we've just got an electricity meter...

[littlefrog]

and for an obsessive like me it's probably a terrible idea because it makes me (even more) impossible to live with!

Our base usage is on the whole less than 100W/hr during the day (that's the fridge/freezer, then clock-running electricity to the boiler and oven, charging both ends of the baby monitor, also radios/broadband). Doesn't seem too bad: cost is less than a penny an hour.

But boil the kettle, turn on the oven/grill: shoots up to 25p/hr
Heated towel rail: 4p/hr (and the trouble here is if we put it on, we forget to turn it off at night etc.)
Toaster - depends how many slices you're doing, but about 8p/hr
Washing machine/dishwasher: here the gadget is a bit less useful, because the energy usage varies so much across the cycle, but seems to be about 5-7p/hr for a cold wash/eco cycle of the dishwasher.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff. What have other people found? What changes have you made/will you make?

I'm certainly being MUCH more careful than ever before (read: impossibly obsessive) about turning off lights and trying to use the low energy lights where possible. Like when the bath is running and I'm not in the room all the time, turning off the lights there - 3 halogens, costing an extra 1.5p/hr. Ok, go on, sneer...

i have one of those things were you plug it into the plug and it tells you how much that socket (not the whole house) is using

I have a very old (but fnctional) fridge freezer an am shocked that it is using 2kwh per day (approx 38p per day)

my sister has just got a brand new fridge freezer (a bisch energy efficient one)

tonight i have arranged to go to hers and plug her brand new fridge freezer into it...

so long as is uses less than that i will be getting a brand new bosch fridge freezer and freecycling my old one

38p/day? that does seem a lot. though actually, that's only something like 1.5p/hr. Still...

nannyL, consider scrapping rather than freecycling. If it's that inefficient no-one should be using it.

littlefrog - I've heard of these but wouldn't know where to get one. Can you tell me more about yours, please?

we got ours from ethicalsuperstore.com, it was on special offer. still quite expensive though - best if you can go halves/quarters with other households!

i cant see why my fully funtioning fridge freezer should be scrapped when someone else could make good use of it

I want to hear how good the modern one is, NannyL, bet it's not that much better than 38p/day, actually.

I once calculated that turning off our freezer in summer would save us £35...

well on friday when i collect it back after monitoring my sister brand new fridge freezer i will let you know

was reading the which magazine this month and they had one of those really big fridges (but only a fridge, not a freezer bit too) and the estimated running was was £11 a year

also i mweasured my fridge freezer last week when it wasnt exactly hot... i imagine it might have used more in the hot summer months

To be properly environmental you should scrap old inefficient fridge freezers since it's better for the environment in terms of global CO2 emissions for someone else to use a more energy efficient newer one. Although it will be more money for them upfront, they will soon lose out financially from the running costs of an older model. If you look at the total energy cost of friges & freezers the greenest thing to do with older ones (pre 2000 models usually) is to replace them AND ensure they are scrapped rather than re-used - this is I agree a rather surprising result, but there have been several studies looking at whole-life energy costs of fridge/freezers & they seem to agree on this. If you buy a new one and don't scrap, then you are adding another fridge freezer to the world which is considered a bad thing.

The other disadvantage with freecycle is people are liable to keep an extra fridge freezer that they might not really need in their garage or somewhere if they can get it for free.

but.. then there are people who are moving into their first home with very little spare money at the moment and would sooner have my fridge freezer than no fridge freezer at all and who simply dont have £250 to spend on a brand new one

(there was one wanted fridge freezer for single mum moving into her 1st home expecting a baby in 4 weeks in my freecyle in MY TOWN today.... and if i had got my new one already i would willingly have given it to her)

If it's going to cost them £80+ more per year to run then you're giving them a pup. You can get low energy rated fridge freezers for less than £250 if you shop around and it's a worthwhile investment for a machine that runs 24/7. If people have to find the money then they will (there are charities for cases of real need that will give grants even); but it will only happen if the old freezers are taken out of circulation.

£11/year for running a fridge??
Wow!
Actually, I'm not sure I can really believe it, that must be at energy prices a few years back, no?
Cos that's just 3p/day, which at the price we currently pay is only something like 200W/day. I'd like it to be true, but I can't see how you could ever open the fridge door/put anything new and not fridge-cold in!

Snorkle: that's interesting what you say about scrapping old fridges. Do you have a link to somewhere with more info on that? I'd like to know how it works out with cars, washing machines, other appliances - results are really surprising sometimes, as you say. Still find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that you're better scrapping your perfectly decent car and buying a Prius, as some people seem to suggest...

littlefrog this link is interesting. I have read similar findings elsewhere too - all in fact after me disbelieving someone else making the same claim on mumsnet.

I generally run things as long as possible having always thought this is the right thing to do. I now accept replacing old fridges/freezers is probably right, but I remain unconvinced about cars and other items though. Also I can't bring myself to actually replace my 9 year old fridge freezer & will probably wait until after 2014 (when they plan to upgrade the energy ratings next) before doing so.

littlefrog - thanks for the url. Do you mind if I ask which one you got?

it's the Owl, which is an old model. actually dh got it and i'm not sure i would have made the same choice (though I can't remember what features the other ones have that are different).
there's one really really fancy one (can't remember what it's called, it looks like a little table and goes different colours depending on your energy usage; but one thing it does allow you to do is download data to make graphs on a computer. But it costs something stupid, over £100...

oh and thank you snorkle for the link, i just opened it but haven't read it - when i get home from work!

Thanks littlefrog.

The only thing I can see that the OWL is missing is a history of usage. Just found the Efergy one on Ebay for a couple of quid more than the OWL, so that might be worth the extra. Although it doesn't look quite as nice.

Definitely not paying £100!

definitely go for the efergy one, they say it's more reliable too. i told dh not to buy the owl one but he got muddled... a history of usage would be really good - you could see how much a wash had cost you, for example.