Enough to put you off your cuppa?
We had our smart meter fitted today. Not only do we generate our own electricity (honestly, even today when the showers are continual, we are generating 140W) but we can see when to make the best use of that electricity.
Given this has been a good year: from 1st January 2018 to the 9th August 2018 we have generated 2.8884 MWh but because we haven’t been able to match our consumption to our generated values, we’ve not been able to make the most of our generated power. I’m happy to feed in but it would be good to lower the bills at the same time.
I get that, I definitely get that. The smart meter will help you close the loop?
Absolutely! I’m sitting in the kitchen, watching the rain pour outside seeing that we’ve used 0.55kWh of electricity and 1.28kWh of gas.
How are we using gas at the moment? Oh, the boiler is getting back up to temperature from the power being disconnected. Might be worth lagging the pipes in the garage for next time…
The kettle is frightening. I made myself a cup of tea to settle down to write this blog and our consumption jumped up from 139Wh to 1.6kWh (not a bad kettle). Chewing up 3p of electricity. Not doing that too often in a day!
139Wh… shouldn’t the house be zero during the summer?
Matching usage to consumption
Many background tasks go on in a house. The fridge is on 24/7, cooling your food (and insulin) to keep it fresh. I would expect that to be a good 70-150W of our 139Wh for two hours usage.
My husband works from home, so his computing equipment is another 30-60W. Mine, today, doubles that and my son is also on his computer looking for a summer job. Call that 100W or so.
The heating and pumps for the plumbing and the telephone system and chargers probably make up the remaining 10Wh or so.
If 2hrs of background tasks make 139Wh, 12 times that gives our background levels: 1.7kWh or 2 units, roughly 30p.
On a good charging day during the summer, we cover that for 9hours a day.
The hob uses 1.2kWh, the kettle nearer 2kWh as does the microwave.
At no time during August does the solar panels cover our hob. Time for an induction hob and soft drinks over the summer?
Sounds like a plan 🙂
I have strict instructions from the family to “not get obsessed with the smart meter”. I find it interesting. A useful tool.
How much does it cost to have everylight in the kitchen?
Posted: August 9th, 2018 under 42, Driving off the grid.