Monitoring Electricity Useage

[xena]

Looking at all the recent posts on high electricity bills has led me to wonder if there's any way of checking the running costs of appliances without having to try and work it out from the manufacturer's specs.

I have in mind a small adapter that plugs in between the appliance plug and the wall socket that measured the current drawn, or something like that. If it was really clever, you could put in the rate you pay for your electricity and the device would tell you how much per hour the appliance costs to run!

I don't know if this is possible, or if it has been done, but I reckon it sounds like quite a nifty gadget. Anyone fancy designing one?

[Colin Blackburn]

There's a thread up there somewhere, expired on my server but no doubt available on google, about such a device. Maplins sell one at a relatively low price but its accuracy depends on what type of load is being measured.

Colin

[nick smith]

Lidls were selling one for a tenner I think about a few months back - seems to work adequately

Nick

[tarquinlinbin]

It is very wise to monitor both gas and electric useage these days. There is a greater margin of error due to third party meter readers,switching suppliers and all the other complications of a "competitive" fuel industry. For example, I have been locked in a battle for nearly a year with Powergen. I get dual fuel from them though it is more like Duel fuel !!. For nearly 8 months they didnt send any bills. I contacted them constantly telling them i wanted quarterly bills,i emailed them,no sense,no reply,i was eventually told they were upgrading their computer systems and couldnt send any bills. Fine, but they were doing this for months. I wrote and suggested that they must be nearly bankrupt as if they couldnt generate bills,they must'nt be getting any income!!. When they did start sending bills,they might as well have been in Hebrew because i couldnt understand them and they came thick, fast and incomprehensible. No sooner had one been paid than another arrived,then another. I've had them to energywatch and ive now swtiched supplier but they are still hounding me. I will be seeing them in court soon as i have refused to pay their latest bill.

The open gas and electricity market is one of the biggest fiascos to hit this country for a long time..

[xena]

Thanks Colin, I've found the thread you're referring to. It doesn't seem to be quite as straightforward as I had imagined!

The Maplin one has had a price hike to £25, and I was in both aldis and lidls yesterday but didn't see one.

Thanks for the tip about ebay, btw, I've got my eye on a couple now.

I think it will be worth getting one, as we will shortly be moving into a place that runs on an economy 7 tariff, and I need to make sure that we use our electricity as economically as possible, particularly during the daytime! I will also look out for a load of plug timers so I can set the dishwasher to come on overnight / charge mobiles for 2 hrs overnight etc.

Many thanks for everyone's help.

[Andrew Chesters]

SNIP

I'd agree with running the DW overnight, but do you think you would _ever_ pay for the timer in the mobile charging scenario?

[Doctor Evil]

Many companies that were given licenses were not up to it. They didn't have the systems in place for billing and customer support. The government is very cagey now and want to see positive proof you can run such an organisation properly. Virgin applied and was turned down, that is how strict they are now.

If Powergen have been negligent you should win, and it appears so by erratic nature of your bills and lack of detail on them. You hav eto tell people what you are biling them for.

Best of luck

_________________________________________ Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 120,000 groups Unlimited download

to open account

[stejonda]

In message , xena writes

Tchibo have one for GBP7.99 - not easy to find on their site though - search for "consumption"

[xena]

the continental one pictured? Should do I guess. I found it difficult searching for these on the net because as you've pointed out, they seem to go by many different names!

Thank you, my order is in!

[Dave Liquorice]

Storage heating? oh dear.

Heavy loads like immersion, space heating, washing machines (clothes and dishes), tumble dryer etc ceratinly shift into the off peak period but remember the noise.

But mobile charging is going to take 5 years to pay for the timer, and thats a =A32.50 cheapy that might not last the 5 years... Look at lighting, particulary those that are on for longish periods and consider switching to CFLs.

[mickael]

"tarquinlinbin" wrote .......

Yes some of them are farcical but, even with all the errors and recent price rises, you're probably paying half as much as you would have done if the market hadn't become open.