Yet another article in the Daily Express with incorrect running costs - a fridge does not cost £3.40 a day to run

[cakeorwine]

This is the article from the Daily Express

Dishwashers

According to the experts, the majority usage on your energy bills will come from the wet household appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines. They shared: “The average dishwasher cycle lasts around an hour and a half, but some lower quality ones can run from two to four hours. Running a dishwasher is one of the most expensive household appliances, using around 3.3 kWh of energy.
“It's possible to estimate how much energy each appliance uses by multiplying its power rating in kW by the number of minutes/hours it’s left on. Wattage information should be on the label or in any manual that comes with your appliance.
“For example, a dishwasher may have a power rating of 2200W (there are 1000W in a kW). If you run it for 90 minutes it uses 3.3 kWh, costing around £1.12 for a 90 minute cycle. Here are the workings of the equation: 2.2 x 90/60 = 3.3kWh.”

Fridges

On average, fridges and freezers will account for around 13 percent of your household’s energy bill, according to Energy Saving Trust. The average fridge/freezer will stay on 24/7, with a Wattage of 400, using around 9.6 kWh of energy per day.

Ovens:

"The average wattage of an oven is around 3kW, meaning it uses around 1kwh if run for around 20 minutes, which is about 34p."

Washing machines

Washing machines and dishwashers account for around 14 percent of a typical energy bill. On average, a typical washing machine will run from around 45 to 90 minutes.

A washing machine will have a similar power rating to a dishwasher, with an average rating of 2200W. Typically, though, the running cycle for a washing machine would be shorter, therefore costing less per cycle.

On an average 2200W washing machine, the appliance will use about 2.2kWh of energy if running for an hour, which will cost around 75p, says the pros. Again, households should avoid half-loads and opt for a grade A energy-efficiency

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So what are the issues?

They tried. They really tried. They looked at the wattage of a fridge / freezer - about 400 watts and then said, hey, it's on 24 /7 so that's going to be 0.4 kWh every hour, so 24 * 0.4 a day = 9.6 kWh - so £3.26

Mathematically correct - but scientifically inaccurate as the fridge / freezer is not constantly running at that wattage.

Also - that would be about 3600 kWh a year of electricity a year just for a fridge / freezer. Which is strange as the average electricity use is 2900 kWH for all devices.

And also a surprise as the article also says "On average, fridges and freezers will account for around 13 percent of your household’s energy bill, according to Energy Saving Trust"

The other devices are not running at that wattage constantly. It fluctuates a lot - especially with the fridge / freezer. A fridge uses between 400 - 600 kWh a year (about 1 - 2kWh a day) A freezer uses about 200 - 300 kWh a year (about 0.8 kWh a day)

This kind of article is dangerous - especially the fridge advice - as it will worry people and get them to turn their fridge off for a time. Which is dangerous for food safety.

I think that media that publishes false information like this should face a punishment.

better this way around than the other ie rather than inflating costs the journalists lessens it.

so people who can’t be bothered or simply can’t calculate the inaccuracy - cut back more than they otherwise would if they know the accurate figure. So they save more and use less of the country’s energy.

hmmmm… I wonder whether the paper got a backhander from the gov! 😂

Because it takes all of a minute's thought to realise that the article is cobblers.

I haven't got any credentials, but I own a fridge.

My entire electricity use for last month was 41kwh, so about 1.3 a day. Pretty easy to see that the fridge doesn't use 10kwh a day.

That's actually not "better" and I am starting to think you are on a bit of a wind up here.
People will end up injured, sick or suicidal. There will be people turning fridges off.
Rather than having laugh at that most of the country should think very hard about their education system and why it's failing that many that most don't seem to be able to figure out their usage

If you look at the online retailers they mostly give annual consumption figures somewhere in the specifications for each appliance.

The most popular fridge freezer on AO.com - a 263litre Beko - uses 298kWh per year. That's 0.82kWh per day - less than a tenth of the bullshit figures in the Express.

