To insist that my family turn the lights off when they're not in the room?

[ThirdElephant]

Just that, really. DH maintains that the lights are energy efficient/LED bulbs and as such use a negligible amount of electricity and are not worth turning off (he'll happily leave them all on overnight when we're in bed). My counter-argument is that even a tiny amount adds up to a significant amount over time, but he refutes this, saying it's such a small proportion of our overall usage it's not worth bothering with.

AIBU? Should I just let it go?

@LeroyJenkinssss

Nah I’m with your husband on this. Say you have a 12W bulb and your price per kWh is 35p/kWh (I’m going for the higher rate for worst case scenario) for every hour that an LED bulb is left on it costs you 0.42p. So even leaving it on for an extra six hours every day for the whole February is only going to cost you 71p extra.

But 71p ×12 is £8.54 a year per bulb which can add up quickly, especially in larger properties.

That doesn't sound like much but if you have multiple lights on all the time then that number is going to be higher and with the rising energy costs, saving £8.54 a year by doing something as simple as turning off a light you aren't using will help towards keeping bills down.

My uncle and aunt have 4 kids who seem to have gone through life thinking light switches only have an "on" function and no matter when you went into their house, day or night, there would usually be at least one or two lights on at any given time. This year the last of their kids moved out and they are astounded at how low their electricity usage is now that there isn't at least one light on 24/7, TVs/consoles on, electronics constantly charging etc

I don't think anyone needs to become some sort of "lightswitch monitor" where you can't even leave the living room light on if you pop to the kitchen to make a brew during the ad break in Corrie, but leaving lights on for hours in empty rooms is just wasteful.

I have smart bulbs in every light fixture in my house - I can control them via the light switch or via my Google Home devices and phone app and I can check which lights are on at any given time.

If I go out in the evening, rather than leaving the hall light on for hours or coming home to pitch darkness, I can just turn it on as I'm on the way home. Or if I'm late and get halfway to work before I remember I left my bedroom light on I can turn it off via my phone, rather than having to leave it on for the next 10-12 hours. Equally, when I go to bed at night I just need to activate my "night routine" via my Google speaker which will check the lights are off and if any are still on then it will turn them off automatically.

@EngTech

Ask them to pay the bill when it thuds on your door mat 👍👍👍

It will be pennies.

Ask them to pay the bill when it thuds on your door mat 👍👍👍

It will be pennies.

Exactly !.

YABU to nag people.

Life is too short to fret over the pennies it costs to have lights on.

I like lights to be off as well, but I see pps point that it's hardly worth nagging over. I think you have to agree to disagree. You won't complain if lights are left on and he won't complain if you've turned them off.

@BlusteryLake

In our house the rule is that if you're leaving the room and don't plan to return immediately then the light goes off. Hallway lights stay on all evening until we go to bed.

This.

Tne biggest puller of power is the freezer not a led lightbulb

@KitKattaktik

If you use a 10 watt bulb for 1 hour, you use 0.01 KWH

If you use a 10 watt bulb for 100 hours, that is 1000 watt hour or 1 KWH

1 KWH = i unit = 28p

28p / 100 = 0.28p per hour

Please tell me what part of that is wrong?

Do you have the heating on? If so yabvu. The wasted energy from lights is all in the form of heat. So leaving them on means less heating required. The cost of heating is way higher than lights anyway.

If you heat rooms you aren't sitting in, yabu.

[quote cakeorwine]@KitKattaktik

If you use a 10 watt bulb for 1 hour, you use 0.01 KWH

If you use a 10 watt bulb for 100 hours, that is 1000 watt hour or 1 KWH

1 KWH = i unit = 28p

28p / 100 = 0.28p per hour

Please tell me what part of that is wrong?[/quote]
I reread your original comment and I can't see a mistake

Please don’t forget that led bulbs are way below a 10w input. Some of mine are giving out the equivalent of 40w but only 2w input

I grew up being conscious of energy and water waste. My OH is incredibly wasteful. I commented for years and then gave in whilst continuing to be mindful myself. Now that this energy crisis is here I've renewed my pleas and he's turning off lights etc., Crisis or not, it just irks me!

A 3w led based on 10 hrs a day will cost less than £1.90 per yr to run

@mytwocats

Please don’t forget that led bulbs are way below a 10w input. Some of mine are giving out the equivalent of 40w but only 2w input

Some LED bulbs are way below.

A 10 watt bulb is easy for the maths.

Some are about 10 watt. Many are less.