = £8.37 plus 42p VAT = £8.79.
Fridges are one of the highest users of electricity. When looking at tariffs you need to consider the cost per unit or kWh before the cost of the standing charge. Lower unit is best as you will use an indeterminate amount but the number of days in the month can never be more than 31.

sound slike hes running it off your meter instead of his own

theiving git

Wow, I'm gripped now!🤣

So today my power company have told me to take a dated photo of my meter, turn my supply off and then wait an hour

I wonder if there is a way you can turn your power off so it turns off any power going next door?

Then turn it off overnight and see if they mention something.

Update

The meter did not move for the hour! (During this morning)

So because I said they work at night she's asked me to do the same again tonight

I WILL find the reason for that bloody 6 KW

@LaurieFairyCake

Update

The meter did not move for the hour! (During this morning)

So because I said they work at night she's asked me to do the same again tonight

I WILL find the reason for that bloody 6 KW

Have you got a picture of the meter and the wires going in to it?

Yes - any good ?