Energy cost

[SillyFish]

AIBU to think that as the cost of electricity soars, we will al use our devices less and return to reading paper books, play board games and go to the local pub to socialise rather than doing all these activities online?

Ebooks are very cheap, the pub is expensive compared to a drink at home, and board games & paper books still require light to see.

People will be more mindful of energy use but I doubt it will have the specific knock-on effects you mention because they will also be more price sensitive to discretionary spending.

Library membership, pub for a cheep drink and a few hours of warmth and company, energy saving light bulb that will be on anyway and card or board games to pass time.

I am only half kidding, we WFH and have so many devices charging all he time, I do wonder if it will be costing us a bomb.

The predictions of raising energy bills are unsettling.

If library memberships went up I’d be all for it! Paper prices are through the roof so print books are about to get a lot more expensive though, I’m afraid, and libraries are always last on the list for funding historically.

When the rates went up, I experimented by switching off devices at night and changing a lot of habits. The only things that made a difference were:

1. Completely stopped using the oven
2. Completely stopped using heating
3. Completely stopped having baths and have short showers instead

My current average spend is £1.80 per day

Modern electronic devices are efficient and cheap to run: the average smartphone costs less than a penny per charge and a laptop not much more. It’s heat-producing devices which really impact on bills: ovens, kettles, heating and hot water, washing machines on hot cycles. I think raising awareness of that is important, there have been so many posts recently from people seemingly unaware of how energy works (see people who think it’s more efficient to boil a full kettle and then decent the water into a flask to last all day) or what devices use the most power.

I forgot to mention: no hair dryer and no ironing

@PradaOnaBudget and @ComtesseDeSpair thank you, that's good to know.

DP took his dad out for a drink a few weeks ago and they ended up at Wetherspoons as it opens the latest of the local pubs. Ours is a nice quiet one and he commented that at £1.99 a pint and the heating on it was a very cheap way of passing a couple of hours in lovely warmth with company too.