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.

Utility running costs

hope this link works

And a link to the Bloomberg story it comes from Here

@iwishiwasafish what have you accounted for? 25kwh a day is quite a lot (as I’m sure you’ve worked out!) - we use about 2500kwh a year which averages at about 7 a day.

Washing up bowl, not a sink full, we haven't won the lottery.😉

I have shorthair and can shower in a couple of minutes tops, but i do like the odd bath now and then so will repeat my experiment with that.

Bread has gone up in aldi

used to get the nutty /grain one for 69p now over. £1

same for her chocolate brioche she like. Think we’re 59/69 and now £1.10

Tbh the bread price rise was expected with the current situation. One of the first things I read when Russia invaded were articles about Lebanon being fucked with this. And everyone else.

I always thought hread makers would use more energy. Good to know it's actually quite low.

That’s high !!! Thought mine was bad at 5629 so 15 a day average

I put one of those power monitors on my bread maker the other day and it was 11p to do a 650g white loaf

I think the dishwasher v handwashing comparison is based on changing the water a few times and rinsing under a hot tap as you go.

Please could I ask for help? Due to a household with 2 disabled people in we do go through an awful lot of washing. Washer/dryer is Hoover Dynamic Next 1500 (I assume that's the wattage). On fixed rate for the next couple of years at 37.12p unit rate. The dryer is really useful but takes ages so I am worried over using it

@BornToDance that 1500 is spin number. Energy sepends on programme. Will try to find the manual

Ah. Looks like the manual doesn't mention consumption.
They seriously should have this mandatory "approx xkwh per full 10kg poad at x and y programme. Consumption may vary".🙄

Was it a problem before? That's a good fix at the moment! I've seen waaaay more expensive. Maybe just use it for a month normally, take note of meter and see where you stand. You could half the drying time by taking it out and hanging it? It finishes drying pretty quickly

Thanks @Bubblebubblebah i couldn’t find the wattage either. It normally takes 2-3 hours to dry a load so I try not to use it too often, but coming into the winter I can’t see any other option. Our house is fairly small so I can’t see where I could put an airer, although I am trying to save to get an airer rack that hangs from the ceiling plus someone to install it. I think the only place for that would be the stairs - wonder if I can sit on my stairlift and hang the washing

This is the problem I have. I've got an 8kg washing machine, but eco mode takes nearly 3 hours and only 2kg of clothes. Absolutely not worth using it if have to do 4 loads to get the same weight of clothes washed. As it is I can do 8kg in just over an hour and only 1 wash!

We wash up and run the dishwasher. I'm trying to keep the washing up to once a day. One bowl of hot soapy water. Glasses first. Then anything almost clean like side plates, knives and so on until the end for the casseroles or whatever. Sometimes a second bowl.

Have never rinsed dishes and I'm not dead.

Can i ask another as I’m baffled by the maths

I have a 30 watt desk fan that I struggle to get to sleep without (peri menopausal) - at 37.2p per kw/h, how much is that to run? Is it 30 x 37.2?

It’s worth trying to get to grips with the maths as it’s really simple once you get the hang of it!

1kw = 1000w. 1kw running for 1 hr = 1kwh = one unit of electricity which costs 37.2p for you right now.

30w is 0.03kw (300w would be 0.3) so it’s 0.03*37.2=1.116p per hour. Leave it on!

A kilowatt hour is basically the amount of energy needed for a 1000 watt device to run for 1 hour. A kilowatt is 1000 watts.

So a 1000 watt device would cost 37.2 p per hour

We can work out a 10 watt device by dividing by 100 - so 0.372 p per hour

Once you know 10 watts, you can work out 30 watts as it's just 3 x more

So 0.372 x 3 = 1.16 p per hour

Thank you both, dividing into multiples of 10 sounds like something I can do

if it’s only just over a penny an hour, I can (literally!) sleep easier :)

@Harpydragon I have the same wash programs with the same weights. The hour long one on mine only takes 2 or 3 kilos and apparently those quick washes use more energy I think because of the speed the water heats up? So it's better to put it on a three hour wash to save energy.
Doesn't sound right to me but apparently it's true

There is an energy calculator you can use. Put in the w or kw of the item and how long it runs for and it will tell you how much it costs.

www.sust-it.net/energy-calculator.php

You can change the tariff to be similar to what you are on, eg I am on an older price fix until next year so I'm using the UK Average 2021 for mine, but it gives you each recent price cap as options.

I’m going to use my plug tomorrow to see what a 40* wash for 45m is

then another day 60* wash for hour

and next wash 40* for 15min

It's mad, if the eco one took the heavier weights I absolutely would use it. As it stands it will literally take all day to do 1 full load of washing. I don't have time to do that, and I would imagine the 4 loads of eco washing ends up using roughly the same amount of energy as 1 full load. I need to check the numbers, but it feels like I'm being penny wise and pound foolish using the eco in this case

I bought a couple of energy monitors - will use one for the tumble dryer definitely. The other I tried putting ont he microwave as its an old one and when the kids (almost always) leave the door open the light is on and its warm (old incandescent bulb). Probably not too bad but was curious.

Plugged it in, and now the bloody light doesn't work..

This is fabulous. Tiny word of caution though - a lot of big appliances aren't 'steady state' so they'll use a bit of energy, then ramp down, then up etc during a cycle or over time.

Eg a fridge might be specced at 900w when its pushing to get down to temperature, but might be only 100w when idling or even less. Same with washing machines/dishwashers - initial heating of water will use a lot, then it'll reuse that water and heat for a while so not use much. For those a smart socket that can measure is handy (although for us those are hard to reach).

An alternative if you have a smart meter would be to run those in isolation when nothing else is on (apart from your normal background stuff) and then check your energy usage on the supplier website. Eg on octopus I can see each half hour usage. I can measure the time the appliance was on, see how many kwh were used for each half hour during that time, take off the 'baseload' and that gives me total usage. Not as accurate as a smart socket, but can work well if you can't get to your sockets.