The true cost of running electrical devices - a useful guide?

[cakeorwine]

I did a thread a while ago on electrical devices - even more relevant now with the coming increase in energy costs.

This might be useful for people to get an idea of what it costs to run devices.

These calculations are based on a unit of electricity being 45p / KWH which is what it could be in October (it's currently about 27p / KWH)

A 1 watt device run for 1000 hours uses 1 unit of energy.

There are 8760 hours in a year - so that 8.76 units of energy = £3.90

For context, my Alexa is about 3 watts and it's on all the time - so it would cost 3 * £3.90 = about £12 a year to run.

A TV is between 50 - 100 watts.

So if a 100 watt TV was run for 10 hours, that's 1 unit (100 10) - so about 45p per 10 hours or 4.5p per hour*

A hairdryer is about 1500 watts (on high speed, high heat). So in 1 hour, it's used 1.5 units or 67p. - so about 1p a minute

A PlayStation 5 on active gaming is about 200 watts - so in 5 hours, it's used about 1 unit - so 8p per hour

An electric shower - about 10 kilowatts, so in 1 hour (full speed, full heat) - it's used £4.50 - so about 7p a minute

Just a few examples - but you can see how devices use energy

Standby mode is very good now - about 1 watt - so a device on standby will use about £4 per year. Obviously lots of devices on standby do add up.

I am sure people can post other examples. It's just useful to know where your energy goes.

Really - current standing charges are 73p a day - so £273 a year

Are you predicting a 3 - 4 fold increase?

(And BTW - not the point of this thread)

Well that would work. I don't know if I could be bothered to go that far but scientifically, yes, it works.

I also use my kettle to boil water for the pan on the stove

I like how this is set out according to category of which type of appliances uses most energy:

energysavingtrust.org.uk/top-five-energy-consuming-home-appliances/

Wet
Cold
Consumer Electronics
Lighting
Cooking

Which surprised me - I expected cooking to be far higher.

Which surprised me - I expected cooking to be far higher

I suppose they aren't just as big energy consumers as heating up water a lot and keeping air cool or very cold constantly.

Lighting is interesting - at least most people aren't using the old 100 watt incandescent lightbulbs anymore. All that energy just heating the room and some of it going to actually do its job of lighting the room!

Read the newspaper article above from Gloucester.

@ajandjjmum

@Dodie66 all modern washing machines are cold fill only now.

You can buy hot fill. But you have to seek them out.

Why would you?

I don't mind thermos water for my tea because I drink 3 cups in a row so no time for it to cool

Yeah limescale really slows kettles down, I was visiting my parents and their limescale clogged kettle took forever to boil (and my dad is the absolute worse for kettle using, fills it up to the brim and boils it, then forgets about it so reboils it at least twice before finally making a pot of tea. Don't know how my mum hasn't thrown the kettle out, I would!). Luckily limescale is not a problem for me at my house, lovely Finnish water means zero limescale, never had it in my kettle.

I don't know, it was at someone else's house not mine. The meter was showing something like 7p a minute, then put the kettle on and it jumped right up. Maybe the meter wasn't very accurate or maybe the kettle was some super powerful one.

If you look at the cost per hour of a kettle, it's high - about 90 p with the new rates coming soon.

BUT - it's not on for a long time. So it's going at a high speed but on a short journey.

Look at what it says when you run an electric shower at the cost per hour!!

I don't even want to think about how much the shower costs! Luckily I'm happy taking cold showers unless I need to wash my hair so I mostly take cold showers instead.

You can quote me but I cannot quote you OP.

Currently the standing charges are a disgrace. They will rise up to 80% come October. And then again in February.

I am protected from these standing charges in my gas only. I do have a certain protection regarding my electric.

Whilst it's good to reduce your electricity and gas usage, it's about as much use as recycling to reduce climate change.

Why would people take cold showers?

It's really effective in winter of course. Get up out of bed that hasn't had the sheets washed in weeks and go into a cold bathroom and take a cold shower.

May as well go back to having a bath a week and wear clothes that are damp.

PMK for energy saving ideas. Ditto on the electric vs hob kettle question. Was wondering about this myself. With wfh, DH and I have been having up to 20+ cups of tea a day… now I’m thinking just cut back on cuppas or go into the office more??

Why do you think the standing charge will rise by 80% and then 80% again?

It's about 75p a day now - so about £275 a year

How do you get to £1000 a year?

So what is the point of this thread?

Is the expected cost of £3500 per year for gas and electricity not true?

And why have you started a thread to reduce costs?

Did you read my links?

They're really refreshing and you feel warmer coming out of a cold shower into a cold room (my shower is in the basement, its always cool down) than from a hot shower into a cold room. I thought it was insane when my partner started taking cold showers so I decided to try to see what the fuss was about.

This is getting beyond ridiculous.

It's the standing charge.

www.theguardian.com/money/2022/mar/06/why-is-my-standing-charge-up-by-80-energy-firms-pile-on-the-agony

I wash my hands in cold water, rinse my dishes in cold water - always put my dishwasher on a 30 minute cycle.

Cold water showers daily are not good for the bathroom and your skin. Oh and it's better to rinse your hair in cold water.

BTW there is a water shortage in the South and South East now. Careful with that water usage.

The standing charges may be skyrocketing but you’ve lost me @placemats

Why isn’t it still useful to try to reduce energy usage?? In fact, wouldn’t you say it’s all that more important to do so?

If you feel that other, more political, steps are also what’s called for then please feel free to make them.

So the current price cap is £1971 going to £3800

Which is double.

You do understand that £1000 is not double £273?