Well I have some bad news! We have had the electric bill! Gulp!
It was £255.91 for 1535 units over 135 days!
This equals an average of 11.37 units a day therefore £1.59 a day! Oh dear.
We have now discovered that:
1. We can actually live a decent life without every light in the house on.
2. Maybe we do not need to use the dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer quite so much
3. The dehumidifier we bought (only used on 14 days out of the above) doubles our electric usage each day! (Oh My God!)
Our target for the average this year is going to be 8 units therefore £1.12 a day.
We will achieve this by:
1. Turning off lights at every opportunity and using the lights with least amount of bulbs in each room.
2. Reducing the usage of dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer.
3. Only using the dehumidifier when necessary
4. I've changed from a electric alarm clock with a light that comes on half an hour before you wake to a wind up alarm clock - only small savings but still worthwhile.
5. We have taken everything 'off' standby and removed plugs from sockets where possible.
6. Trying to optimise the use of the oven (i.e have more than one thing in at a time).
7. Only filling the kettle up to the correct number of cups.
8. Ensuring the fridge freezer and chest freezer are at the correct temperature.
9. Stacey not using the laptop so much (this one is gonna be tough!)
Hopefully I can update with some progress at some point this year as we are using way too much!
Bye for a Bit
8 hours ago
6 comments:
We are all electric here,no mains gas in the village. So its electric shower for us grownups,the smalls have a bath so the water is heated by oil for that.My cooker is electric as well & theres a washing load on everyday sigh. We are used 85 units last week,I take weekly meter readings & have done for years now.In the summer when theres no tumble being used it can be as low as 50 units,I loathe using the tumble but the reality is with 2 toddlers theres alot of washing & it doesnt completely line dry in the winter,not often anyway sigh.So I take stuff off the line & it goes in for 20 mins on low to finish it off.Its very small in here so theres no room to stand an airer plus the fact this cottage can be damp if you get too much moisture in the air.
I run a dehumidifier sometimes,it doesnt add to much to ours,I suppose it depends how often its on. Washing machines gobble the units if you are hot washing,do everything on cold or 30deg.
Another idea wiht the kettle is to fill it right up,then tip rest into a thermos,that saves any reboiling at all.
Well done for facing up to it & taking steps to reduce :o)
GTM x x x
Hi Green Twins Mummy,
Thanks for your long and informative comment. I am glad to know that I am not alone.
We have an electric cooker also so this uses some and I think another problem is that all of our light fittings hold 2/3/4 light bulbs so you can't just have one light on. That will change in my next home for sure!!
thanks for the tip about the thermos/kettle.
Stacey
Best of luck with your electricity reduction, Stacey. Will look forward to reading how you get on. Caroline x
Stacey we had multi bulb overhead lights in the old place,such a daft daft invention,one I am sure in the future we will look a back & say why?! get some lamps,I use a lamp in my kitchen rather than the unit gobbling over head strip light,it looks so much nicer too.Taking weekly readings will help you see where you are taking action to cut back & that will spur you on to more :o)
GTM x
LOL At GTM, I thought we were the only ones to fill a thermos with hot water. I thought people would think I was a crazy scrouge bag! I am glad to hear I am in great company! And not the only one who does this.
Also you can change nearly all your lights to CF's. They have a deal on in homebase 5 for £1. You can take these with you when you buy your own home.
Batch cooking is also fabulous, defrost whilst at work, and then throw it on the hob for a few minutes or nuke in the microwave.
Almost all of our light bulbs are energy saving now, only a few left to do.
I have a few old lamps rocking about somewhere I will move them into the kitchen this evening.
Must purchase a thermos. We have one but Allan uses it for work. Is it better to buy 'quality' therefore a real 'thermos' or just a cheapy? Thanks for your help every one! Hopefully it should get easier as the nights get longer.
I do tend to batch cook but been spending the last few weeks eating all the 'ready meals'.
Will organise weekly readings as well.
Yey thanks everyone - lets see what impact these little steps have on the bills!
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