Monitoring Electricity Savings

You can measure the savings the easy way by seeing the effect on your utility bills however be cautious since savings can be masked by other events occurring at the same time e.g. an extra person in the house increases energy use. Also energy use is not constant with for example large peaks at weekends and higher use at certain times of the year.

If you do use the electricity bill as a guide beware of estimated readings. They are usually wrong and often in the electricity companies favour. Whenever an estimated bill arrives phone through the correct reading and get a new bill, this helps with keeping control of costs.

The best way is to keep a record of the electricity meter reading every few weeks, trying to keep as regular as possible, calculating the savings of electricity used and cost each time. From experience checking every three to four weeks works best. To make this simpler and remove the need for manual calculations you can use EnCalcEU an electricity use calculator which is free for non commercial use. Doing this also enables things going wrong to be spotted early and hence saving unnecessary cost.

An alternative to keeping a note of meter readings is the use of an energy monitor on the main supply into the house - there are a number of different types now available at a reasonable cost.

As part of monitoring and maintaining savings it is a good idea to get into the habit of going round the house each night to make sure everything possible is switched off. .

See the electrical measurement tips for more information on this subject.