[Misc] Suggestions to save energy this winter…

[nicko31]

Just been emailed by Octopus with their first Energy Savings Trial.

Cut down your electricity use between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM on 15th November. You'll earn 1800 OctoPoints for every kilowatt hour of electricity you don't use compared to what you normally use. Here are a few tips and tricks to get the most out of your Sessions.

Don't worry about sending us readings: your smart meter will do this for you.

How do you calculate what I normally use?
We look at your smart meter readings to find out how much electricity you typically used at the same time of day over the previous 10 days (excluding days when there's been a Saving Session). Find out more in our FAQs.

How much are OctoPoints worth?
If you manage to save a kilowatt hour of electricity in this Session, you'll earn 1800 OctoPoints - that's £2.25. You can turn your OctoPoints into account credit online at any time.

I've signed up for it. But I don't hold out much hope for us earning any 'OctoPoints' as looking at the last 10 days, only once has our electricity use between 5&6 pm been over 1kWh - on Friday when we had egg & chips (gastro chips in the oven!). It's pretty hard to try and save 1kWH in the hour, when your average use in that hour is something like 0.5kWh....

I guess the main strategy is to just stop you putting the oven at this time.

 

[amexer]

They keep asking me to get a smart meter. Do people on here recommend

 

[Bodian]

They keep asking me to get a smart meter. Do people on here recommend

Absolutely nothing to lose by having one. They cost nothing (to you) and you don't pay higher costs for your power or anything. And it's the best way of monitoring what you are using, and working out ways of cutting down. Try asking 'why wouldn't I have one?'

 

[Bozza]

They keep asking me to get a smart meter. Do people on here recommend

As above - why wouldn't you?

We've had one for years and completely ignored it as the cost of energy wasn't really a consideration for us.

That's all changed, obviously, and the smart meter and the accompanying little monitor gadget means we've been able to better understand what we are using and when, which has enabled us to reduce our usage quite significantly.

Finally, I've heard suggestions that more dynamic pricing models may be introduced by energy suppliers, not dissimilar to the proposals this winter to reward those who reduce power consumption at peak times, and these will only be available to those with smart meters, as that's the only way that consumption and time of consumption can be accurately measured.

 

[schmunk]

So now we have been away for a few days I’m seeing that our phantom load is running at 3.3kwh per day. That’s one fridge freezer, one chest freezer, one sky q box, one security camera, one google device and two led lights that come on for four hours in the evening. Everything else is switched off at the wall, even the oven. I know the chest freezer is using about 0.8 kWh per day based on the info that came with it so I reckon the fridge freezer is at least the same and the sky box around 0.5 kWh based on what I’ve read. Still seems high to me. Maybe the fridge freezer isn’t as efficient as my estimate.

We were on ~ 2.5kWh/day over our summer holiday with the house left on standby like a normal day (I forgot to switch anything off).

That's - 1 fridge/freezer, 2 TVs, 2 XBox, 1 BT TV box, 2 routers, 2 Google speakers + whatever tiny amounts the other white goods use when "off".

 

[nicko31]

Last 30 days, 7.3kw per day elec, 13kw for gas (just hot water and gas hob). Was away for a week though. Would be less if teenagers stopped their long showers

Gas will be 50kw day next month I reckon

 

[Since1982]

We were on ~ 2.5kWh/day over our summer holiday with the house left on standby like a normal day (I forgot to switch anything off).

That's - 1 fridge/freezer, 2 TVs, 2 XBox, 1 BT TV box, 2 routers, 2 Google speakers + whatever tiny amounts the other white goods use when "off".

Thanks - helpful comparison. I forgot the router and a mesh system on all the time - no idea if they are power hungry or not. I reckon my 12 year old fridge freezer is the worst culprit.

 

[Blue3]

If you have solar panels that are on one of the early tariffs and your energy supplier keeps writing to you as they do to me saying that I agreed to having a smart meter installed resist having it for as long as possible

currently we produce electricity and pretty much use all of it however the supplier has no means of actually measuring the difference between what we produce and what we use so we are paid on an estimated amount exported if we agreed to a smart meter we will be paid for exactly the amount exported

we are aware that we can only continue with this until our current contract expires next spring and then they can legitimately insist we have a smart meter fitted before a new contract is agreed

 

[nicko31]

Discovered my internet router is using 15w, so now I've set it up to turn off midnight to 6am

0.09kw/h x 365 = approx 33kw/h year. Better than nothing...

 

[Springal]

Discovered my internet router is using 15w, so now I've set it up to turn off midnight to 6am

0.09kw/h x 365 = approx 33kw/h year. Better than nothing...

depending on service that might not be a good idea, some services ‘train’ their product so if it sees what it thinks is a unstable connection may lower bandwidth or similar.

Not a problem with FTTH/FTTC but may be for more legacy services

 

[zefarelly]

Any recommendations ( or avoidance) on 'smart' CH controllers? We have a perfectly good combi boiler, but with Mrs Zef at home all day working theheating is on most of the time at the moment and there's no need to heat a 4 bedroom house all day.

Drayton wiser and rad valves looks like a god option?

