It's taken us a while to get to this point, and we lost a couple of testers along the way. But finally, I can reveal just how much electricity Katie and I used at our respective homes over the past couple of weeks, how much we differed, and how we compare to the UK average...
But how much did we use? Read on over the jump
At the end of the test, Katie and I had both seperately come to the conclusion that our results were nothing to be proud of; In my case, based mostly on the amount of times I saw the Wattson turn an ominous red...
But for the first week at least, we were reassured to see firstly that our results were one and the same: we both got through 39.3 KW during that week, making an average of 5 KW per day (the average figure is 9KW daily, according to Energywatch). Even better news came when I discovered that this figure is apparently quite low compared with most 'average' figures I could find on the web, which ranged from around 63 kw per week up well into the hundreds. So far so good...
The second week, however, was heavier for both of us, with Katie's house clocking up 69,76 KW, mine 54, so both around the UK average. In Katie's case, a visit from the cleaner followed by a mammoth washing spree by Katie herself may have pushed the results over the edge, a theory I can well believe since all of the heavier days on my Wattson graph corresponded with washing days. Katie's usage was also understandably higher than mine as a rule, since her houses uses electricity for the central heating and cooking, whereas mine (and, I suspect, most 'average' houses) uses gas in both instances.
So, a good insight into how much energy we use, and how it can be brought down with a few fairly minor lifestyle changes. Being more aware of appliances' consumption did change the way I felt about many things I do as part of my everyday routine, in particular with regard to washing. It really does make a big difference to turn your washing machine down by 10 degrees, I found, and using the tumble dryer at now feels like a big no-no. I've found myself turning it off mid-cycle more than once since installing the Wattson, to hang up my clothes instead, and I've decided that if I ever do have to use it in future, I'll make sure I'm using dryer balls, which I've found are a good way to reduce total drying time.
It also made me realise that taking the TV, PC etc off standby really is worth doing, and can make the difference between a bad reading and an ok one. This may be a good time to confess that I'd always been a teeny bit dubious about just how worthwhile an exercise this was, but now I know it is worth doing, even on an individual level. So what about installign an energy meter. Is that worth it? Absolutely yes, even if you think you know exactly how much electricity you're consuming you are bound to be surprised.
