Electrical appliances

[TEAK36]

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I was not sure which category was best.

I would like to try and save some money on my electricity bill, but I don't know if simply unplugging everything instead of leaving it on standby, would make much difference to my bills. I think a more cost saving excercise would be to reduce the amount of times I use things like my Washing machine, which seems to be in almost contant use due to having 2 small children..

Does anyone know of a website that will give a guide as to how much a household appliance costs each time it is used?

[Nik315]

I have recently changed my electricity supplier to Southern Electric and they gave me for free a monitor that you clip round your supply cable and it gives you a read out of how much electricity you are using and it changes accordingly when you switch things on and off. Scares the bloody life out of you when you realise how much power some of these things use, i've only used the tumble drier once since I got this monitor.

[buildersmate]

Devices that use some electricity because of the standby mode are those that (generall) have a little light on the front-panel - TVs, DVDs, VCRs, home computers. So it is worth switching these off properly each time as over time it will save money, but just use the on/off switch.
There is no advantage in physically unplugging these or any other devices - just creates lot of work for you.
You correctly identify that washing machines use a lot of power for the number of hours they work - the way to minimise power consumption is to ensure they are fully loaded for each wash, try a lower temperatur setting, and avoid using heated tumble drier settings (as far as possible).
Cannot immediately help with a website - no doubt Ethel knows one.

[Hawkwalk]

this site will give you an idea of cost

http://www.ukpower.co.uk/running-costs-elec.as p

[Disco Fever]

Hello Teak, check to see if you have economy 7 if you don't then request it from your energy supplier as it's free to have the meter fitted, if they try and charge you just tell them you will be leaving and getting your energy from elsewhere i.e British Gas, Eon, Swalec, there are loads out there.

If you have Economy 7 then put your washing machine and tumble drier on timers so they only work between the economy 7 hours which is normally 12:30am to 7:30am, do this and you'll save a fortune, Ok you might have to get up a little earlier to put your loads of washing in but the economy 7 tarriff is a third of the price of normal daily rate electric. The timers are available from B&Q for about �10 for 3.....

[RussellBowes]

Here's an energy calculator, it lets you pop in different appliances to you can calculate which are costing you more or less to run. www.ovoenergy.com/tools/electricity-cost-calculator