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?

It may be area dependant - I clicked a link from my provider in December and it was offering me appointments in May

Don't know if you're still considering turning off - but I just asked my electrician about this and he said you will use up more electricity switching the fridge on and off - it will have to power up the compressor every time, cool the appliance, and the pump that operates the coolant doesn't like being switched on and off - essentially you could wreck your fridge quickly doing that.

[quote poshme]@LaurieFairyCake old smart meters couldn't change companies- the new ones you can.

I had to wait about 2 months after asking.[/quote]
You can still change provider with an original SMETS-2 smart meter, it just loses functionality and becomes like an old style pre-smart meter

From Martin Lewis :

Date for the diary .
Thursday March 31st, 2022.
National Meter reading day.
EVERYONE needs to take gas and electricity meter readings on March 31st. Regardless of what type of meter you have, smart or otherwise. Ideally a photo of both meters showing the readings and meter serial number.
Submit the meter reading to your energy supplier right away. If for whatever reading you can’t submit that day. You have photos as evidence of meter readings and the date they were taken.
It’s going to be a very busy day for suppliers and you might not be able to submit readings that day.
Why does everyone need to do this?
As most people now know, on 1st April 2022, the new OFGEM energy price cap comes into force. This means much higher energy rates for millions of people. It’s incredibly important therefore suppliers are not given the opportunity to charge energy units used at the old lower rates before 1st April 2022, at the newer higher price caps rates after 1st April 2022.
Remember Thursday March 31st, 2022, is National Meter reading day.

@LaurieFairyCake

Loopydream

That's why I'm thinking of turning it off at the mains - just one switch

It will then all turn on in the morning when I hit the switch

If anyone has a cordless handset for your landline it won't work without mains power - the old corded ones will.

Something to bear in mind.

@Mrsjayy

Tilfa do you think a fridge/freezer just gets instantly cold when you switch it on ?

No. What makes you think that thought even popped into my head? You have totally misunderstood.

UPDATE

It's the boiler!

I have a combi boiler (no hot water tank). The heating and hot water are OFF overnight. It's in the off position. We have no thermostat, it broke - so you physically have to turn it on to heat the radiators. The hot water comes on automatically when you use the tap.

But the prick is working overnight, keeping up to heat inside so that when you draw the tap or turn it on for heating the radiators the next morning it doesn't have to pre heat for long.

It's 4 year old and serviced every year.

I turned it down to 45 degrees off the advice of that other thread.

I noticed when I turned it off yesterday and then had to turn it on later the radiators took ages to warm as it was having to preheat !

And last night I turned it OFF at the socket and lo and behold no 6 KW drain - just used one unit overnight

So that's it, the nobhead is now turned off when we don't need it (at the socket) so it can't cycle.

I now can reliably say I use 12 KW of electricity a day (which I think is normal)

Turning it on is exactly the same in that you press a switch and that opens the electric circuit allowing electricity to flow, it's how it works once it's turned on that differs somewhat.

In surprised that so many have failed to understand what I am say. I ah well,not to worry.

@user1497207191, So, no they don't work "harder", as, as you say, thermostats are basically on-off switches, but they will stay "on" longer to get the temperature back to the setting.So, no they don't work "harder", as, as you say, thermostats are basically on-off switches, but they will stay "on" longer to get the temperature back to the setting

Which is essentially what I was saying!!!

But the prick is working overnight, keeping up to heat inside so that when you draw the tap or turn it on for heating the radiators the next morning it doesn't have to pre heat for long

But the combi boiler uses gas to keep the water warm.

It doesn't use electricity. The only electricity it uses is for the circuits - which is not going to be 6 KWH.

Well it's either the boiler OR someone stole my electricity last week when I took overnight readings (but they haven't stolen any since)

All I know is last night I turned it off at the switch and no power was used overnight

And I'm going to continue to take daily readings (with the boiler off overnight)

If there's anything else causing me to use 6KW overnight then it will show itself over the next week

@LaurieFairyCake

And I'm going to continue to take daily readings (with the boiler off overnight)

If there's anything else causing me to use 6KW overnight then it will show itself over the next week

Your boiler is not going to be using the electricity to heat any water.

So assuming it's off for about 8 hours? That's about 700 watts of energy being used by the boiler. For doing what? A kettle uses 2000 - 3000 watts of energy and it boils water in a few minutes with that much energy!

I would get an electrician round to see if they can take a look

It's £150 an hour to get an electrician round in my area - not happening

@LaurieFairyCake

It's £150 an hour to get an electrician round in my area - not happening

That's a lot.

@LaurieFairyCake

It's £150 an hour to get an electrician round in my area - not happening

Where are you? I’m in London and it’s 95+ VAT.

Also London - so £110 in your area, about £150 in mine

Mad amounts of money - no wonder I want to continue to figure this out myself

Then you must have a ghost 👻

I realise phone charging is just one small part of electricity use but my iPhone has smart charging. I plug it in when I go to bed but my phone has learned my routine so doesn't start charging until early the next morning, so it's at 100% when my alarm goes off.

I'd assume most phones are the same nowadays.

You can get smart meter things that work per appliance. So you buy one, plug the appliance into that and then into the socket. It then measures how much electricity that appliance is using.

What about getting one of those and testing out each of your appliances in turn?

@LaurieFairyCake

It's £150 an hour to get an electrician round in my area - not happening

That's a bit daft really isn't it?

@LaurieFairyCake

Also London - so £110 in your area, about £150 in mine

Mad amounts of money - no wonder I want to continue to figure this out myself

No because these are Londonwide electricians - they're not area specific.

You need to google more effectively. £150 is a weekend or evening callout rate.

I dont charge phones etc overnight as too long on charge can be harmful to the life of the battery.

I also occasionally let the battery die, I only charge during the day for a few hours.

Make sure fridge and freezer aren’t too empty as then they are working harder to keep prime temperature.

Is everything else off at the socket overnight?

Would the cost of a solar panel to power them outweigh the cost of the overnight charging.

I’d not use everything else overnight. Unplug everything - no charging etc - and let the only things on be the fridge and freezer. Is it the same level of power used.

I dont charge phones etc overnight as too long on charge can be harmful to the life of the battery.

With the majority of modern smartphones they have safeguards built in against this as long as you always charge in a consistent way, for example overnight. They will charge quickly to 90% and then go into trickle charge for the rest of the night. Check your battery settings, as if you're charging normally then don't unplug as soon as it hits 100%, you might inadvertantly be causing the problem you're trying to avoid. This is also why most phones will vibrate when fully charged, unless you charge them overnight.

UPDATE

Getting really annoyed and stressed out now

It's NOT THE BOILER

I used 7Kw overnight last night with the boiler off

However we used the Lakeland heated airer all night to dry washing last night - anyone know if they're one kw an hour ?