Electricity Bill Advice

yomamma

Ok I am new to living on my own. Just looking for a few tips on lowering bill.

Might be stupid questions but Ill ask anyway.

Is it cheaper Leaving UPC decoder on and pluged in at all times rather than plugging it in and out throughout the day?

Also same question regarding laptop charging. Is it cheaper to keep it plugged in while using it rather than plugging it in and out every hour when battery is lowering.

Also while Im here can anyone pass on some tips regarding electricity savings. What in average household takes up most electricity when used?

Thnaks in advance !

Blue Crystal

Kettle shower and electric heaters; the holy Trinity of electric users

Cycling Dumbasses

I think ur laptop and internet are not the cause of your high bill.

L1m1tless

Buy a flask. Boil the kettle once a day and put the water in the flask. Might be a bit extreme but I know a guy who does it and he seams to see the saving

2011

CowboyDreams wrote: »

Buy a flask. Boil the kettle once a day and put the water in the flask. Might be a bit extreme but I know a guy who does it and he seams to see the saving

This will not result in a saving as the same amount of electricity will be used in boiling the same amount if water per day.

tomdempsey200

2011 wrote: »

This will not result in a saving as the same amount of electricity will be used in boiling the same amount if water per day.

you're forgetting the hot water that's wasted

TheChizler

2011 wrote: »

This will not result in a saving as the same amount of electricity will be used in boiling the same amount if water per day.

Only if you use all the water boiled every time, and stop the kettle itself from cooling inbetween somehow.

OP power cycling the UPC box constantly and the laptop battery could work out very expensive overall, the battery only has a certain number of times you can recharge it. Get an Owl meter or similar and you can see the difference individual devices make.

Basically anything used to heat water is bad. Maybe replace the kettle with one of those instant water heaters? Electric oven, hob, shower, immersion, will all be the big culprits. Try to use gas where you can if you have it as it's cheaper (except for boiling water on the hob).

2011

TheChizler wrote: »

Only if you use all the water boiled every time,

That's easy, 2 cups of cold water will make 2 cups of boiling water. Measure the water in.

and stop the kettle itself from cooling inbetween somehow.

There will be a very small amount of loss of heat from this but not enough to make a noticeable difference to an electricity bill.

TheChizler

2011 wrote: »

That's easy, 2 cups of cold water will make 2 cups of boiling water. Measure the water in.



There will be a very small amount of loss of heat from this but not enough to make a noticeable difference to an electricity bill.

So what you're saying is that I'm correct? /pedant

2011

TheChizler wrote: »

So what you're saying is that I'm correct? /pedant

You are correct that boiling a given amount of water once is marginally more efficient than boiling it in separate batches. You are mistaken if you think that this will result in a significant cost saving. This saving may be negated if you first rinse the flask out with boiling water (as most people do).

Rubberchikken

i have an old house, and electricity meter is in the kitchen.
sad i know, but i've often spent time watching the dial thing spinning around. goes really fast when electric shower is on.
fastish when the kettle is being boiled.
haven't seen any great increase in speed of it when cooker is on, or washing machine for that matter.
never use immersion, heat water from back boiler using fire.
would guess immersion would be a killer too.

2011

Rubberchikken wrote: »

i have an old house, and electricity meter is in the kitchen.
sad i know, but i've often spent time watching the dial thing spinning around. goes really fast when electric shower is on.
fastish when the kettle is being boiled.

Yes, the kettle is 3kW so uses quite a bit but only for a short time.

haven't seen any great increase in speed of it when cooker is on, or washing machine for that matter.

Yes but these items would be on for quite some time so they generally represent a larger portion of the bill.

never use immersion, heat water from back boiler using fire.
would guess immersion would be a killer too.

Correct.

coylemj

A laptop uses an insignificant amount of power, you're more likely to lose money by constantly pluggin/unplugging it, not because it will use more power but because you'll have to buy a new battery sooner. You can't save money by running it on the battery, the power doesn't come out of thin air! Plug it in a few seconds before you switch it on and unplug it a few seconds after shutting it down, not to save on the electricity bill but to preserve the battery. Try to run it off the battery at least once a month and get the battery meter as low as possible, this keeps the battery in good condition as constantly running it down to 95% and back up to 100% again is bad for it.

Not sure which model of UPC box you have, some of them have a power setting which can reduce the amount of juice they consume when in standby but the downside is that it takes longer to start up when you switch it on. You also need to remember that it needs to be plugged in in order to record programs when you're out and sometimes if you have overlapping recordings, there can be repeats in the wee small hours that it can pickup but which you'd miss if the box was unplugged. I'd set it to low power on standby and leave it plugged in.

What do you do for heating, cooking and hot water? If you use electric heaters/cookers and heat water via an immersion, they probably account for the bulk of your bill rather than electronic gadgets like laptops and digital lTV decoders.

2011

+1

whizbang

If your really serious about power (and battery life), take the battery out of the laptop altogether!

It will save you loads

coylemj

whizbang wrote: »

If your really serious about power (and battery life), take the battery out of the laptop altogether!

It will save you loads

Loads of what - milliwattseconds? What power do you think he is currently using by leaving the battery in the laptop?

The only benefit to taking out the battery is that you save the wear and tear on the battery by not constantly topping it up. The saving in power consumption is negligible but you lose the UPS-style protection the battery gives you from a power cut or someone accidently pulling the plug from the socket or the power lead out of the laptop.

SCOOP 64

My dishwasher broke a few months back ,didn't have money to get it fixed,
last couple of electric bills have been a good bit cheaper, think ill carry on washing by hand for a while, you dont tend to use up every cup and dish when you handwash.

TheChizler

2011 wrote: »

You are correct that boiling a given amount of water once is marginally more efficient than boiling it in separate batches. You are mistaken if you think that this will result in a significant cost saving. This saving may be negated if you first rinse the flask out with boiling water (as most people do).

As I pointed out myself I was being unnecessarily pedantic! If you add up all the pedantic things I do throughout the day to save energy it might save the price of a pint over a few weeks!

2011

TheChizler wrote: »

As I pointed out myself I was being unnecessarily pedantic! If you add up all the pedantic things I do throughout the day to save energy it might save the price of a pint over a few weeks!

A few decades I would think

Tazio

GU10's!! :mad:

Anyway, in our house (the parish Grand Central Station) it's the dam kettle. It's flicked on 5 times during a given conversation before anyone decides to ACTUALLY make a pot of tea.

Tumble drier was a killer too during the winter months until I bought a dehumidifier for the utility room.. I just leave that thing on all the time and the tons of clothes left out to dry each night are bone dry in the morning... so the tumble dryer use has been cut waaaaay back. Phew.

Dishwashers are not too bad imo nowadays.. they are quire efficient for their function. again imo. Of course it's packed to the limit each night from all the dam cups of tea!!

Idbatterim

My dishwasher broke a few months back ,didn't have money to get it fixed,
last couple of electric bills have been a good bit cheaper, think ill carry on washing by hand for a while, you dont tend to use up every cup and dish when you handwash.

Same happened to me, I also just boil the kettle for hot water and wash by hand...

In relation to the GU 10's, why not replace them all with LED's?