Anybody got one of those Owl (or other) energy monitors?

[Ponders]

If so how easy is it to use & how useful is it for cutting down on leccy use?

Ours is £70 a month (heating & hot water is gas) & that seems a lot so I'm keen to point family members at ways to cut down!

We had an OWL one. It was a breeze to use but I'm not sure it did much to lower our usage and once the batteries ran out, it got stuck in a drawer.

We do now know what appliances/lights etc use the most electricity thanks to DH sitting us in the dark and turning specific things on and off but I'm not sure we've changed how we use them. We soon reverted to normal :)

that does sound a lot to me ponders - ours is 45 a month and thats with the immersion on for 2 hours a day in summer (so the gas central heating and hot water is off).

The monitor does show you exactly what it is thats using up the money though for us it is:

washing machine
dishwasher
microwave

we done use anything else of note - we swapped the kettle for a gas one and dont use hairdyers/tumbledryer etc.

thanks, both, I'm hoping it will show us (ie DH & kids) where we're wasting it.

There are often 4 PCs switched on (& left on ) plus 1 XBox; also 2 Sky boxes, 1 LCD TV & 2 CRT TVs (all generally on standby if not on).

Oven is electric, microwave isn't used much, d/w & w/m are generally run at least once a day (both are rated A though).

I try to air-dry washing as much as poss but do use dryer to finish off (don't iron)

Kitchen DAB radio plug is always warm when plugged in - I switch it off at the socket, but DH doesn't.

Oh, & we have a big side-by-side fridge-freezer, I know they're quite inefficient but that's staying!

You'd both recommend getting one then? What make is yours, omni?

If you want to highlight what uses the most electricity and are prepared to have a night or two sat in the dark while you switch indiviual things on and off, then yes, I guess I would recommend one.

Beware though, the OWL one can be programmed with your electricity rates and will show you how much you've spent since you switched in on which can be quite scary!!

It's easy to fit though. There is a little clip that attaches in the box outide which transmits wirelessly to the box inside.

That was what I was thinking we'd do, Al!

Although with luck not in the dark, as most of our high-usage things are on during the day as well. Light-bulbs are mostly energy-saving ones, apart from halogen in kitchen & bathroom & we're stuck with those for now.

The basic OWL one (model 119?) is £30 direct from them atm instead of £35 normally - is that the one to go for?

It's the cm119 that we have. To be honest though, I know nothing about energy monitors so couldn't really recommend one. DH chose ours and set it up, I just looked at it occassionally - and endured the nights sitting in the dark :)

We found through using it that our overhead light in the kitchen use more electricity than the under cabinet ones so we use them more often now. Lights can be deceptive I think.

Ooh and the OWL ones are £30 from Amazon too. There are even some at £25 but I'm guessing they don't include postage.

We got one free when we switched tariffs with british gas.

The one we use though is one I bought for about 30quid from efergy - it shoes how much in pence per hour so it generally idles along at 0.03p and then goes upto 0.43p when the immersion first goes on - 0.30p for the electric kettle etc.

The DAB radio is a big drain though just to warn you - its not like leaving a normal one on.

TBH you've got a lot of stuff going on there as well as your mega fridge though havent you. Though you can get the fridge down by not putting hot stuff in not overfilling it etc.

Our big drain is the gas bill - it was 200 quid a month over the winter due to the landlords shite boiler.

We has one for a week. Dd's class all had one via FoE. It was fun and made us run around switching things off. We probably will get our own though I don't think we waste much (I'm fanatical about switching off, won't have tumble dryer, etc )

I'm fanatical about switching off too Boo, but DH is always about it - eg I just mentioned to him what omni said about DAB radios, & he said "ok, but how much does it use?" - ie just telling him it's drawing a lot of power even when it's off doesn't impress him

(he's the same about filling the kettle when he's only making 1 cup)

And adolescent boys couldn't be less bothered...

Anyway you're all great, thank you, I will def get one (prob the OWL as it seems to be the most universal one) & then I'll stick it under DH's nose after sitting in the dark a bit & shriek at him about switching things off

Do you want me to go up and look Ponders? I cant right now as dh is ironing and that affects it a lot - its 7p an hour at the mo with the iron and the dishwasher on though.

Could you put a few months savings into a communal pot that you spend on something cool that even teenagers will like though? that would bring it home surely.

oh it would be very interesting to have an actual figure when you can get it easily, omni, thanks! (& hooray for a DH who irons )

Communal pot is a great idea too

Dh is obsessed with our owl. He has even been known to take it to bed with him to keep an eye on electricity usage. He also has it in the sitting-room so knows if I have remembered to turn the bathroom light off etc. Drives me mad! To be fair we have saved quite a lot on electricity however it's only going to work if someone in the house is obsessive about it and nags everyone else to turn things off etc!

Oh LOL at your DH taking it to bed with him, Florin! (Does he have it set to make a noise when someone switches something on?)

My DH took ours to bed with us too. Very relieved that he's not a complete weirdo as others do it too

My mother used to read the neters constantly in out family - she would be the 'Owl'

Is it possible to rent these monitors?

It's a bit wasteful if everyone decides to buy one only for it to get stuck in a drawer when you've done all your monitoring & decided where to cut back.

You can borrow them from the library.

I found ours really helpful and I reckon I've saved about 20-25% just by being more aware. Also my DD now thinks I am psychic because I can yell up the stairs to see what she's up to once the meter goes up :o No more leaving the electric heater on!
We also discovered DH had left some things on permanent charge in the garage - I soon put a stop to that

Mmm, must get one, our electricity is £120 month and most of the time, I am on my own!

I had a chat with the electricity provider only yesterday about how high my bill is, we went through all items and how much they use.

I was supposed to get one free when switching,m but it didn't arrive, perhaps I will try the Owl.

We have one free from Eon. Just got it on Friday. It's convinced dh how bad the tumble dryer is although we have limited dryer opportunities with the pouring rain all summer & dd2s wet beds every day.

good luck with that, notquitebusinessclass - that does sound a lot, so hopefully you'll find what is using up the juice and be able to reduce your bill. Ours is about £55 per month; we don't have gas here and we use wood during the winter...

I have an OWL that I got free by collecting tokens in the newspaper. It does show you very quickly what you need to keep to a minimum (anything that involves heating something up - oven/kettle etc).
omnishambles - just checked my DAB radio and it doesn't even register when switched on so it may depend on the make - mine is a Pure one.