Hacks to reduce energy costs

[Oldvatr]

I have a pause feature on my hoover dryer it was supposed to be controlled via an app but didn’t work. It was apparently over I think NFC? So I have to pause it manually. I’m not the only one with this undeveloped app being marketed to that I thought great - but otherwise dryer is good but why do these machines have such looooog cycles

Mind you I do get annoyed when the kids decide to put in a wash late evening and run the dryer at night .... hate the noise. Not sure if it’s saving me a bob or two though... have to look at my bill a bit more closely.

If you are on a 'fixed' tariff or even the standard variable then time of day will not make any difference to your pocket book, but makes a differencce to the grid. So washing in the evening will help reduce the risk of power cuts when the weather turns colder. My daughter started one wash in the peak period, so I educated her. Trouble is my mahine has no Pause function so we had to let it run this time. She also fired off full kettle for a smattering of gravy, but then the kettle cannot run without a reasonable fill load.

 

[Oldvatr]

I have a pause feature on my hoover dryer it was supposed to be controlled via an app but didn’t work. It was apparently over I think NFC? So I have to pause it manually. I’m not the only one with this undeveloped app being marketed to that I thought great - but otherwise dryer is good but why do these machines have such looooog cycles

Mind you I do get annoyed when the kids decide to put in a wash late evening and run the dryer at night .... hate the noise. Not sure if it’s saving me a bob or two though... have to look at my bill a bit more closely.

NFC is Near Field Communication, and requires transmitter and receiver to be within a couple of inches of each other. (5 cm max range) technology used for point of sale and credit card readers. It is encrypted and is considered secure.

 

[lovinglife]

Hi @Oldvatr

NFC - only a couple of inches away... pfff what a con in marketing. It’s then no different to get off my bod and press the button.

@Oldvatr Did you know you can buy these these small electric portable water cups 400/500ml so don’t need a full kettle of water nowadays a three in one thermos for one cup on Amazon.

With us always putting on the kettle I was thinking of getting one of those big 3L or 5L Airpots for hot water for the family but I’m not sure how long the water will stay hot. Thinking won’t have to heat up kettle all the time. Some Aripots say can keep hot fluid upto 12 hours but I’m not convinced. Does anyone have any experience of this please?

We have one of those air pots and they do keep the water hot enough for a good length of time. Great in summer for chilled drinks too, which is what we mainly use it for but have used it in the past for hot water when we were renovating and it worked well

 

[lovinglife]

@lovinglife how hot and how long did the water stay hot please? 12 hours as some claim? Some reviews have said only keep 3/4 hours hot. I’ve seen large Thermos which claim to keep water hot for up to 20 hours.

Mine kept it hot for about 8 hours, I’d used it all by them, obviously it’s not boiling hot but it’s hot enough to make drinks. I did leave it once for 24 hours as didn’t need it and used it to wash dishes and it was quite hot. The one I have says hot for 12 hrs and cold for 24 hrs - it definitely keeps chilled drinks very well

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

I am forced to buy this new phone for another reason - next year this area converts to 5G wireless and all the towers will be converted to 5G. We will no longer have 3G access, and my current phone will need to be retired.

What happened to 4G wireless where you live?

The 3G network shuts down here in Australia next year I believe, as 5G is now available if you have a 5G capable phone. Otherwise you stay on 4G which is what I am doing, as the tower I am on here at home is not the best, and getting dropouts and slow download speeds on my Samsung A52. The phone has WiFi Calling which solves my problems at home, switches to 4G when I go out.

You do not have to buy a top of the range phone the A52 cost me just under $600.00 from Samsung, so saved a fair bit of money for a 5G capable phone.

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

What happened to 4G wireless where you live?

The 3G network shuts down here in Australia next year I believe, as 5G is now available if you have a 5G capable phone. Otherwise you stay on 4G which is what I am doing, as the tower I am on here at home is not the best, and getting dropouts and slow download speeds on my Samsung A52. The phone has WiFi Calling which solves my problems at home, switches to 4G when I go out.

You do not have to buy a top of the range phone the A52 cost me just under $600.00 from Samsung, so saved a fair bit of money for a 5G capable phone.

Edit:Forgot to post t he pix.

 

[Oldvatr]

Edit:Forgot to post t he pix.

Yes 4G will continue, but coverge here in my area is pretty poor, and my daughter too had difficulties with dropouts, poor speed. My steam radio one uses the 3G signal, so will lose coverage. I can get a Google Pixel 5 for around £200 so that is feasible for me and it is the added cost of the Sim Deal which will dominate. Current pricing is around £10 per month for a reasonable data and call allowance. This is £7 more pcm than I pay for my current phone.

However, if I take over my daughters phone, and connect to my fibrebroadband then it will not be too bad. We have similar comms app called Whatsap that her phone will run.

I have found a report from a user of the new smart tariff, and he compares last year consumption results against the standard fixed rate tariff, and worked out that the smart pricing saved him just over 50 pence per day. But there is a 45 pence per day surcharge for the agile tariff so net gain was around 5 p per day, so £18 per year. I note that this does not use the current price cap which is substantially increased (double last year) So it seems that I will not save a fortune by lashing out on technology at this stage. I am going into tinker about mode since I have an Echo Dot and will have free access to the required apps. I will take over my daughter's phone since using whatsap alone will cover voice calls to family and friends.

 

[lovinglife]

@lovinglife how hot and how long did the water stay hot please? 12 hours as some claim? Some reviews have said only keep 3/4 hours hot. I’ve seen large Thermos which claim to keep water hot for up to 20 hours.

