Holy moly my smart meter has hit 10 pounds

[Eyedropeyeflop]

I’ve never seen my smart meter hit 10 pounds in one day.

We are a family of 5 in a standard 3 bed house. The heating has been on today from 3-7pm (and not on full).

Couple of showers, 1 bath. I cooked sausages in the oven, veg on the hob. Nothing too extravagent.

Few cups of tea.

Looking forward we will cope, but we will not have hardly any surplus.

Anyone else want to share their smart meter readings today?

@myusernamewastakenbyme

This is why i wont have a smart meter either...Id drive myself mad with anxiety looking at it going up and up.

You can always get a smart meter installed and not use the little screen it comes with. You can just shove the little monitor in a drawer and it won’t impact the actual smart meter itself sending reads or your bills in any way.

I worked ours out at £17 from Saturday morning to Saturday morning. Minimal heating, two people.

@BertieBotts

Air fryers cost less to run than an oven if you're just doing something like sausages. It's basically an oven, just smaller.

I was also going to recommend an air fryer. Game changer for a lot of things you would otherwise oven cook.

But also check the cost of your baths and showers. Electrically heated water is very expensive so you don't need to be lingering for ages in there.

Mine was £8 which is highest I've seen it. Obvs bit higher in a Sunday with everyone in using electricity and I had a bath and used tumble dryer as damp outside. Need to show kids how much it cost when they're in the shower for ages and leave phone chargers on. Still doesn't add up to what my direct debit has gone up to a month though

I thank god I live in a 1960s terraced box. Didn’t put the heating on at all yesterday, just put extra clothes on and had a hot water bottle. Ordered electric throws too now. Although I’m hoping we won’t need them for a few months soon.

It's shocking isn't it? I saw a tip on one of these recently about dialling with the settings on your boiler to help somewhat, basically try to get the temp down until you notice.
www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature
Then obviously standard things like switching stuff off at the wall as lots have really high standby consumptions.

Unfortunately ours is mostly washing machine and hoover. Not sure how much we can do without those!

Please can I ask if these are readings direct from the meter or a plug-in gadget. I've been told by my electricity company that they can't fit a smart meter, so not sure what to get.

The main advantage of a Smart Meter is the monitor - so you can easily track power usage and see what changes you can make.

If you can't monitor it, then all you're doing is just giving the companies an easy way to get the readings.

58p for both. Only the basics plugged in (fridge, WiFi, security cameras, phone charger) and no heating on. No dishwasher and I've never tumble dried anyway. Used my heated throw any time I sat down. Watched tv a bit. French wash in the shower in cold water. Ate cold food, which I've always preferred (smoothie, cottage cheese etc). No kids, so that makes a huge difference.

How come the difference in costs , one person cooks a roast at a cost of £11 someone else 3 loads of washing , bath etc for £3.50.

Kinda puts me off getting a smart metre .

@Isonthecase

It's shocking isn't it? I saw a tip on one of these recently about dialling with the settings on your boiler to help somewhat, basically try to get the temp down until you notice. www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature Then obviously standard things like switching stuff off at the wall as lots have really high standby consumptions.

Unfortunately ours is mostly washing machine and hoover. Not sure how much we can do without those!

Carefull you don't lower the temperature in the boiler too much. It needs to be at 60 degrees Celsius at a minunum to avoid Legionella.

What would the energy companies do if everyone cancelled their direct debits and refused to pay these ridiculous bills (check out how much you’re paying for ‘green’ levies)?
Would they happily switch tens of millions of people off or would the government have to step in and do something?
Other countries aren’t going through what we are.

Mine just went up 20p from boiling the kettle!!!

Shiiit. That's q lot.

@LethargeMarg

Mine just went up 20p from boiling the kettle!!!

That sounds surprising.

A kettle is 2 - 3000 watts.

So in 1 hour it uses say 2.5 KWH of energy - about 60p
20p is the equivalent of boiling a kettle for 20 minutes.

I

@hattie43

How come the difference in costs , one person cooks a roast at a cost of £11 someone else 3 loads of washing , bath etc for £3.50.

Kinda puts me off getting a smart metre .

Why?

A Smart Meter just tells you how much you're spending.

@cakeorwine

The main advantage of a Smart Meter is the monitor - so you can easily track power usage and see what changes you can make.

If you can't monitor it, then all you're doing is just giving the companies an easy way to get the readings.

Thanks, can you just buy one and plug in? The only ones I can see on Amazon look as if you have to plug each item into them in turn and see how much power is being consumed. I guess then note it down then add it all up. A lot of work at different times of the day really.

Thanks, can you just buy one and plug

I don't think so.

My monitor connects to the Smart Meter and it updates the tariffs on it directly from the energy company.

The ones you mention are just for the plugs themselves

For anyone not in a smart meter who wants to keep an eye o their usage, this is a handy spreadsheet:

thnet.co.uk/power/

Averaging about £3 a day here BUT the heating is off, it's a 2 bed flat, and I'm on a fixed tariff that's slightly lower than the old price cap (and much lower than the new one)

I have a smart meter but not the small gadget to tell you usage. Can you buy these and if so, where from?

I asked Octopus for one about 8 weeks ago but it hasn't arrived.

@cakeorwine

Thanks, can you just buy one and plug

I don't think so.

My monitor connects to the Smart Meter and it updates the tariffs on it directly from the energy company.

The ones you mention are just for the plugs themselves

You can get a smart meter that's not linked to the service provider.

We have one. It's not straightforward to fit as you have to identify cables to and from the fuse board and attach a device. There is a plug in component too rich is easy.

It's given us the same benefits of a smart meter but won't affect our payments on our solar generation payments.

This was the reason we have declined a smart meter from the energy supplier.

I know eventually we have to have one, but we are resisting at the moment as it will cost me £400 loss of revenue from my panels a year.

Unfortunately ours is mostly washing machine and hoover. Not sure how much we can do without those!

Probably not, but you could look into how much it would cost/save to change for more energy efficient models. Something like a robot hoover doesn't use that much power but can cut down on the amount you need to vacuum. And depending on how old your washing machine is, a new one might pay for itself within a few months and you might get £100-200 for the old one on Marketplace if it works fine.

I have a prepay meter for electric and used under £2 yesterday. That included two loads of washing and one load in the dryer, using the oven for 20 minutes at tea time.
Gas is billed so not sure how much we used, but three showers (over an hour total running time, damn kids, maybe even 1.5 hours) Heating is off, it's April.

www.amazon.co.uk/BISSELL-2402E-Sturdy-Sweep-Cleaner/dp/B00BJZ4NIA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=2OH8WPAZLZWJD&keywords=carpet+sweeper&sprefix=carpet+sweeper%2Caps%2C339&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1649056926&sr=8-3

Get one of those so you dont need to use the vacuum as much. I got one for my kids to run over their bedroom as one of their chores when they were younger and couldnt manage the Hoover. Now I'll be using this and only hoovering once a week or so.