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?

That's a good idea - it's what Dh wants to do, turn off different switches

I suspect the ground floor where the kitchen is - is using all the electricity

Is there a possibility of a power surge if you just use the main trip switch and all appliances are on?

Don't know

Possibly?

OP, a few things to consider here.

Do you have gas central heating that “clocks on” while you are still in bed? Gas boilers have electric ignition and timers.

Health and personal safety; you may need to turn lights on in the night, maybe a health issue or the need to check something. I hesitate to mention a major issue such as an intruder.

Older fridges and freezers use far more energy than newer ones.

In answer to other points up thread. Plug sockets left switched on do not use any more power than those switched off unless something is connected, you need a circuit.

Fully charged devices do not consume power after they have reached 100%.

No heating on overnight, boiler is off

Most of the plug sockets have extensions in - they are definitely using power as they have lights on them

I've got a torch on my phone if I needed to go round during the night

@LaurieFairyCake

I can't leave anything on as it would mean going around to turn everything off

There are about 25 jars of jams/pickles in my fridge, just dog food in the freezer

The only things that could go off are milk/half a dozen yoghurts and some orange juice

At the moment I could put them in a carrier bag and leave them outside the door - as it's below fridge temperature at night at the moment - was 2 degrees last night

You need to fill your freezer to make it work more efficiently, even if it's just bottles of water. At the moment it's working harder to keep the air cooler. If the freezer is full it will help keep the temperature down.

It's full of bags of ice 🧊

Do the extension leads have switches on them?

@Candlecassie

Sorry to hijack your post OP but does anyone know if a sky box and tv will be ok turned off at the wall every night so it’s not left on standby? By that I mean, it won’t cause problems with the electrics inside?

I turn my TV off at the power point each night, including the chrome cast and fetch TV (so not a skybox but similar stuff) Have done for years. Absolutely fine.

I’m fearful of fires caused by electric issues so I’ve always turned most stuff. Never leave anything charging. I do consider leaving the fridge/freezer on necessary. Agree it’s going to really stress the motor.

Fridge freezer raging changed a couple of years ago.

So your a/b rated one is probably noe an E or F

toomuchlaundry

Yes, each extension lead has about 6 plug sockets on them - each with an individual light

I did not know that about the fridge freezer - I would have thought that an A or B rating would last longer than 2 years

It really might be that then

I'm not changing the fridge freezer til it breaks - my last one lasted 16 years

On the environmental thread it said you need to keep appliances for 7 years (mines is 4 years old)

My biggest concern would be forgetting to turn the plugs on and ruining possibly hundreds of pounds of food to save less than £25 a month

Haven't read the while thread, but you also need to actually take the plugs out, not just turn it off at the wall. Recently had my oven installed and the electrician told me this

Well I definitely don't have time to take about 40 plugs out the wall (most of which I can't reach anyway)

So do you turn the switches off on the extension leads? If there are 6 sockets and 8 leads you must have quite a few things plugged in?

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

There's other tarrifs that are cheap overnight, apart from Economy 7.
We have one with Octopus Go that is 5p per kwh (instead of 26p) between 0:30 and 4:30.
We set the car to charge in this time, and also the dishwasher to come on. I expect our phones are pretty much fully charged by 0:30 though.

The fridge will use more power to get cold again than leaving it on overnight.

If you want to save then turn everything off at the mains tv, internet, chargers etc.

do you have Led light bulbs? what tie does heating come on in the morning? the circulation pump will use energy!

What is your usage during the day?

@Arghlife how do you take the plug out for the oven, ours is behind the oven!

The sky box is fine if you unplug it candlecassie

@LaurieFairyCake

I'm not changing the fridge freezer til it breaks - my last one lasted 16 years

On the environmental thread it said you need to keep appliances for 7 years (mines is 4 years old)

But switching it on and off runs the risk of shortening its life by burning out the motor

40 plugs

Fucksake. We are on around £2 worth of electricity and gas when I get up at 6.30am usually around £8-9 by the time I go to bed around 11 😭

That's outrageously high compared to what a lit of people on here seem to use, and I dont really know how or why