That’s fine. Nice low energy use, same as your Naim system 
1 Like
Interesting.
Firstly… on the towels… Never had a tumble drier personally but I do appreciate there is extra softness for drying in the dryer but, seemingly, to me at least, less drying ability too (limited experience however). We find a bl**dy good shake side to side holding both of the long edges (separately) when they come out of the machine will loosen up the fibres and achieve nice looking fluffy towels with a lovely crisp finish.
And on the electricery… We have an average monthly electricity consumption of around 290 Kw/hours a month and by the sounds of it we have way more electrical stuff on the go than @fergch so something definitely seems a miss somewhere. We have an electric oven on the go several-many days a week, the washing machine seems to be washing almost constantly, dishwasher, big American style fridge freezer, a small wine fridge, two dual monitor work from home set ups on all day most days, lots of networking and internet stuff, plus chargers galore, 2 TVs ++ the rest and last but definitely not least 3 Naim boxes and a Linn box on 24/7 unless we’re away for more than a night or two.
Definitely check those lights it is amazing how those old bulbs’ consumption adds up but also stick the Naims back on for a week (or even try on/off over several weeks to even out other consumption variables), enjoy the glorious sound again and hopefully rule them fully out in your search for the higher consumers.
If you have any time away from the house, holiday or visiting relatives maybe, try turning absolutely everything bar the very essentials (fridge/freezer/heating) off and see what your background base consumption is while you’re away. And if nothing stands up as the obvious culprit I would consider asking if the meter can be checked, although, I can imagine the response that would get from the utility company…
2 Likes
One thought, have you been through your previous months usage (including last year around the same period) to see what you typically use?
1 Like
Yes, and unfortunately weekly reading for the last year range from the recent 105 to the highest weekly reading of 245!
A quick estimate of average reading is perhaps 180.
May be worth taking a look here for genral tips as well as checking your local authority for any schemes you may be eligible for (especially insulation which you mentioned wasn’t great).
Suspect there isn’t a lot the group haven’t mentioned but if you are on a low household income make sure to avail yourself of any support you can.
2 Likes
Just added the numbers into a simple spread sheet…
total consumption 17045 kWh over the measured period of 89 weeks
Average per week (including last week 105) 143.5 kWh
Average per week (excluding last week 105) 182 kWh
2 Likes
It’s looked fairly consistent which is good, a little higher in winter months.
What’s great and something to present to SWMBO is that the dog walker conversation was really instructive and you’ve almost halved usage in a week, and potentially other things like more efficient lighting could be positive changes too.
Looks as though you may have not taken that many readings for the initial linear part of the graph, and I suspect the averages aren’t quite correct as over 89 weeks a reduction of over 80 units in the last week doesn’t immediately seem to fit with the 143.5 including last week to me - may be wrong of course.
Just found this from sometime in Spring/Summer 2021:
The Hall Fridge is shocking - it’s over 25 years old, the thermostat is knackered and when we got a new Samsung one a few years ago I stuck the old Hoover in the hallway to cool wine and keep meat very cool. It actually behaves like a bad freezer but needs to go - nearly £300 per annum for a fridge as it seems to be constantly cooling!
I hate getting rid of things which still work even if only after a fashion and am a hoarder/clutterbug but that fridge is silly and I could reclaim space and save money with a smaller modern device. Could probably same for the Hall freezer which is too full, and full of very old food as we only graze from the top. The problem is getting rid of the very old food in an easy manner. I just keep putting it off.
I have two olive NAP250s under £60 each per annum constantly on but that’s a luxury not a necessity. Maybe if I had less clutter in the listening room I could actually physically get to them and turn them off 
2 Likes
Rather rushed it, and excel skill are not up to much…I will have another look…
Could easily be wrong, but the raw data does show several weeks with the same readings, and the winter rise is clear, and even then several weeks have the same weekly consumption. We live very consistent - boring - lives.
These days we use the car much less, and the petrol book shows fill up time extending to months, demonstrating even more boring life style. I have kept petrol records for all our five cars owned during our married life - 45 years. (Citroen 2cv, Renault 11, Renault 19 - diesel, Peugeot 206 and just before lockdown a Citroen C3 Picasso - none of which warrant any mention of a post in the What are you driving and why would we be interested? The change from the Renault 19 was due to an engine failure at just shy of 125,000 miles, too costly to get repaired.
I will have something like this to show once the wattmeter plugs get sorted.
