Keeping tabs on our electricity usage
We're on a journey to a more self-sufficient lifestyle and saving up for a down payment on a homestead, which means we are looking at every bill and trying to see if we can lower it. I've talked about lowering our electricity bill before (here and here). But this time, I've rolled out the big guns.
What are the big guns?
I wish it was solar or a small wind turbine, but for now, the big guns constitute a spreadsheet. With this spreadsheet in hand, I hope to keep close tabs on our electricity usage and thus on our bill for the next year.
Here's a peek
Are you wondering what I'll be tracking? We're just one week in, so there's not much action yet, but here's what I'm planning to track.
Our billing year runs from November 8th, 2017 - November 7th, 2018, so the weeks are numbered according to how far we are in that cycle. Next, I have the date of when I read the meter. I already know I won't read it every single week on the correct date, but I put in a few to remind me. Then there's the meter value and next to it, how much we've used since the last reading.
These are the most important pieces of information. The following are mostly for fun (and yes, to me this constitutes fun). First, I list the days since the last reading, to keep me accountable. Then comes any changes we've made since I would have liked that info for this past year.
Finally, there's the tallying section including our year to date total, last year's total, the difference and just as a reminder I included last year's weekly average usage as well.
What good does it do?
The goal, as per my most recent post on this topic is to save 2 kWh per week or 104 kWh per year.
To be able to keep up with this goal I needed a place to note our usage and any changes we make. I expect our usage to go up for Christmas, but then it should go way down for almost two weeks after that for various reasons. With this new spreadsheet, I can actually keep tabs on it and see if it evens out and if we need to make some changes.
As you can see we were 5 kWh below our weekly average for last year this week. It's way too early to celebrate based on that number alone, but it makes me happy to see it, especially as the days are now quite short and dark and we're about to go into Christmas with tree lights and what not.
I love spreadsheets! They are so useful for tracking and setting targets.
A little exercise, over a cup of coffee, might be to list every appliance / item you have that uses electricity. Then look at each in turn to see if they can be used less or in any more efficient way. Might uncover a few little areas where a bit more can be saved.
What a great idea, I will do that in the upcoming week. We already unplug a good amount of things, but we could probably do better.
It's not nerdy at all, it's pro-active! I'm glad someone else is like me in monitoring bills. I HATE having to pay for what is effectively wasted energy so I've been doing the same. I have a smartmeter and have managed to cut electricity use from around £2.50 a day to £1.10. I hadn't realised my TV used SO much - so now I watch Netflix only on my laptop or phone.
Great post.
Thank you @brimwoodfarm. That a huge saving from such a simple change. I'm glad I'm not alone. It can be difficult to figure out the ROI on things sometimes, but that smartmeter must have been worth it for you.
I did a lot more changes too - shutting off lights more, switching things off at the wall and not leaving in standby etc. But the TV used a lot! The smartmeter's been great - really made some savings, and they all add up. Now, going into winter, I'm focusing on keeping the gas bill down - hopefully by having more log fires to heat us and the house.
Every little bit counts and it does add up.
I'm not ready to deal with our heating bill yet. We have had a lot of troubles with our indoor climate and we are finally seeing some fruits from our efforts. It would be great though to lower it as well.
Is log fires cheaper for you than the gas heating?
very good post thanks for sharing