Your average ESB bill?

jillyb

jayteecork wrote: »

I haven't turned on the immersion in the 3 months I'm here.

Power shower. elbow grease for the dishes.

Hey,

How do you get away with not switching on the immersion?

We're in a 3 bed and 3 of us need showers most days. We've gas heating so if its cold and we've had the heating on we have hot water for a shower so we don't need the immersion.
But we don't have the heating on on everyday and sometimes people want a shower in the morn instead of night before so need immersion. Tis expensive alright!!

thenightrider

My latest bill was over 300 and ive got gas heating

thenightrider

satchman wrote: »

.

I entered your 1.2kw PSU under the Home Office/PC Desktop field and let's assume you have the PC on around 5 hours a day for 7 days, this adds up to approx €60 alone

That would be why mine is so high :eek: my gameing Pc is on 24/7 along with loads of other stuff

The_Conductor

thenightrider wrote: »

That would be why mine is so high :eek: my gameing Pc is on 24/7 along with loads of other stuff

On the bright side- their waste heat will reduce your heating costs

thenightrider

smccarrick wrote: »

On the bright side- their waste heat will reduce your heating costs

I no when i go in to my computer room the heat could have been off for days and it is warm in the room its great.

Baralis1

My ESB bill for Nov/Dec (covering the cold spell) was 300Euro!!!!! I have a 2 bed apartment. Heating is by storage heaters. I also have a water heater that runs at night, electric shower and all the usual household stuff. Needless to say the water heater is left off now and the storage heaters are on half input.

tHE vAGGABOND

I have just turned my storage heaters off, and will wear extra clothes, rather than get another gigantic ESB bill

StudentC

Just a quick note, if anybody is having issues with their ESB estimates or bills, I found the 'talk to' ESB on here pretty good (it's in the 'Biz') set of forums.

I got a crazt ESB bill recently (€1165) due to a complete mis-estimation on their part, and the guy on the talk-to forum sorted it out for me pretty promptly - good service.

jayteecork

My latest one was 130 euro. ouch.

I'm after switching to Airtricity now, hope it helps.

I'm also unplugging all my TVs, consoles, computers now at night time as I hear they can use up to 90% of power on standby mode.

brianwalshcork

Last two bills were 235 and 252, 3 bed semi, my wife is mostly at home with our 7 month old, oil heating but washer and dryer going flat out recently.

The_Conductor

jayteecork wrote: »

My latest one was 130 euro. ouch.

I'm after switching to Airtricity now, hope it helps.

I'm also unplugging all my TVs, consoles, computers now at night time as I hear they can use up to 90% of power on standby mode.

EUR130 for a bill at this time of the year is not a startling bill to be honest (your bills will almost always be significantly less in the summer months).

Unplugging your TVs, Consoles and Computers at night can make a difference- however whoever told you they use 90% of their rated power while in standby mode was exaggerating......

Your computers probably loose 20-30% of their input power while in use (depending on the efficiency of their PSU, but a typical conversion factor for a good power supply would be 80-85%- and a regular once could be as low as 60%). Investing in a good powersupply for your computer- will, depending on usage, have a bigger impact on your electricity consumption, than pulling the plug at night.

Regarding other consoles and devices

A PS3 consumes between 100-150 Watts of power while under load. In standby mode it typically consumes 2 watts of power.

An Xbox360 consumes between 100-115 watts while under load. In standby mode it typically consumes about 1.8 watts of power.

A Nintendo Wii consumes less than 20watts while under load. In standby mode it consumes almost 12 watts of power (a Nintendo Wii continues to have its wifi enabled in standby mode, unlike other consoles).

Large flatscreen televisions are one area you can actually save power- a 37" Sharp Aquos LCD tv consumes 180-200 watts while in use, but a still significant 35 watts while in standby mode......

You need to put these in comparison with the costs of boiling a 700 watt kettle, a 1000 watt microwave oven, a 4000 watt immersion heater, a 400 watt power shower etc....... You will save money unplugging devices- but intelligent use of electricity might achieve far more significant savings........

seriouslysweet

We are a family of ten but my parents insist everything is switched off, no storage heaters, well insulated house. A hundred a month.

not even wrong

Also fridges use a suprising amount of electricity, don't set it to a lower temperature than you need and keep it defrosted.

jayteecork

Anyone know how much power those bathroom extractor fans use?

In my apartment the bathroom has no window so "ahem" I often need to leave the fan on for a bit!!

Also what about the one that's over the cooker?

Thanks.

The_Conductor

jayteecork wrote: »

Anyone know how much power those bathroom extractor fans use?

In my apartment the bathroom has no window so "ahem" I often need to leave the fan on for a bit!!

Also what about the one that's over the cooker?

Thanks.

Not a lot for either of them actually- typical bathroom extractor fan noise level around 35 decibels and power consumption of around 15-20 watts. Kitchen extractor fan tends to be noise level 40-44 decibel and power consumption 15-40 watts. Obviously the make and models of the fans, along with how they're installed, will be factors in how much power they consume. Seems a bit odd that a kitchen fan would normally be a good deal more powerful than a toilet fan, but there you go.....

Tech3

I live in a 2 bed apartment with gas heating but electricity for the immersion. Last bill was €120 for 2 months but one before that was €80. I switched to Airtricity a few days ago to see if my energy bills will reduce on both electricity and gas.

astrofool

smccarrick wrote: »

On the bright side- their waste heat will reduce your heating costs

Unless you're constantly playing games with an SLI setup, the constant power supplied to the PC (even via a 1.2KW PSU) will likely be about 2-300W, maybe less. The high watt PSU just means that it may be slightly less efficient than a 600W PSU when the load is very low (10-20%).

