They say that when you install an energy monitor, you become more acutely aware of the household energy you’re using, and cut down accordingly. But is this true in practice? Well Tony Evans, one of our commercial managers here at Confused.com, has one installed in his home – and this is what he has to say:
Q: When did you get your energy monitor?
“Last winter, so about nine or ten months ago. I was talked into switching by Gareth Kloet (Confused.com’s head of household services), and I got the energy monitor for switching to a British Gas tariff.”
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the monitor?
“It was really simple to set up – a five-minute job. The monitor itself has got two bars. The first is for the electricity used during the day so far. And the other is best described as looking like a car’s speedometer, showing you the current usage in real time.
“It’s very transparent… Heavy use will make the spike jump up, and you can see it straight away. It’s very easy to tell when lots of stuff in the house has been left on. Even the kids understand it, and they’re aged nine and four.”
Q: So would you say it’s changed your habits?
“Definitely. We don’t use the tumble dryer anywhere near as much as we used to, as you could see it just burning up the energy the moment you turned it on. Now we’re far more likely to use the washing line or put clothes on radiators.
“The kids are really into it too. Beforehand they’d leave lights on all the time. But now they actually go round the house knocking them off.
“We’re much more aware of equipment such as the TV and Sky box being left on standby. Now everything goes off. And we won’t leave phones charging overnight – just keep it down to the two hours they need.”
Q: Now, the key question… Have you saved energy?
“See for yourself:
“I was flabbergasted when I looked at the numbers. We saw an immediate electricity usage drop of 30 per cent. I did feel we were saving, but now I’ve actually checked, I realise that we’ve saved over £130 in the first three quarters of this year!”
To find out more, check out our article Is this the End for Estimated Energy Bills?
