Help! Where can we save electricity

[ilkleymoorbartat]

Two adults and two children, adults at home all day working on computers. We're using around 20kw per day of electricity which seems a lot compared to others. I'm fastidious about switching off lights. We're trying not to use the tumble dryer. Dishwasher goes on once a day and a load of washing probably 4 x week.

I didn't think switching off all plug sockets made a difference so I don't do that.

We have a separate water tank that goes on for an hour twice a day.

I'm sorry but how can you not know these basic things?

as in if your heating/ water etc is gas fired?

There's a lot more I'd cut before I spent my days washing up for a family of 7 to save £20 a month. I bet it's not even that - our dishwasher uses less than a unit per load, so 80 p a day suggests it's going on 2-3 times a day. You must be spending your entire life washing up. How much are you spending on heating the hot water to do it by hand? I hope they're all doing their share of it.

Because I don't @LeandraDear

Anyway, the plumber came round, unfortunately I wasn't in and dh dealt with it but forgot to ask some pretty crucial questions which means I'm going to have to call him again tomorrow.

But in essence the whole system is gas. The water cylinder is apparently a more efficient system because it keeps the water warm (?) this is second hand from dh (who as I said failed to ask some more critical questions. Apparently the plumber said this was the most efficient way of getting hot water in our house. The cylinder doesn't need a jacket or anything because it's all internally insulated.

I'm thinking I now need to buy an electricity usage machine to check where it's going

How much does 20kwh cost? I have a smart meter and only take notice of the price rather than the rate (ball park not exactly)

Washing by hand maybe a false economy, as you use a lot more water in hand washing, compared to (newer) dishwashers.

dishwasher usage

Well what is the point if you can't answer people's questions?

As pointed out by many other mire helpful posters @LeandraDear this was something I needed to find out. Which I have duly done, so if you now have any helpful suggestions, I'd be delighted to hear.

I have a smart meter and an app for it on my phone which really helps to see where it all goes.

My electric shower is definitely what uses the most electricity in our house, it's way more than I thought! And I used to spend ages in the shower before I realised. Followed by the tumble dryer and washing machine. Dishwasher isn't a huge amount.

We switched to a cheaper overnight tariff as we have an electric car so most things now go on between 11.30pm and 5.30am where its 7.5p per kw/h.

Thanks @BlackandJello so do you just have a smart meter or an energy usage monitor?

I reckon it's your old fridge and your immersion heater. We use 6 or 7 kWh a day and use dishwasher once a day, other usual stuff including 2 fridge freezers and one chest freezer, wash loads perhaps 4 times a week and the odd tumble dry in a week. The last 3 days it has cost less than 3 pounds a day.

Gas heating and gas combi boiler for showers too.

DH has just informed me that we have the app due to our ev charger so sorry not much use to you. I don't know if there is anything similar available?

However I can see when there are spikes in usage and the shower is by far the worst although obviously its fine as not on for an hour a day. The spikes in the photo below are when the kettle went on as DH and I were both out at work today (he usually wfh).

DH says our electric shower costs 3 times as much as the tumble dryer, it pulls about 9kw. An hour a day between 4 people all adds up!

Depends on your rate

think ours is 35p x 20 so £7

disclaimer. I may be wrong

Our water company charges 0.7p a gallon for water. I have done a hand wash and measured the gas, came in at 7p. Another 2p for water.

I seriously doubt that for most people the dishwasher is cheaper, it's just manufacturers hyperbole.

Plus people like them, if you can afford, use.

I don't have a lot of skills, but washing up is one. I wear rubber gloves, so very hot soapy water. Glasses first and then everything in order, so pans at the end. I don't rinse anything apart from things like wooden boards that are absorbent. A lot less water than the dishwasher, and less energy. But the dishwasher will do it for just under a kwh and keeps the kitchen tidier when washing up is being produced in dribs and drabs throughout the day. So, that's not a saving worth the hassle.

Hot water for baths and showers is another matter.

A lot less water than the dishwasher, and less energy

Don't know about the energy, but you're wrong on the water. A dishwasher uses about 10 litres to do an entire load, 10-12 place settings plus pans, spoons, other bits and pieces. That's about half a sink full. There's no way on earth a full dishwasher's worth can be washed in half a sinkfull of water.

That 10 litres is over 2 gallons. Even if I chose to use double that for a sink wash it still works out at 2.8p for water. ( It's actually less, I have rounded up the numbers.).

You are still expected to rinse items prior to putting them in the machine, at least in the industrial ones I have used in the NHS you did. Is that water included in the manufacturers claims?

I would be interested to see the energy numbers on a full wash for a dishwasher, actually measured, not what the manufacturer claims.

I am sure that using some formula the manufacturers have managed work out a way their machines are cheaper.

People like them, I get it.

That's a result.

If you can maintain the energy saving per month then you'll save yourself ((505-380)120.35)=£525 per year.

Not to be sniffed at.

I found on the Xbox there are two types of standby. "Always On Standby" uses about 20W, and full standby uses about 2W. Mine is now in full standby mode. I calculated it saves about £50 a year. Not a huge amount but as you say, all the standby modes add up. I also dropped the monitor usage by putting that into eco mode. I have 3x monitors for work and I save 20W by doing that.

Look at your gadgets. Whilst it might not save a lot to switch things off at the plug in a low tech household, once you start to add computers and gadgets then there are fairly significant savings to be had.

Lots of computers allow for automated shutdown start up schedulling. If you wfh then have your computers go off at 6pm and boot up again at 7am.

Game consoles should be shutdown and switched off when not in use.

TV boxes: if you have a few connected then look at consolidating them. I just moved all accounts to my firestick which now has apps for ATV+, Disney+, iPlayers etc. It means we just have one box now.

Sound bars? Maybe do without the for a bit.

Lighting can use a lot of electricity, even LED. We have a couple of Hue strips and they use around 10kwh a month by being left on.

When you use a lot of electricity is can be tempting to think the small numbers won't make a difference. IME the big savings come from lots of small things all adding up so you have to go after them all.

We're a household of gamers x 1 and WFHers x 2 and our electricity is 5kwh per day. Which is about £2 a day Inc standing charge

We cut the shower time from 6 mins to 3mins and its made our gas bill ridiculously cheap. (£5 a week for showers, baths, heating and dishes etc)

I love all the smart meter insights!

20kwh a day is insane. Could the meter be dodgy? Faulty something? Is a neighbour stealing power? Or are you secretly growing weed? 😂

I calculated last night that if I accidentally left my back up immersion heater on (I have gas CH) then it would consume about 10 kwh a day - about £1300 per year. Of course I would probably only see about £1K of that in saving because then I would need to heat my hot water with gas !

That's why everyone thinks it must be the OPs backup immersion heater, because there are few things that could use that amount of electricity that wouldn't be extremely obvious (eg hot tub).

I'm feeling very grateful we don't have electric showers or an immersion heater.

Crikey 😔