If you can hang on a couple of days I’ll do a temperature test for you - can’t do it today as it’s out of reach

 

[Oldvatr]

I must apologise: i have been wearing blinkers and finally went doen a rabbit hole in my last post. I have for many years been a Dual Fuel consumer of energy, and had a single tariff covering both. So when I read Smart Pricing and Agile tariff, I assumed that it would replace my normal arrangement. But it only replaces the electricity part, and the gas supply will be a seperate standard tariff. So my last post is incorrect regarding savings. The 45pence surcharge replaces my electicity standing charge, and is not on top of. So in actual fact the Smart tariff charge of 45 p per day is LESS than the price capped SVT charge of 51 pence per day. So the new tariff does look like it would save me moolah and spondoolicks. So I will continue my journey down the "whats in it for me?" path.

So my investment in my gas boiler with smart controller which adjusts for the weather and whether I have left a window open etc is still a worthwhile investment. Tying it into alexa is for comfort rather than energy reduction and there is not much I can do to make it smarter. I am the smart (?) controller in that respect

 

[Oldvatr]

My body warmer / electric gillet arrived today. It does what it says on the tin, and will be a useful backup when power cuts are looming. It only heats the torso back and front, so keeps the vitals going but you could still need hand warmer and or fleece lined jeans. deffo portable so can use it on my buggy for winter shopping trips They reckon it can work for between 6 and 10 hours on a full charge of the battery bank and depending on which heat setting is used. The gillet is zipped so easy to get on and off.

 

[lovinglife]

I got my first £66 payment into my bank today, it will just disappear, much rather it was taken off the monthly direct debit at source. I really don’t understand why it can’t be, they can manage to alter your DD pretty quickly when they want more from you

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Just to irritate you all.
We will be going abroad for a couple of months over Xmas and so will be turning everything off apart from the CH on frost protect.
This will save us a lot on our energy bills, but I doubt we will be in profit overall.

 

[filly]

I got my first £66 payment into my bank today, it will just disappear, much rather it was taken off the monthly direct debit at source. I really don’t understand why it can’t be, they can manage to alter your DD pretty quickly when they want more from you

Me too. They took my normal DD out a few days ago and gave me the £66 today. Lucky for me still in profit until the ***** hits the fan for me next March. Saving every penny until then.

 

[Oldvatr]

Mine reduced my DD by £66 but even after that I was still in credit.

 

[lovinglife]

Mine reduced my DD by £66 but even after that I was still in credit.

I would have much preferred that, I’m in massive credit at the moment- hope they don’t do what they did last December and insist on having to give me it back

 

[Oldvatr]

I would have much preferred that, I’m in massive credit at the moment- hope they don’t do what they did last December and insist on having to give me it back

I wouldn;t grumble. If they do this to me, then it is going back into an account that earns me interest. In their hands I lose that. But £1000 over a year at 1% interest is only £10 so not a great deal to lose sleep over. OVO used to give me interest on my 'investment'. when I was with them.

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

I’m in massive credit at the moment- hope they don’t do what they did last December and insist on having to give me it back

I always get my Ergon power credit back at xmas, leaving a enough in for the next quarlerly payment. I have about $160.00 in Woolies rewards points that all help pay for the xmas / new years breaks food and drinks.

 

[Oldvatr]

OK just got hold of some pricing info from a user of the smart tariff I would use if I decide to go that way. My SVT pricing for electric is currently capped and fixed at 34p per unit, and there is a standing charge of 51p per day. The info I gpt shows the last two days in my area, and shows how the tariff price fluctuated on each day. Most of the day runs in at between 15 and 20 p per unit, but there are two peaks when it goes higher. One period is between 6 and 10 am when it went up to just over 20p, and then another peak between 4 and 7 pm where it topped at 38p per unit. So I would have saved money on both days if I had switched. The standing charge for the smart tariff is 51.6p per day so not too distant from what I already pay.

The worry is that the smart tariff is not capped like the SVT one is, and can go up to 100p per day in worst case conditions. But it can and has gone negative too but only 4 hours so far this year (last week) so not holding my breath on that one.

So I will need to change my routine in the evening. Normally I cook my meal between 6 and 7:30. pm but will need to shift it to start at 7pm. This means my 4 hr blood sugar tests will shift out to 12:30 but this is a time that I am normally still active. Also the dishwasher will need to either fire off at midday or wait till after the evening meal. Since I normally only cater for myself, this is all doable. Clothes washing must be at midday because the noise disturbs the neighbours

I do not need to automate my home. all I need is to get Alexa to turn on a red light when the price is high, and somone is bound to develop a skill for that, surely? I can get online access to the live pricing info since my supplier has a website that can be interroged, and Alexa already has the skill to read the price and tell me if I ask her. We are nearly there.

 

[Aishia]

PM Rishi Sunak(or
Ri Shi Rich maybe) saying maybe we will get an energy deal with t he USA now. Just wondering what other people's thoughs were.

 

[Oldvatr]

PM Rishi Sunak(or
Ri Shi Rich maybe) saying maybe we will get an energy deal with t he USA now. Just wondering what other people's thoughs were.

We already get LPG from Libya, oil from Saudi Arabia, Oil from Argentina, and Brazil to name juat a few of our contracts. What is the problem with USA? Yeah, of course fracking and the Alaska shale fields.

While we are still utterly dependant on fossil fuels these are essential suppliers, otherwise the wheels will fall off big time. It is what Rishi intends doing about the transition to non fossil energy that is important. That is where the windfall tax should be aimed at to get the oil companies investing in the transition to earn their profits.