General Chat

Thanks Gremlin.

ann
glos

Ann,

Dishwashers are rated at around 1000 watts. Obviously if you use the low temp economy wash it will be heating for far less time than is you use a high temperature one.

Another thing that people can consider. If you are charged at a lower rate off peak, consider running those appliances you can overnight. That will virtually halve your energy costs for those items.

I just noticed a typo in the price per kwh I quoted. approx 10p per kwh is what wee pay, but there will be those who are on higher tariffs, so check your bull for the rate applicable to you.

We took advantage of the fix price option on British Gas some 3 years ago for a 5 year period to 2010. We had JUST done it when read in the financial pages of Mail on Sunday that it wasnt such a good deal!!.
Well it has been for us, we pay £48 per month for electric and £28 per month for gas.#
We have gas for the warm air central heating and water via a multi point unit. We have the two part tariff on Electric so I DO try to set things up like washing/drying on the overnight cheaper rate..We cook on Electric but I use the microwave and a steamer more than the cooker.We live on Salads.cos we like em lol!! during the summer with a jacket potato done in m,y all singing all dancing microwave, We dont stint because of the cost its just we like salads!!
We live in a 1960,s terraced house that is well insulated. we both now pensioners so every little helps!!
Shirley

thanks gremlin, do you have the figures for a dishwasher that heats from cold?

A lot of recent media comment about switching things off to save electricity has been misleading to say the least. It has tended to concentrate on AV equipment i.e. PC's TV's DVD's phone charges, which actually use very little electricity. What they should have concentrated on is the real fuel guzzlers, which is where the real savings can be made.

Electricity consumption is measured in killowatt hours, where one killowatt is a thousand watts. We typically pay around 18 pence for each killowatt hour we use.

So, for our 18 pence we can have a one bar fire on for one hour, or a hundred watt light bulb on for ten hours - same energy use, same cost.

Typical energy usage in watts is

Tumble Dryer .........4000
Vacuum Cleaner ....2000
Kettle.....................2000
Hair Drier................1500
Clothes Washer........500
Hand Blender............400
LCD TV....................120
100 Watt bulb...........100
Refrigerator...............100
Lap top PC.................75
Low energy bulb..........11

You might think you're saving money by switching to energy-saving lamps, or plugging out equipment on standby, but this chart shows you that's not necessarily true.

They might use only a fraction of the electricity that other appliances use, but at 4000 watts (4 kW), a clothes dryer uses energy 360 times more quickly than an 11 watt low energy bulb. Lights are usually on for much longer, but even if you use a lamp for ten hours and a clothes dryer for only one hour, the dryer still uses 36 times more energy!

OMG we appear to be really lucky!!!!

We've a four bed town house, tho we are terraced. Four kids so lights on all over the place however much we nag them to turn them off. We also have a washing machine used every day, and a tumble dryer also used a lot. Cook by gas, heating also gas.

Elec is appox £40 a mth, and this is via a key meter so not the cheapest way. Last gas bill ( couple of weeks ago) was £79.

Heating not been turned on yet this year.
And it makes a great difference that we're middle terrace, as my sis who has exact same house but end of terrace has her heating on loads more.

OMG we pay currently £217 a month for both electricity and gas! Not very pleased with our supplier as they never read the meters in time for the statement so it's always estimated. When I get round to it I'm going to switch back to quarterly bills as I find it easier. We do live in a big house and have 2 gas boilers as we have a self-contained annexe.

Bob, yes I have a washing machine/tumble drier but never use the drier, a dishwasher that we run every two days and sometimes that is on quick wash, a fridge and a freezer.

Ann
glos

my son is with southern electric, and they have supplied him with a gadget that in real time shows what electric power he is using, and also has a comparison readout with yesterday, and I think previous days......LOL you can even see when the fridge cuts in and out.......

Ann I bet you have all the white goods?

Bob

Same here Mc B--ripped off right ,left and centre -won't use my a/c unless we are feeling really ill ,and certainly not filling up my heating oil tank until we get snow!
Petrol prices were supposed to come down quite considerably last weekend -but hey! we still have last weeks stock at last weeks prices to sell !
Mmm-it dosn't take that bl**** long to to put the prices up when we still have have last weeks stock to sell !
But we as consumers are the losers and idiots --why are we not challenging our governments to regulate these costs ? Because we want the ability to pick and choose ourselves as to which fuel is
cheaper? Who is the cat and who is the mouse here ?

Because we are all being ripped off Maggie & they know there's sod all we can do, we've got to have these services.

Mine's gone up - but I haven't bothered working ou by how much yet - they gave me the rise in %.
British Gas upped my sisters by 50%. She was already in credit and is out at work every day. She immediately cancelled her monthly Direct Debit and now intends paying (by direct Debit) for the power when the bill comes in - why should they make a mint on the interest what they overcharge us?
The cost of Crude oil has halved - so when will the fuel bills go DOWN? They were quick enough to put the price up!!

maggie

This quarter

Leccy £495

Gas £130

Water rates £310

Three bed mid terrace well insulated, double glazing, lagging in the loft

Angie, i meant the houses being terraced snuggle up together Lol!!!!

Actually we are not very much in credit so it looks as if ours is about right. Will now try and cut down some more, such a bind to keep switching the PV off though. I will also use the slow cooker more. (Also we have had two lots of 4 week holidays when everything was off!!!

Ann
Glos

About 18 months ago I had a letter from my supplier (Scottish POwer) stating that they were putting my payments up from £60 per month to £120 (gas & electric combined). It didn't matter how much I protested that I don't live in Buck House or feed the whole street, they insisted that I was going to pay the new amount as they "thought I may be using this amount of fuel"

The next little man to knock the door asking if I was interested in changing supplier got my custom. I now pay £35 per month on each & I'm in credit.

Seems some of these supplier over estimate the usage after all it's our momey in their bank account earning them interest.

Check with your provider a lot will give a discounted rate to over 60s and disabled if your costs are 10% of your income, some will also help with insulation etc if you dont have it.

If you are on some benefits warm front give grants for the work to be done.

d x

Ann Snap.....just don't tell my oh....lol

Karen x

Ann, we have a detached property with 6 rooms plus kitchen / utility / bathrooms etc.Our youngest son who is in his 20's lives with us and does contribute.

We have a wood burner in the lounge so I suspect this will get a lot of use this winter, especially if it gets cold.

Karen, i am the guilty one here. i turn my PC on in the morning and off at 10.30pm.

ann
glos

Angie, it probably helps being terraced, you all snuggle up together and keep warm.

We are detached but do have double glazing and cavity wall insulation.

ann
Glos