Even a double-door "American" style plumbed in Fridge Freezer with ice and water dispenser (the most popular is a 634litre Samsung) only uses 419kWh per year. That's 1.15kWh per day.

If a typical annual electricity usage is 2900kWh (Ofgem) and the average fridge freezer uses 13% of this (Energy Savings Trust) then that would amount to annual consumption of 377kWh, or 1.03kWh/day - which ties in very well with the figures given above.

Incidentally, the specs also show how long they keep food safe in the event of a power cut. The first example above is 14 hours and the second is 10 hours. This should pacify those who are worried about the consequences of possible national grid rolling power cuts of around 3 hours.

I agree with you, this is dangerous.

I work in a hospital microbiology lab, we are seeing lots of campylobacter lately…
My theory was that people aren’t cooking chicken for long enough to save energy.

I just wonder how someone can be so unaware when they write an article.

I know that it came from an appliance company - trying to raise awareness of its website. They sent a press release / article to the company. But you would have really hoped the company would have tried to get it right before sending the information to the press.

I am tempted to write an article. Unfortunately I don't have anything to promote. Just someone who knows a bit about energy. And can do research

Who has a masters degree in science and reads the Daily Express. How do you have so much time on your hands to think about this nonsense?

Our brand new Miele dishwasher takes on average 2.5 hours for a wash so I’m not sure how they came up with their information.

I do.

And it's good to think about misinformation and correct it. Especially when it could affect people's health.

We use the tapo energy monitoring plugs which monitor the usage, and compliments our smart meter data.

Our 10 year old fridge freeze american style, not particularly flashy or anything, was eco when we bought it, accounts for a third of our energy use now. Runs about 200 watts continuously, but has peaks and troughs at different times. We use about 7kwh per day, the f/freezer takes 2.8kwh.

Dishwasher, Washine machine and Tumble dryer are all high intensity but short cycles.

I’ve been looking into a solar system for just the fridge, but we are likely to move in about a year. No point investing for it right now.

I don't think they know about the amount of energy used per cycle.

Our 10 year old fridge freeze american style, not particularly flashy or anything, was eco when we bought it, accounts for a third of our energy use now. Runs about 200 watts continuously, but has peaks and troughs at different times. We use about 7kwh per day, the f/freezer takes 2.8kwh

Wow. I think it might be time to upgrade.

That's about 1000 kWh per year.

I agree there is so much scaremongering some of which is dangerous. I firmly believe people will needlessly be ill, injured or even worse this winter as they make decisions based on nonsense like this. I already know of older people who are not putting heating on and doing minimal cooking even when they can actually afford to because they are absolutely terrified by what is in the news. Many are already struggling with mental health after Covid and this on top is just too much.

I can't believe people are arguing with you Cake!

Yep @SilverGlitterBaubles
I was reading the other day in the local news that a pensioner was only allowing himself one hot drink a day because of costs. Literally a couple of pence a day.

The article mentioned lights - and it wasn't that clear about the type of light. It mentioned incandescent bulbs - I don't even know if many people still use those as they are hard to get hold of.

I wish articles like this were clear and had useful information - if it mentions bulbs, then say that incandescent bulbs - 100 watts for example, are about 3 - 4 p an hour but (newer) bulbs use much less energy

I would hope someone would ask him how much he thought it would cost to make a hot drink.

That 200 W continuous American fridge must produce a noticeable amount of heat.

I have been asking people how much they think things cost to run, for the most part they over estimate by a factor of 10, sometimes 20.

My daughter thought it costs 30p to make a slice of toast.

I think it might be a bit burnt

You think that's the only paper the OP reads??! Oh that's adorable.

"You think that's the only paper the OP reads??! Oh that's adorable."

All the news that's fit for chips!

I'd say that correcting mass media when they're disseminating dangerous nonsense is a perfectly reasonable hobby. More productive than adult colouring-in books or Netflix.

Prince once said "If I want sax, I go to Candy [Dulfer]"

By the same token, if I want facts, I don't go to the Express.