Y Stabl

Electricity Usage & Efficiency

Using gas for heating/ cooking is not a practical option for us, so we have been trying to make our electricity usage and heat conservation more efficient. Improvements made include: Installing roof insulation; installing a window in east wall of the lounge to bring sun in for morning warming; replacing all bulbs throughout with high-efficiency types; installing an ?Owl? power monitor so guests can monitor & manage power usage. We use 'The Owl' wireless power monitor to read instantaneous power (in kW) or cost (per hour), and our Tips below gives information about off-peak power times in addition to minimising electricity usage itself.

Our 10 Tips for Reducing Electricity:

1. Use our wall-mounted wireless Owl electricity monitor to measure and manage power consumption/ cost rate to reduce waste;
2. Off-peak power is 1am - 8am GMT (2am - 9am BST);
3. Be sensible with the amount of hot water used: The immersion heater uses lots of power;
4. When filling the washing up bowl, it can be more efficient to fill from the kettle rather than hot water tap (due to the length of pipe run from the boiler);
5. Only boil the required amount of water when making tea or coffee;
6. Fill washing machine to maximum for each cycle, and wash clothes on cooler temperatures;
7. The storage heaters use off-peak power so are cheap to run, but the oil-filled portable heaters are not;
8. Lights left on will use lots of electricity over time;
9. Switch off the TV at the wall socket when not in use;
10. Remove all phone/ camera chargers etc from the mains.