The “how much does this cost to run” thread?

[AtomicBlondeRose]

Based on posts about people thinking of using candles instead of electric lights - which is both dangerous and not likely to save any money, I’d like to set this thread up as a place where people can ask how much items in their house cost to run, to let posters make informed decisions about whether or not to keep using them after energy price rises.

If you want to ask, useful information to have is: the energy usage of the item - eg a heater might say on it that it’s 1000w. If you don’t know that the name/model number as accurately as possible. Also to give you a useful estimate it would be good to know your current gas/electricity price tariff price per unit. However it’s easy enough to work out at current and predicted price cap levels.

I can’t promise to answer everything so please can I call upon other numerate MNers to help out? I think this could be a real lifesaver.

Showers use more water than you might think ... and I suppose it takes longer to heat up water than the oil in an oil filled radiator? I think there comes a point when a shared (not so deep) bath works out cheaper than multiple showers, especially if the water in the bath is heated by gas and it's an electric shower.

I'm really struggling to reduce our usage - we are a four adult/two generations family with a shedload of gadgets. My only hope is to reduce the heating bill.

@SamBeckettslastleap you want to see a picture of my fishtank with heater light pump etx ?

We did a not very scientific test re the cost in gas for showers this week. We have a condenser boiler with hot water tank.
So, we turned the ‘water’ off,
took a meter reading.
Two people had showers.
Avoided using any other hot water for a short while.
Turned the water heating back on.
when the boiler stopped (suggesting the water in the tank was now back to temp), took another meter reading.
Did the sums.
To reheat the water after 2 showers worked out at approx 35p per shower.

Not bad, I read it's about 44p a 10 min shower.

We just checked out leccy and I am now concerned it's broken because it shows average use of less than 3kwh a day for last month😂 i need to dig in today. And then never mention it to EDF😂

We have just returned from holiday - and I had a lovely bath last night.

The bath used about 5 KWH of gas - so about 35p. I guess it will cost more in winter when the water is colder in the pipes.

Nope it is 4! I knew i wasn't crazy and under 3 was just no way I was just a dummy because of how we topped up I thought we lost that rate from before April. I am still on 27p standing charge and 21pkwh!
So if any of you have a top up meter top up the key before end of month

For my combi boiler a 15 min shower will be 65p from October and £1 from January - I calculated using the gas meter so it should be fairly accurate.

Thank you for the info on showers. Very helpful.

I realised I am tackling this wrong with the “bottom up” approach and need to look at it “top down” to get the big costs.

Our average usage is 700kwh electric and 85kw gas. So focussing on gas for showers is the wrong approach. For that matter, the double glazing replacement I have just ordered isn’t going to make much of a dent either (although to be fair the current windows are 30 years and literally falling apart).

But I need to figure out what’s using all of the electricity. DH is a SAHD so having someone in the house all the time is probably got a lot to do with it. We did do a LOT of washing too, but have managed to cut that down. All the lights are LEDs so it’s not that.

Hi all. Does anyone know roughly how much it'll cost to do an extra spin at the end of a wash please? Just trying to work out if it's worth it before hanging up 😂

blonde no, I want to see a fish! (Especially if he/she has a name.

crikey liking your experiment, I will have a go as well.

Hairy do you have left over hot after the shower?

fish you amounts sound reasonable, this is the issue, where do you cut?

live no idea where to start with that as the extra spin will mean less heat/drying time, so how do you work out the benefit, beyond me, sorry.

I'm considering emptying the chest freezer but having to work out the difference in food cost. Have put in a few bottles of water to keep it full as a pp said and lots on the Internet seem to agree. Thinking on cold days I can turn it off (it is in the garage)

@SamBeckettslastleap this is mr sucky

he likes to hide behind stuff but when he’s fully Front we love watching his mouth eat

Then angel

Blacky

Our average usage is 700kwh electric and 85kw gas @iwishiwasafish

Is that monthly or yearly?

Awwww @Blondeshavemorefun ! Adorable. You take me right back to my childhood with them!

Monthly (family of 4) and the electric is more than twice the average consumption, which is why I am trying to figure out where it is going.

Ok

So have you got a list of gadgets in your house? Anything that uses electricity
Have you got a Smart Meter?

There are gadgets that are relatively low power but that are on for a long time that can use a lot of energy over a month.

And of course, some higher power ones that can add up.

It is high - I would recommend doing an 'electricity' audit.

I have an energy monitor that I can plug in and can see how much energy is being used.

We are 4 people (adult and teen) at home full
time using 300kwh elec per month so I agree there must be some big savings you can make. We have dishwasher washing machine oven ironing and kids gadgets galore. Mine is still above average and hard to get it lower.

Are you sure you don't have another house plugged in your meter😱

I think in your case the gizmo for measuring would be the best. Even at 4 people that is a LOT

In all seriousness, the house next door (part of the same conversion) has mentioned never having had an electricity bill, so maybe.

I’ve just never given it that much thought previously. Bills were higher than others but still seemed reasonable given someone is home all the time. I put it down to doing a lot of washing and tumble drying, plus last winter we had to use electric heaters. We have heat pump tumble dryer, B-rated dishwasher, all LED lights etc so I never really broke it down.

That said, I just worked out that DH’s gaming PC and 2 gaming monitors, which he has on 12hrs plus per day, are using about 6kwh per day! So that’s nearly 20% of it right there!

Flip the main switch and see if the next house goes dark😂

We are a four adult house and high users (not in your league, thankfully!) I have cut right back - no tumble drying and dishwasher on less (when I load it, I get more in and I only put it on full). Less on standby.

But I'm thwarted by two gamers who are online WFH during the day and then gaming (PC, playstations ...) which I know costs a lot. Especially so many hours, so many days ...

Blonde you have made my evening. Especially Mr Sucky. Makes it all real though, your electricity use keeps pets alive.

Glad to be of use 😁😁

@SamBeckettslastleap we have combi boiler with instant hot water do teens can run showers for as long as they want! I’veordered a 4 min shower timer but there’s no chance of them getting out in 4 mins