I'm not interested in showing it off down the pub or turning it on/off from a service station on the M25, just something to manage whats going on as efficiently as is sensible. Bathroom toasty at7am, office 8-6, music room/spare bed a little cooler etc. individually timed rooms that we actually use . . . And I refuse to have something interweb dependant. Stupid idea.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Any recommendations ( or avoidance) on 'smart' CH controllers? We have a perfectly good combi boiler, but with Mrs Zef at home all day working theheating is on most of the time at the moment and there's no need to heat a 4 bedroom house all day.

Drayton wiser and rad valves looks like a god option?

I'm not interested in showing it off down the pub or turning it on/off from a service station on the M25, just something to manage whats going on as efficiently as is sensible. Bathroom toasty at7am, office 8-6, music room/spare bed a little cooler etc. individually timed rooms that we actually use . . . And I refuse to have something interweb dependant. Stupid idea.

I’ve had Tado for 4 years - smart stats and rad valves and it works well. It creates its own LAN in your home, but controlling it is through a smart device and things like Alexa. Can set it to recognise when everyone is out of the home by georeferencing smart devices. Has daily programming for any room with a Tado rad valve or stat. You can also tell it your gas / electric cost rate and it will tell you what you’re saving. I quite like it. Think our savings have been good this winter through more targetted control of the heating.

That said 4 years ago others weren’t doing the smart TRVs so people like Drayton, Honeywell etc have caught up.

 

[Jeep]

I saw the loop energy monitor app mentioned on nsc last year.
My app has stopped working, anyone else?

 

[1066familyman]

Re: Smart Meters.

I heard some comedian talk about smart meters. His joke was...'Or as I like to call it, my anxiety portal'.

Living in a large household where I'm literally the only one who has any regard at all towards our energy use, my anxiety, already pretty high, would go through the roof if we got a smart meter as I'm unable to change the behaviour of others in the house. The only thing I'm in control of is changing my response to other people's behaviour, and that's a daily work in progress.

Our energy and water bills are proper scary and there's absolutely bugger all I can do about it.

 

[BrightonCottager]

Our energy and water bills are proper scary and there's absolutely bugger all I can do about it.

When my teenage daughter started having 20 minute showers to wash her hair, I gave her a lecture about water and gas use and warned her I'd start turning the gas off after 5 minutes. I only had to actually do it a couple of times for her to change her habits (I don't mean only having shower when I'm out). She now switches the shower off while washing her hair and even does a 'Navy'/Australian shower - turning the water off after getting wet, then on again to rinse off. I've not convinced her of the joys of a flannel yet.

 

[pearl]

When my teenage daughter started having 20 minute showers to wash her hair, I gave her a lecture about water and gas use and warned her I'd start turning the gas off after 5 minutes. I only had to actually do it a couple of times for her to change her habits (I don't mean only having shower when I'm out). She now switches the shower off while washing her hair and even does a 'Navy'/Australian shower - turning the water off after getting wet, then on again to rinse off. I've not convinced her of the joys of a flannel yet.

Your daughter might not take to using a flannel (do they still exist?) , but Bath sponges are great. Save water and exfoliate, leaving the skin soft and smooth

The kind for babies are best

 

[BrightonCottager]

Your daughter might not take to using a flannel (do they still exist?) , but Bath sponges are great. Save water and exfoliate, leaving the skin soft and smooth

The kind for babies are best

Thanks for the tip. She currently uses one of those scrunchy body rub things. I'm about to use my trusty flannel in a few minutes. It's sufficiently worn to exfoliate as well as sandpaper. I have to hide it from Mrs Cottager though.

 

[mile oak]

As above - why wouldn't you?

We've had one for years and completely ignored it as the cost of energy wasn't really a consideration for us.

That's all changed, obviously, and the smart meter and the accompanying little monitor gadget means we've been able to better understand what we are using and when, which has enabled us to reduce our usage quite significantly.

Finally, I've heard suggestions that more dynamic pricing models may be introduced by energy suppliers, not dissimilar to the proposals this winter to reward those who reduce power consumption at peak times, and these will only be available to those with smart meters, as that's the only way that consumption and time of consumption can be accurately measured.

One reason for anyone likely to default payments even accidentally is I believe its much easier to cut supply if you have a Smart Meter.

 

[zefarelly]

When my teenage daughter started having 20 minute showers to wash her hair, I gave her a lecture about water and gas use and warned her I'd start turning the gas off after 5 minutes. I only had to actually do it a couple of times for her to change her habits (I don't mean only having shower when I'm out). She now switches the shower off while washing her hair and even does a 'Navy'/Australian shower - turning the water off after getting wet, then on again to rinse off. I've not convinced her of the joys of a flannel yet.

THat made me chuckle . . . my lad has a shower each morning, uses more water than everyone and everything else put together . . . I will remind him of his late grandfather, and how much he prefered a 'grandad Brian army wash' (with flanel) to a proper bath/shower when we were away racing in the camper. . . .amazing how clean boys get when they get a girlfriend

 

[Bozza]

I saw the loop energy monitor app mentioned on nsc last year.
My app has stopped working, anyone else?

I used Loop initially, but then Hugo as I preferred the layout.

I'd not opened Hugo for a few months, but just have again and it seems to work fine still.

Home

Save energy bills & reduce CO2 costs with Hugo's smart meter app. Enjoy all the energy-saving features for free. Get the app now!

hugoenergyapp.co.uk