[edit] I see you talk a bit about efficiency factors later, so guess you're clued up enough in this area [/edit]

ongarboy

jillyb wrote: »

Hey,

How do you get away with not switching on the immersion?

We're in a 3 bed and 3 of us need showers most days. We've gas heating so if its cold and we've had the heating on we have hot water for a shower so we don't need the immersion.
But we don't have the heating on on everyday and sometimes people want a shower in the morn instead of night before so need immersion. Tis expensive alright!!

If you set the room thermostat to zero but turn your gas boiler on (or set it to a timer to come on), it will still heat the water for showers etc but not the radiators. This is how I heat my water in the summer. Although if there were 3 people having showers in quick succession, then I would make sure the immersion is switched on in advance just to ensure there is enough hot water.

minterno

my last bill was the biggest i have ever got,291,43e,the cold snap at and before xmas probabaly accounted for a good bit as i bought an oil filled radiator and had it on for a few hours every day,i also had 3 tropical fish tanks going of which the biggest one holds 350 litres,i have since cut down to 2 tanks and have added insulation and i checked my usage today and i am after dropping my unit usage from 1100 units per month to 604 units per month so id say my bill will be at the 200 euro mark next month,if i dont find work soon the fish will have to go,regards

Travelcard

My last Jan/Feb one was an eye-watering €362 euro.

New house and we think that we cocked up the timer on an under-floor electric heating strip in a bathroom - it may have been on constantly for a week.

knuth

Jesus, my folks bill does be €500-600
every 2 months, 3 bed with elec heaters

Really starting to think something funny is going on

The_Conductor

lordlame wrote: »

Jesus, my folks bill does be €500-600
every 2 months, 3 bed with elec heaters

Really starting to think something funny is going on

Entirely possible with electric heaters- if they don't have a night meter, and the place isn't insulated properly. Someone seriously needs to suggest to them that they need better insulation- and an alternate heating system........

minterno

my aunt has a 4 bed semi with electric heating and her bi monthly bill is between 500-600 but she thinks its not too bad as she buys no coal,her cooker is a gas one,i have compared my bills with hers and mine are about 20pc cheaper i think,i use oil and coal for heat/hot water,also the immersion when needed and cook electric but her house would be about 60 yrs old and is poorly insulated and as shes almost 80 she has the heat on a fair bit so its hard to get a good comparison but for me i find the electric heaters very expensive,i got one of those oil filled rads as an extra heater during the last cold spell and id say it pumped up the bill a fair bit but it was needed at the time,i think the price per unit of electricity should drop as the temperture drops if not for all at least for the elderly imho,regards

mikemac

2 bed apartment and I've had it as low as €65.
With fixed charges, I'd be struggling to get it lower then that.

But the bill in January was €180, a huge jump.
I was at home for a lot of the time and the electric heaters are a killer, cost a fortune to run.

But that's the highest bill I'll see all year and I doubt I'll break €100 or possibly €80 for the rest of the year.

Last year, the electric heaters weren't used from March to about October so bills were nice and low, how I like them!

xoxyx

Mine is about €220 per month for a one bed apartment, except during the summer month(s) (June this year?).

But I tend to come home and turn on the heat and leave the windows open.

I get stung for it, but I love my warmth and my fresh air.

Azureus

^^^ €220 a MONTH for a one bed? I'll never feel bad bout running up my leccy bills again

Mine would be about €120 every two months for a 3-bed semi. Only two of us living there but we have different schedules / a lot of computer consoles so it adds up a bit. It can be as low as €60 every two months during the summer.

I've a bad habit of leaving phone chargers / computers plugged in though, any idea how much unplugging everything would knock off my bill? Seeing it in figures might give me the incentive to get my ass in gear with it (I've tried being efficient, but it nly ever lasts a week before slipping into old bad habits)

Daegerty

smccarrick wrote: »

Entirely possible with electric heaters- if they don't have a night meter, and the place isn't insulated properly. Someone seriously needs to suggest to them that they need better insulation- and an alternate heating system........

Jaysus them electric heaters are a terror.

We once had the brilliant idea of heating the house with only electric heaters to skimp on getting central heating.

The 600e bill soon put that idea back in it's box. No night rate either.

Usually the bill is just over 200e but i'd say it could be a nice bit less if we feckt that electic heater in the kitchen onto the skip, but the radiator in there is too small.

Electric hob, inefficient 20 y/o oven, computer (~100w) on during the day, immersion used the odd time. 3 people in the house

irlrobins

2 Bed apt, B1 BER Rating

Elec (not used for heating or hot water) averages at about €50 every two months. Slightly higher in winter obviously.

Gas (used for heating and hot water) averages out at €15 a month. During the last cold spell End of Nov to End of Jan, gas bill was €72.

Shows the difference proper insulation and efficient heating system can do to energy costs...

crossmolinalad

4 bed bungalow 45 euro each two months
At nighttime and when we leave the house we switch off all the power at the fuse board

The_Conductor

irlrobins wrote: »

2 Bed apt, B1 BER Rating

Elec (not used for heating or hot water) averages at about €50 every two months. Slightly higher in winter obviously.

Gas (used for heating and hot water) averages out at €15 a month. During the last cold spell End of Nov to End of Jan, gas bill was €72.

Shows the difference proper insulation and efficient heating system can do to energy costs...

Even allowing for good insulation- all I can say is 'wow'. Thats amazing!