Ways to save money on electric

[RedRobyn2021]

Any suggestions?

Have just had our bill doubled for January and feeing really upset 😭

I know they said electric prices were going to go up but they had already put our bill up to £110 and now it's doubled this month after we sent a meter reading. We live in a two bedroom terrace and have one baby

What's your current daily usage?

Is your heating electric?

Do your dishwasher and washing machine have delay timers? If so switch to a tariff with cheap electricity at night time and only put them on then.

Do you have a tumble dryer? Can you stop using it or use it less? Try and wash clothes a lot less.

Unplug phone chargers when not in use

Anything that heats is generally high, particularly high wattage things are electric showers and electric ovens. If you have an electric oven make sure you are not having it on for separate things during the day, if you do baking put it in with the dinner, stuff like that

@crustybreaddarling

They've said we used 32kw last month, we do have a dryer and a dishwasher and we have one radiator that's electric in our lounge

I would hang washing on a clothes horse but I'm worried it's going to cause problems with damp, we've had some issues in our bedroom recently despite opening windows every day

@User0458832

Anything that heats is generally high, particularly high wattage things are electric showers and electric ovens. If you have an electric oven make sure you are not having it on for separate things during the day, if you do baking put it in with the dinner, stuff like that

We do have an electric oven as well. Ok. I am going to make a list thank you for the suggestions

[quote RedRobyn2021]@crustybreaddarling

They've said we used 32kw last month, we do have a dryer and a dishwasher and we have one radiator that's electric in our lounge

I would hang washing on a clothes horse but I'm worried it's going to cause problems with damp, we've had some issues in our bedroom recently despite opening windows every day [/quote]
Hang it in the bathroom. I put a clothes horse in the bath.

Could you get the worst of the wet off the clothes in the dryer and then put them over the clothes horse damp rather than wet, that is what I often do. Small stuff like socks sometimes takes ages in the dryer so I hang those damp over a radiator hanging rack

You need a Remoska. I find most things you would roast in an oven can be cooked in it for a fraction of the wattage. You might have to squish things down a bit sometimes eg a whole chicken but I have been amazed at how well it works and I have trained myself to go the Remoska first now.

Much cheaper if you buy them direct from the manufacturer and just use a converter plug or they sometimes come up second hand on eBay.

Agree with previous PP use the drier to get the worst off. Or to finish off the drying after hanging it over the bath.

Slow cooker?
Make sure you turn lights off when not in use.

It's a combination of small savings and the big items. Does your dishwasher have an ecocycle? The manual should tell you which uses the least electricity.

Our electric oven was a serious electric hog. Used to easily cost over a tenner plus a day when I used it (including everything else). Swapped to an air fryer and a halogen oven and my bill has gone down a lot tbh. Now we run at a about 6 ish a day unless I do lots of laundry.

I used 287kwh last month cost me £66, your not using much more than me and I'm on prepayment 😳

Cut out the tumble dryer, eco wash your washing machine, LED bulbs.

That's total I should say gas and electric. I have lights on 2 computers, router etc etc. 1 dishwasher load today. 1 5 minute air fry, microwave and TiVo on but not doing anything iyswim £3.89 currently. £2.10 just electric. 6ish (£ not time 🤣) is when we go to bed. Hope it helps!

[quote RedRobyn2021]@crustybreaddarling

They've said we used 32kw last month, we do have a dryer and a dishwasher and we have one radiator that's electric in our lounge

I would hang washing on a clothes horse but I'm worried it's going to cause problems with damp, we've had some issues in our bedroom recently despite opening windows every day [/quote]
If you have a dehumidifier pop on next to your washing. Will dry twice as quick and stop any damp.

I'd start with the basics.

Find your meter and take a reading first thing tomorrow morning.

Check your latest bill and see what your charge per kWh is, and what the daily standing charge is. I think roughly in terms of 20p for each of them, although prices have probably moved up.

Then take a meter reading the following morning, work out how many units you've used. With that info you can calculate what your daily cost was and extrapolate it across a month.

Switch off things that you're not using. If you're using the oven make it worthwhile, similarly with washing machine and tumble dryer. With washing machines it's often, counter-intuitively, the longer eco cycles that are cheaper. Have a read of your manual, they're pretty much all available online.

32kw a month or a day? The average households use 8kw a day.

Unless clothes are stained wash on shortest cycle. I try to use 15 or 30 minutes as much as possible

Do you think making the brightness on the TV less would help? Or not?

I'm going for the gram strategy now as I think I've identified the big costly items

Remember using. ‘Speed wash’ on washing machine, dishwasher etc is most expensive. The slow eco wash is far far cheaper. Put it in over night so it’s done for the morning and use the timer on machine or. Get a timer plug.

Don’t use a tumble dryer. They are v expensive.

Ensure you’ve got thick curtains etc.

Poodle, the washing cycle you recommend is the most expensive.

Short programmes cost more the water has to be heated super fast which uses more energy and is expensive. The machine has to agitate the clothes more to clean them.. that’s expensive.

Slow washes heat the afternoon he. Clothes spend time. Sitting in the water and the water and detergent do much of the cleaning, so the machine uses less power. Use the standard or preferably the eco/slow wash to cheapest outcome.

Also fast washes often have lower capacity loads….so you do more loads. That’s expensive too.

Look to use the longer programmes, run full loads. Encourage people to wear their clothes more apart from underwear or sports gear. Those who wash towels daily etc need to think about significantly reducing that.

Anything which heats or cools costs money

Tumble driers
Ovens
CHEST FREEZERS (make sure the seal is working perfectly or they will eat up your cash)
Hairdryers
Electric rads/heaters/blankets

@YeOldePotato

Do you think making the brightness on the TV less would help? Or not?

Very little impact.

As PP have said, it's heating (and refrigerating) equipment which use the most, so that's where to start making changes.

Another possible saving: boil only as much water as you need, rather than filling the kettle right up.

@WombatChocolate

Remember using. ‘Speed wash’ on washing machine, dishwasher etc is most expensive. The slow eco wash is far far cheaper. Put it in over night so it’s done for the morning and use the timer on machine or. Get a timer plug.

Don’t use a tumble dryer. They are v expensive.

Ensure you’ve got thick curtains etc.

If mine doesn't have an eco wash is longer still cheaper? I set it to cottons, adjust temperature down to 30, time then starts at 2:10 but it adjusts down to 0:50. Is it worth running it for longer if I can wait?