If you're home during the day, roughly how much do you spend in electricity?

[MaCosta]

We've just today received a new smart meter and so I will be watching it obsessively all day. Iv already worked out that if I leave the lights on in the utility room it costs 50p a day!

then you should buy energy-saving lamps.

Typically using between 12W (bedside lamp) to 24W (ceiling), you can run 50 lamps at an average 20W for an hour on 6p worth of electricity; or 1 lamp for 50 hours.

A 3kW electric heater uses 18p worth in an hour.

LED lamps are a bit more efficient, but much more expensive to buy, so not such a moneysaver.

Within a year, LEDs will be cheaper to buy, as well as more efficient.

My electricity usage is about 12kWh/day (summer) 18kWh/day (winter)

£32 a month, give or take.Low-energy bulbs all round.

no tumble dryer, dishwasher every other day, washing about 5-6 times a week. The odd power shower, normal length of about five mins. Electric oven.

heating and hot water from oil, cooking on gas hob.

If you have a smart phone there are plent of apps that allow you to enter your meter readings weekly.

I work from home two or three days a week, so lights on etc. tumble drier used quite a lot, washing machine and dishwasher daily, sometimes twice. Teen DDs one of whom drives me mad with 20 minute showers, if not longer. Both kids crap at turning lights off, get home from work to find house lit up like Blackpool illuminations.

Electric underfloor heating in kitchen and dining room.

We pay £77 a month for electricity which I don't think is that bad considering.

invest in some energy-saving lamps. They are so cheap to run that you can leave 50 switched on for an hour for about 6p worth of electricity.

About £40 per month but I have a pay as you go electric key so I think that makes it more expensive.

I used 3,079kwh from end of Jan last year to end of Jan this year so about 8.5kwh/ £1.18 per day, about £35 per month. First Utility tells me that my electricity usage is about average.

I work from home so I'm on the laptop all day, lots of lights because it's a big house, 3 electric blankets and teens who are constantly on gadgets. Rarely use the tumble dryer because I have massive radiators but use the dishwasher and washing machine daily.

Hmm ours is high compared to everyone else. We are a family of 4 in a 3 bed semi and i'm home all day with toddler. I do 3 loads of washing a day on average, tumble dry every load as I can't be bothered to hang anything out and dh works late so often comes in late and watches tv until late / 1 am ish.

Our electricity is £92 a month.

Our gas is £31 a month. We only put the heating on for 2 hours a day to compensate for our huge electric bill!

Gosh, my electricity bill is really high then. There are only 2 of us and it's £43 a month.

We do have low energy bulbs and try to turn things off standby. I do a lot of washing, though - maybe that's it?

Well, a few days into the smart meter and we're averaging £1.95 a day which considering our DD for our electricity is £110 a month indicates they're taking too much!

Interestingly we have new led spotlights in the kitchen and they seem to take practically as much electricity as the very old 1980s style spotlights in the utility room (ok there are more of them but more are need to produce the same amount of light as the old ones).

Ours is about £80-85 a month. Heating and hot water is gas, gas hob. Oven electric, as is everything else including shower. We don't mind this too much since our gas consumption is pretty low, between the two it evens out ok.

3kW electric heater uses 18p worth in an hour

Am I being thick, but I thought a 3kw heater used 3kw of electricity an hour ie 3kwh. So where are you getting electricity that costs 6p an hour (I want electricity that cheap!)

also my thought! I pay 15p a unit for mine (no standing charge).

This is very interesting. My DD has just been revised up to £95/month. I would be interested in using a good app if someone can recommend one.

Too bloody much.

we pay about £70 p/m (me, DH and DD) - I work from home most days, so computer/lights on all day, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer at least once daily...

Around £100 per month. We have no gas, so everything is included in this, heating too.

More than I'd like at the moment. Was generally using 150kw a month with a bit more in the winter but over the past couple of months it has leapt up. Luckily still got some credit built up but think it's due to the computer being used more and lights being on too much. Using the smart thing I've now got plugged in, more electricity seems to be used when the heating is on so now having it on less which means less gas too :)

my computer uses an average of 100W

My lightbulbs use an average of 18W each (they are all low energy)

To use 150kWh a month is not much and would only cost about (150 x 6p) about £9, plus standing charge

Just looked at my unit rate which isn't as good as that (but am moving house soon so will be able to sort that out then) but looking over previous meter readings it has been about 150kw a month generally. Combined gas and electricity is £68 a month fixed DD but has always been in credit since I changed a few years ago.

But PigletJohn where are you getting a rate of 6p per unit?! That's what I'd like to know!

Large house with heating on 24x7, me & infant home all day, DH works from home most days, young DD home from 4.30pm, kitchen needs lights (LED) on all day, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer all run once a day. £100 electricity bill with no gas in the house at all. But we have a heat pump which makes it efficient for us. I suppose we are doing ok?

We pay £125 per month for electricity. It's almost certainly due to excessive tumble dryer use but I can't see a better way because the alternative is drying indoors and making the house full of condensation. At this time of year I could put washing on the line all day and it would never dry.

Oh, and immersion heater for hot water during the summer when the central heating isn't on. That costs a bloody fortune too.