How to save money on your electricity bills at the same time as saving the environment by saving electricity ....

Electricity Use Down By 60%

15.8 Tons Of CO2 Saved

Tip Of The Day: Cook as much as possible in the oven at the same time

We all take electricity for granted, a flick of a switch and there it is. It seems convenient to leave things plugged in and switched on twenty four hours a day but most of us ignore the fact it costs money to leave things switched on and it is getting more expensive all the time. In addition very few people have much idea how much electricity individual items use, manufacturers markings rarely tell the whole story. After several years of significant reductions in electricity use we reached the point where the scope for saving without major investment became more and more limited all the time in our original house. Since moving in November 2009 we have started doing all the easy thing we learnt from last time round and expect it to get much harder to save electricity quite quickly.

Domestic annual electricity use in the UK according to the Office of National Statistics is around 115,000 Giga Watt Hours with the average household using around 4500 KW hrs a year. If each household saved around 20% of the current consumption this would save 23 Giga Watt Hours a year which is quite a few power stations that could be retired. Most of this saving could be achieved without significant expenditure on the part of households leading to big savings all round. The savings quoted at the top of this page all refer to our original house and are relative to our 2003 bills.

Did you know that consumers are around twice as likely to not understand their electricity bills as they are their phone bills with seven out of ten people having no idea how much in total they pay for their electricity. Electricity bills are not noted for their clarity which coupled with multiple charging rates and the electricity companies love of estimated meter readings can mean that if you rely on the electricity supplier it could be up to 2 years before actual meter readings align with reality. Often these estimated readings are in the suppliers favour and for this reason it is a good idea to get into the habit of phoning accurate readings through each time a bill appears, asking for a revised bill at the same time.

While following the simple tips will save money, to achieve the biggest savings a structured approach works best. To get an idea of what can be done in each room of the house take a look at room by room for colour coded tips and advice. Big savings can be made with zero or minimal investment. One of the biggest problems encountered even now is the lack of information from manufacturers and shops about the standby current consumption of appliances. It is also sometimes difficult to compare items directly for energy efficiency as I found out when purchasing a dishwasher and a washing machine, this wasn't helped by the lack of knowledge and total lack of interest of the salesman each time. The only way I have found around this problem so far is by measurement which is not practical for everyone. For those who are interested you can purchase a simple plug in power meter in the UK from Maplin for only a few pounds.

Before embarking on expensive measures to reduce costs make sure all the simple and easy to implement changes have been done, the savings obtained may make the expensive changes uneconomic since the pay back time of big changes may be longer than the expected life of the equipment especially if significant maintenance costs are involved..

These pages are split into two main sections: General Information and the process used to identify and implement savings including a summary of the results which are updated as information becomes available. Information on rechargeable batteries can be found in the rechargeable battery section.

To help work out the real savings or otherwise of changes try EnCalcE an electricity saving calculator. To find out if the savings predicted are actually being achieved try using EnCalcEU a calculator for checking and predicting electricity bills. Both of these calculators are free for personal non-commercial use and have a wide range of useful features for the energy conscious. Both calculators are provided by JSutils a sister site to this one.

Saving Electricity

How to save money on your electricity bills at the same time as saving the environment by saving electricity ....

Electricity Use Down By 60%

15.8 Tons Of CO2 Saved

Tip Of The Day: Cook as much as possible in the oven at the same time

Caution: Electricity can be dangerous. Modifications to electrical apparatus or wiring should only be carried out by a competent person.