Yes, same here. Finally a few months ago we had to scrap the toaster we had as a Wedding Present in 1979, daily use, the pop up had been repaired several times, and so too the elements, long since obsolete, and fixed by shortening the routes of element strand and wrapping the ends together. However there came a limit that I wondered about the safety. Found a £20 Dualit two channel (stereo) in a common place to find second hand stuff that looked in a sorry way, but a bit of work with duraglit it looks like new, and if needed elements still available to this day, long lived design principle rather than the more usual disposal way we are supposed to make purchases. Of course lots of our stuff is old, well like ourselves…
2 Likes
I’m not a car fanatic to be honest, and I’ve mostly worked from home since the pandemic for a variety of reasons. I’ve always justified my Naim kit by recognising I’ve never spent what others have on cars/holidays etc.
It’s quite scary to see I’ve only done around 1,600 miles in the car since the MOT in November.
Funny you mention the Dualit - the timer on ours sticks occasionally now and burns the toast. I won;t throw it as one day I’ll try to repair it but should honestly get a cheapie from Tesco!
Also handy when you refine the spreadsheet to have a ready reckoner for smaller always on devices (see below), and a cell where you can update the current unit price whenever it changes rather than inserting it in the individual cell calculations. (I’m no spreadsheet maven so don’t take my advice!).
For context only, really.
Our electricity consumption from 30 April 2022 to 30 June 2024 was 6019 kwh, or 7. 65kwh/day.
It’s probably gone up a little, recently, probably due to getting the 75in TV, plus soundbar and sub/rears.
As I said before, we aren’t necessarily abstemious, but not wastrels either. I suspect the 2, 2015 and 2021, fridge freezers use a fair percentage of our electricity.
Our electricity use increases in the winter basically down to using the tumble dryer and the central heating pump (2023 condensing heat-only boiler).
2 Likes
Correction, a typo in one date…
I still get the sum above consumption as 16940 without the last low 105, and average is 182
Add the 105, total goes to 17045 and average to 143.5…cannot explain more than saying =SUM(B1:B89) is the total formulae and average is =AVERAGE(B1,B89)
I am not sure I could stand the shock of seeing what 17045 kWh costs me…
2 Likes
Something seems odd about those figure: If I am reading correctly, you used 17045kwh over 89 weeks. That us an average of 191.5 per week. Same period but excluding last week is 17045-105=16940 over 88 weeks = 192.5.
Your stated electricity use is approaching the AVERAGE household consumption in the USA…
Obviously, the USA has many variables (Alaska, Florida, Hawaii etc), but assuming your figures÷time are correct, and bearing in mind one cannot have an electricity leak, I do wonder if your meter is dodgy. Or ours is (hope not, here 
).
Crikey, that’s low, do you have solar or anything?
Our biggest usage I suspect is on cooking and winter time electric heating due to inability to use gas currently.
I’d estimate currently just over 1,000 kWh a month averaged over a year, much higher in winter.
Four of us in a large Victorian end terrace with limited insulation opportunities.
When electricity was much cheaper I suspect we were averaging almost 18,000 kWh per annum and that was with gas central heating active separately. Utterly profligate or does it simply reflect how cheap it used to be and how much we’ve already cut back. (A 2008 Mac Pro using at least 500W/h heated a room back then used as a media server and video encoding device).
Yes! Are you sure Mrs. Fergch hasn’t switched off the tumble drier, washing machine, fridge/freezer, cooker or dishwasher? 
No solar here:I think local development convenants prohibit it.
We have a late 90s detached townhouse. Our gas bill rockets when the heating goes on. We have a heat-only boiler, which in the summer heats the hot water tank, plus we have a gas hob (.7 units a day, at the mo’).
We can’t have a combi as they are not man enough for the potential demand (ie, bathroom, ensuite, shower room etc).
Just the 2 of us here, but we have both retired,so are here more than when we were both at work.
I have gone back further on my Octopus App to include old readings given to Bulb Energy.
30 June 2020: 38584
30 June 2024: 50828
This equates to 3076 kwh/year.
Our electricity use is pretty consistent, or our electricity meter is consistently wrong…
1 Like
Should be a colon not comma otherwise you’re averaging just the two cells
2 Likes
The plumber who told you that is talking codswallop! I’m in my third house with combi (two installed by me), one of which had bathroom plus shower room, and another had bathroom plus two shower rooms, and very happy in all, and better shower water capability when we have visitors than i’ve experienced in too many houses with tank supply, It is just a matter of specifying the right boiler, taking into account the hit water demand, not the plumber using the one he/she is familiar with of on which s/he gets a special deal (not passed on to the customer, which is not unknown).
1 Like