British Gas smart meter reviewer feedback thread - Month 2. Non testers: Share your pet peeves on wasting energy in your household for a chance to win £100 JL voucher. NOW CLOSED

[KatieBMumsnet]

This thread is for the 3 Mumsnetters and 2 Mumsnet Bloggers who are testing the British Gas smart meters in their home.

Non testers: What annoying energy wasting habits does your family have that really wind you up? Maybe the children leave their games consoles running all night? Or perhaps your partner always takes never ending hot showers? Whatever your pet peeves around energy waste in your household are we'd like to hear from you.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread by 22nd November will be in with a chance of winning £100 worth of John Lewis vouchers.

Testers
Month 2: Day and Night

This month we're focusing on the energy you use at certain times of day. As you've had smart meters for a couple of months now you should be able to see the history of your consumption over this time using one of two ways:

1 If you’ve received a Smart Energy Report this will show your pattern of consumption.
2 By looking at your historical use data on the smart energy monitor.

Below are a few questions for you to answer but please also add any other comments you may have to the thread.

• When do you and your family consume the most energy?
• Challenge each family member to change the time they use at least one appliance (gas or electricity) - please tell us which family member chose what, and how they’re going to change the times at which this is used
• How did you and your family find making these changes? Was it easy to adapt to or not?
• Do you use your smart energy monitor more now than when you first had smart meters installed, or less?

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

PS You can see how the testers got on with the first challenge here.

Dh moans at the children for leaving lights on, spending too much time in the shower, leaving their televisions on stand by etc. then goes out to the garage or garden leaving the back door open and all my lovely heat drifting out. It drives me nuts.

Non-tester

My husband puts the heating up but insists on having the windows open to 'air the house'... Every day! Also he never turns the lights off when he moves to a different room. Very frustrating!

My partner takes a hot bath every morning. And he also leaves everything either on or on standby. It drives me mad. I pay the bills. He does not seem to notice. He also always forgets to turn off the oven. Aaaargh.

DP has a habit of leaving his computer running all night. The whirring not only keeps me awake- it means that I have to drag myself out of my cosy bed to turn it off!!

Our house is drafty as well and I often think about getting better insulation or triple glazing.

My pet peeve is the family leaving lights on. They all do it and i am constantly turning them off and nagging at them about it to no avail.
I actually remember my dad saying the same to me and my sisters when we were kids.

Non-tester
My husband constantly leaves his mobile phone charger plugged in and the socket switched on with no 'phone attached, aaaargh!!!
My children leave lights on all over the house too; it drives me mad!

Ditto. I need an alarm on mine. It I only needs 20 mins to heat a full tank but do I remember?

Non tester( although I do have a British gas energy meter) when someone boils the kettle which sends the meter onto red, walks away, comes back and boils it again!

Non tester.

I hate lights left on. Hate it hate it hate it.

Non tester. Most of my peeves are down to DH. He takes forever in the shower, he never switches lights off, he leaves chargers plugged in and switched on with nothing attached, he leaves TV in standby at night and he overfills the kettle. I'm constantly going round switching things off!

Non-tester
I dislike putting the whole-house heating on just to warm / dry the bathroom and dry the towels on the towel radiator. I don't want to go around the whole house turning off each radiator!

Non tester - pet peeve is DH leaving lights on elsewhere in the house

Non tester.
Lights being left on / radios on where Boone is listening.
I can't stand sockets being on when nothing is plugged in them,although am not sure if there is any logic behind that!

Non tester - the energy wasting thing that annoys me is something i do myself... I hate it when i don't get the washing dry when its nice weather or the heating is on, and then use the tumble drier instead. So much so that in going to buy a second clothes airer to increase the amount of stuff i can dry when the opportunity is there. I also hate it when dh refuses to put a jumper,on and turns up the heating instead.

Non tester:
Lights being left on.

Doors being left open when heating is on - especially the top room where the heat will escape to.

Tumble drier being put on for far too long. I'd rather check the clothes and put it on again. Dh will just put it on for 60 mins. Clothes are all bone dry and creased. Such a waste of money and energy. It really annoys me.

Non tester.

I hate people who leave lights on all around the House and all their electrical things running all the time. Sometimes I have to sit on my hands in someone else's house to physically stop myself from wandering round and turning things off.

DW is a fresh-air fiend and often leaves bedroom windows open and then puts on the heating ! Money and energy up and out of the window!

Non tester

Kids leaving everything on and leaving room to do other things and not coming back. Eldest son taking at least 3 x 30 minute showers a day. Leaving phones plugged in our other appliances beyond what's needed. Putting a full time wash on for not a lot. Putting the heating on in summer then opening the windows. !!!!!!! Teenagers.

People leaving lights on, or putting lights on when they are not needed really irritates me! So does my partner when he falls asleep watching TV and leaves it on all night!! Grrrr!! :)

Non tester here. My pet peeves are that the kids will leave the lights on when they leave a room. Sometimes I'll look round and every light ib the house is on!

Also ds will leave his tv on all night. (Though I do sneak in his room on tippy toes and turn it off when I can.)

I hate when my partner seems to think we want our house to resemble blackpool illuminations. He turns a light on when he goes into a room but never when he leaves it....tempted to cut the lights in the house and make us all wear head torches :)

Toy room light gets switched on by the dc in broad daylight, then left on all night (as it is a bit out of the way from the rest of the house) :( at least it is an energy saving bulb!

Non Tester...

Any electrical items being switched on when they're not in use. Switch the kettle off at the plug if you're not using it! And the microwave!!!

DS (3) turns EVERY light on now he can reach the switches... even when the sun is shining, I'm hoping he's slowly learning that its not what we do jet because we can reach.

my kids drive me mad by leaving EVERYTHING on if not reminded. My daughter leaves her bedroom light on just about permanently

Non tester - my DH tends to turn lights on as he moves through the house and not turn them off unless reminded. One thing that really drives me mad is mobiles being left endlessly on charge when they have clearly finished charging!