Ofgen appliance use costs.

[ericmark]

Ofgem prices

Washing machine 16 – 24 p per use.
Tumble dryer 67p – £1.69 per use.
Dishwasher 21p per use.
Fridge 8 – 22p per day.
Hairdryer 8 – 64p per 8 minutes.
Microwave 8p per use.
TV 2p per hour.
Oven 29p per use.
Kettle 8p per 5 mins.
Air fryer 9 – 16p per use.
Dehumidifier 6 – 9p per hour.

I have in the past, tried to measure power use.
Washing machine, never the same results twice.
Tumble drier, vented was 1 kW and ran for around 90 minutes, heat pump 650 watt for around 2.5 hours, so I would expect 40p in both cases.
Dishwasher so many programs again hard to measure.
Fridge we have an annual use published. Random selection shows 91 kWh/annum so less than 6.2p per day, but looking at a small one, and to be frank I use fridge/freezers it seems odd to select just a fridge.
Hair dryer not used on in years, so not a clue.
TV not measured.
Oven now this is where the figures become interesting, as same food can often be cooked with a microwave, or air fryer, or deep fat fryer, but to measure an oven with three elements, and a 12 way selector switch, and no way to plug into an energy meter, hard to tell what it uses, air fryer is basically a small fan oven, and with both it is really the heat uptime, so used for ½ hour or 1 hour, not a massive change, but the microwave, runs all the time, so reheat coffee, 2.5 mins or cook potato ½ hour the cost will be very different, so microwave or air fryer the selection can cost or save money.

Kettle, well I use a cup boiler for single cup, and if two or more cups, a kettle with element at bottom, so only fill just enough.

Dehumidifier so many different types.

But what I would want to see, is how much to bake a potato in Air fryer, Microwave, or oven. Normally we start in microwave and finish in oven with a Pizza, but if you want to eat, you need to cook, so cooking or not cooking is not really an option, what can save energy is how it is cooked.

Even to wash dishes, in a bowl likely using nearly a gallon of hot water, and much of the energy lost heating pipework, and likely need to do it twice as often as when using a dishwasher. Plus dishwasher can be programmed to use off-peak power.

The washing machine likely uses a lot less water to hand washing, and as with the dish washer, likely the detergent used it not too nice on the skin.

Even tumble dryer, to have to rewash due to bird lime, means often the cost to tumble dry can be off-set.

I am sure no one wants to waste energy, but there is a trade-off. Again tumble dryer, the longer it takes to dry the clothes the less energy it uses, so to compare one which will dry in 55 minutes to one which takes 90 minutes to one which takes 150 minutes is not really any help.

At 12 kWh per day, at 25p/kWh only £3 a day at full rate, with off-peak more like £1 a day, is it really worth the effort?

I would think the largest saving I could make, would be not to use the AC on hot days, but sorry, I no longer like the heat.

Biggest save on energy is likely using programmable TRV heads, so rooms only heated as and when required.

But I will pay £15 a head or more for a meal out, so why worry about £3 for electric. But it seems Ofgem is worried, so what is going on?

 

[foxhole]

Slow day?
What is Ofgem worried about?

 

[ericmark]

I can't work out why I got sent the email? And what it was for?

 

[ebee]

Well if they send us loads of info to give us a feeling of being in charge of our own destiny then maybe it distracts us from our unfair obligations in life a little bit?

 

[ericmark]

I have looked at reducing the load, and the main contender is the freezers, we to my mind don't need four, but the flack I get when I try to convince my wife they are not required, does not seem worth it, I am likely to have to cook my own meals if I raise the subject again.

To reduce cost, the best option is to select what time items run, but to turn on TV after 00:30 and off at 05:30 we seem to miss the best programs.

The buzz word some years ago was "stand-by" and we were told how much power was used leaving items on stand-by, but things have moved on, some of my smart sockets have a built-in auto off feature which will turn off the supply once the current drops to a pre-set level with the option to also delay the disconnection.

I think it was designed for battery chargers, and it will turn them off once the battery is charged, however, most of my battery chargers only use the same as the smart socket once the battery is charged, and if the battery voltage drops, will switch back on again, there is one battery charger with 6 bright green LED lights to show charging complete, and I do use it with that, but to reduce energy use, without suffering the wrath of SHMBO seems a problem.

All lights have either off at dawn, or 8 am set, so should they turn on due to power cut etc, maximum time is limited to 24 hours. Don't want auto turn off in the dark, that could be dangerous.

But knowing the TV cost 2p per hour, does not really help, OK auto off timers are set, but when the TV turns off, it auto turns off the sky box, and so we lose the ability to go back an hour to see what we missed when we nodded off.

So I am using at the moment 305 watts, I could go down to flat, and put clamp-on around meter tails, and turn off each RCBO in turn to see what each circuit uses. I did try it, and found each socket circuit did use around 100 watts, except flat, which used more, likely at the fridge/freezer in the flat is on the normal ring, in main house they are on an EPS supply.

But as to finding out what used the 100 watts, I have failed, used energy monitors, with most items, but not found anything with a large back-ground use.

 

[Munroast]

I have looked at reducing the load, and the main contender is the freezers, we to my mind don't need four, but the flack I get when I try to convince my wife they are not required, does not seem worth it, I am likely to have to cook my own meals if I raise the subject again.

