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Dorothy Bradbury
 
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Default Expensive Electricity Bill

So you don't cook by electric re electric hobs/dbl-oven/grill?
Your bill is incorrect - if the average is 1600pa.

Verify measuring...
o That E7 is being switched over correctly re timing
---- E7 contactors do jam, older timers malfunction
o That the meter readings are correct - they put a check meter on
---- meters do go bonkers
---- 80A meter may have been fried by current draw

Economy savings...
o Lighting -- 6x 500W halogen is a no-no
---- I hope it's not on a 70s lighting ring
---- few neighbours will like 500-3000W in line-of-sight
o Freezers -- frozen 50lb vegetables, 50lb bread is uneconomic
---- examine carefully the economics of what you are freezing
---- vs home-delivery, tinned or long life part cooked bread
---- old freezers seem to kick out a lot of heat (insulation, efficiency)
---- freezers can go AWOL if ambient is lower than the fridge
o Storage Heaters -- replace if you can with radiators
---- you don't state size or if automatic / manual charge controller
---- storage heaters are ok for 10-20x a winter heating a hall if -7oC
---- they are to be avoided unless a very small area superbly insulated
---- try to get to 1, if rarely used price out going off E7 re day-rate

Congratulations on going for a LCD v Plasma big-screen...
o Plasma can draw 380-750W - that adds up *fast*
---- heat isn't wasted in a house, but it's inefficient creation
o LCD will draw 80W I guess re that size backlighting
---- depends on how bright you have the backlight

48"... even Titchmarsh would look frightening on that :-)
The world changing from 60W 21" CRT to 550W+ Plasma is a huge 9x
increase multipled by millions of people. Instead it seems people may go
for LCD solutions which are actually less than a CRT vs 9x worse.

Now PCs...
o Laptop will be very low
---- 40W re 2.5" disk + lower backlight Watts + power saving
---- however power saving the backlight is prudent
---- standby / hibernate / turn off if unused for more than 1hr
o Desktop will be higher
---- realise 3 monitors = 3 backlights = 35-40W each
-------- backlight life is power-on-hours, so power off if unused
---- Prescott P4 CPU dissipates 50W at idle
-------- 24/7/52 = 22.2ukp day-rate + 2.52ukp night-rate = 25ukp/yr
-------- power off when not in use - idle is still 50W

Tualatin P3 processors idle at well below a Prescott or Northwood P4 CPU,
so for second PCs or "mule PCs" (doing email or file searches, file server)
they have a strong economic argument without being as slow as VIA EPIA.

Now Printers...
o Laser printers
---- recent models idle at a few watts, older models quite a few watts
---- fuser is 350-500W, schedule big-prints to E7 or use a HP990 inkjet
o Inkjet printers
---- if one is rarely used, power off
---- far lower draw than laser despite being slower (10ppm v 20ppm)
---- however cost saved on electricity may be offset by consumables :-)

Prices quoted are for Atlantic Electric Internet tarif *ignoring* the higher
no-standing charge units, so you need to add a little bit to the figures
above.

If you are spooling invoices off every few minutes on the laser, then the
fuser will be drawing 350W+ regularly. Print them off in one block, or
on economy 7 or e-invoicing via PDF printed to CutePDF "printer".

Your real wildcards are the storage heaters & the freezers (plural).
--
DB.