You have FOUR freezers ? why ?

 

[Murdochcat]

Imho there are so many people who haven’t got a clue about how much appliances cost I just think that information that gets published is nothing more than a vague guide to make people aware.

 

[ericmark]

You have FOUR freezers ? why ?

Wife wants them, it is as simple as that, not worth the argument to turn some off. In the main Sidoli is the problem, they make stuff for the catering trade, and have an on-site shop which sells the surpluses, and frozen cakes etc, are very cheap, and there is a minium you can buy, so need freezer space. It should be, get a load, and share it around the family, and then the freezer is turned off, but we never seem to empty a freezer.

We do live 8 miles from the nearest town, we have a local post office, and petrol station, but no supermarkets, so idea is once a fortnight shopping, but we always seem to run out of something, and my wife would prefer to travel 16 miles to get a loaf of bread for £1.25 to getting it off the milkman at £1.50 she seems to think the car runs on fresh air. We both have bus passes, and pay every three years for a railway pass (we become members of local heritage railway) but I have never used the bus pass local, and don't use the train much either, the 50 minutes to do 8 mile is a bit of a put off.

 

[ericmark]

Imho there are so many people who haven’t got a clue about how much appliances cost I just think that information that gets published is nothing more than a vague guide to make people aware.

I find most items have wattage marked on them. But the tumble dryer is a leap of faith, I have used an energy meter, and once the drum is warm enough the heat pump uses a mark/space ratio to control the temperature, so although it runs for 2.5 hours, and uses 650 watt when the heat pump is running, it is not a simple 2.5 x 0.650 to give the kWh used.

The dishwasher is the same, once the water is hot, the power used drops off, but if there is a dry part of the cycle, then that also uses power at the end.

The dry cycle also drys out the dishwasher its self, so reduces the problem of water in the dishwashers electrics, so saying the dishes don't need drying is not quite true.

I look at my consumption but as to how seeing it helps reduce it? As to a smart meter how does this help?
So I charge the battery with off-peak, and rest of day, nothing, and at 58p am I really worried how much I am using? £1.28 with the standing charge. Or -£1.52 in total when export taken into account.

 

[foxhole]

Wife wants them, it is as simple as that, not worth the argument to turn some off. In the main Sidoli is the problem, they make stuff for the catering trade, and have an on-site shop which sells the surpluses, and frozen cakes etc, are very cheap, and there is a minium you can buy, so need freezer space. It should be, get a load, and share it around the family, and then the freezer is turned off, but we never seem to empty a freezer.

We do live 8 miles from the nearest town, we have a local post office, and petrol station, but no supermarkets, so idea is once a fortnight shopping, but we always seem to run out of something, and my wife would prefer to travel 16 miles to get a loaf of bread for £1.25 to getting it off the milkman at £1.50 she seems to think the car runs on fresh air. We both have bus passes, and pay every three years for a railway pass (we become members of local heritage railway) but I have never used the bus pass local, and don't use the train much either, the 50 minutes to do 8 mile is a bit of a put off.

With food in a freezer having a finite life it’s difficult to consume all the contents before the food deteriorates .(unless you have a huge family )

 

[ericmark]

Yes dumped mince pies yesterday dated 2024. But braving my wife's scorn is worse.

 

[morqthana]

You have FOUR freezers ? why ?

He's on his 3rd SWMBO?

 

[ericmark]

He's on his 3rd SWMBO?

No I feel I have missed out, I have only had one, she has rewritten the engineers statement, it is I am your wife, better if you assume I am correct.

 

[morqthana]

Kettle, well I use a cup boiler for single cup, and if two or more cups, a kettle with element at bottom, so only fill just enough.

Get a Jettle - you know it makes sense

if you want to eat, you need to cook, so cooking or not cooking is not really an option, what can save energy is how it is cooked.

Well, you don't need to. Obviously we all very much want to, and I wouldn't want to live on cold food, but it is possible.

But I will pay £15 a head or more for a meal out, so why worry about £3 for electric. But it seems Ofgem is worried, so what is going on?

We have a new chippy -

 

[ericmark]

We did have two cup boilers, but when we got visitors it was a pain, so swapped one for a kettle, got use to how much is needed to make two cups of coffee now.

Seems a shame, we have so many coffee making machines, from the peculator to espresso, and today they are just decoration, we never bother making it from the beans.

Tea is no better, we have the steel base tea pots, to make the tea and hot water on the induction hob, although I have never really mastered pouring them both together, and the glasses, run out of sugar lumps. Even the little spoons. But not drunk tea for ages, at one point I got to really like green tea and mint, but although loads of mint in the garden, not made a cup of ti-nanna for years. (Not a clue on spelling)

It seems the Quakers tried to get us to drink hot chocolate, as they felt cocaine found in chocolate back then was better than alcohol?

I have tried other infusions, main idea is if the water is boiled, then it is safe to drink, but Apple infusion is nice, can't call it tea, as no tea used, but just got use to drinking instant coffee. Ho, and beer, I make up beer kits, so suppose since I don't boil the water to make beer, that's done for me before I buy the kit, maybe I should save energy and drink beer!