Electric bill Woo hoo!

[denisenh]

I posted on another thread not too long ago that we had put power strips on our electronics that use electricity even when they are off. We shut the power strips off at night, and in between uses when it will be several hours of not using those items.
I got the electricity bill today and it is nearly 1/3 less than last october! I don't think it has even been a whole month yet.
Last year in October we used 29 KWH and this October we used 20 KWH. Same amount of people living at home.
I do unplug the coffee maker, keurig and toaster at night as well. I have a 2nd unused fridge/freezer in our empty "guest suite" that I have not unplugged but will do that ....I am worried that it will stink inside if it is off , even though it is clean and empty. And I will add the microwave to items I unplug at night. Hopefully it will be even more savings!
Our elec bill was $101.00 which is the lowest we have had in a very, very long time (years).
I am hoping this will encourage others to give it a try and save $$ and be green.

 

[sunnyday123]

So you put things like the tv, dvd, gaming systems on strips then turn the strips off when not in use? I don't leave anything plugged in except for the big stuff. I might have to try that.

 

[JenLanDisney]

I have a 2nd unused fridge/freezer in our empty "guest suite" that I have not unplugged but will do that ....I am worried that it will stink inside if it is off , even though it is clean and empty.

I have also unplugged a stand up freezer and am saving every month that we don't need it. I put an open box of baking soda in it and keep the door open (it's in the basement).

 

[RitaE]

Is that like those "green" power strips that are on Woot today? I considered buying them but I wasn't really sure they'd do any good.

 

[scrapquitler]

I don't see this as being practical. Our TV is in an entertainment center, along with our TiVo, DVD player, stereo, etc. If I wanted to turn off the power strip, I'd have to move the entire entertainment center (a six foot long five foot tall piece of furniture weighing at least 150 lbs). The power strip is plugged into the wall behind there, and the power strip plug is only about 2 feet long, so after moving the entertainment center, I'd have to squeeze back there and down on the floor to hit the switch on the power strip. NOT gonna happen.

Same thing with my desktop computer, I'd have to move the desk away from teh wall to get to the power strip.

And besides that, the cable box and TiVo have to stay plugged in because they have all the program guide information (and in the TiVO case, it is recording at night) and if you turn the power off, it takes a long time to redownload info to the guide and power up.

Is it just me??

 

[denisenh]

So you put things like the tv, dvd, gaming systems on strips then turn the strips off when not in use? I don't leave anything plugged in except for the big stuff. I might have to try that.

yes..but the living room tv is mounted over the fireplace and that is not on the power strip as it is plugged in behind itself. We do have a nice setup in the living room in which the stereo system (which also controls the flush mounted ceiling speakers) is stored out of sight behind a little door next to the fireplace. The power strip is in with all of that.
I do plan to get DH to help me rig up something to completely shut off the TV at night.

I have also unplugged a stand up freezer and am saving every month that we don't need it. I put an open box of baking soda in it and keep the door open (it's in the basement).

Thank you! I will try that. I have also a chest freezer in the basement that I don't use but I propped it open.

Is that like those "green" power strips that are on Woot today? I considered buying them but I wasn't really sure they'd do any good.

We have white ones that have about a 2 foot cord and a long rectangle with several sockets on it along with an on/off switch

I don't see this as being practical. Our TV is in an entertainment center, along with our TiVo, DVD player, stereo, etc. If I wanted to turn off the power strip, I'd have to move the entire entertainment center (a six foot long five foot tall piece of furniture weighing at least 150 lbs). The power strip is plugged into the wall behind there, and the power strip plug is only about 2 feet long, so after moving the entertainment center, I'd have to squeeze back there and down on the floor to hit the switch on the power strip. NOT gonna happen.

Same thing with my desktop computer, I'd have to move the desk away from teh wall to get to the power strip.

And besides that, the cable box and TiVo have to stay plugged in because they have all the program guide information (and in the TiVO case, it is recording at night) and if you turn the power off, it takes a long time to redownload info to the guide and power up.

Is it just me??

If it were me I would probably put the power strip on an extension cord and that way, as long as the electronics had cords that could be plugged into the power strip , it could be placed in a more reachable location. I would hide all the wires as I don't like the look. I don't record shows and don't have a cable box as we are not real big TV watchers so clearly that is a huge difference.
But that is just me. I generally will find a way to get it done. I am persistant.
We do have a nice set of computer desks and the power strip/surge protectors are easily reachable. All of the other family room equipment...game consoles and TV are on a power strip in an easily reachable but out of sight spot, so no problem there.

 

[scrapquitler]

If it were me I would probably put the power strip on an extension cord and that way, as long as the electronics had cords that could be plugged into the power strip , it could be placed in a more reachable location. .

I don't think you are supposed to plug a power strip into an extension cord

 

[jc040404]

I don't think you are supposed to plug a power strip into an extension cord

I don't think so either, but you can buy strips with much longer cords. That's what we did when we started cutting power like this. I've been doing it for years. Yes, some things take a little longer to load, but I don't watch television immediately when I get up anyway. (No TiVO here.) It's never been an issue to me.

 

[minnie1928]

I don't see this as being practical. Our TV is in an entertainment center, along with our TiVo, DVD player, stereo, etc. If I wanted to turn off the power strip, I'd have to move the entire entertainment center (a six foot long five foot tall piece of furniture weighing at least 150 lbs). The power strip is plugged into the wall behind there, and the power strip plug is only about 2 feet long, so after moving the entertainment center, I'd have to squeeze back there and down on the floor to hit the switch on the power strip. NOT gonna happen.

Same thing with my desktop computer, I'd have to move the desk away from teh wall to get to the power strip.

And besides that, the cable box and TiVo have to stay plugged in because they have all the program guide information (and in the TiVO case, it is recording at night) and if you turn the power off, it takes a long time to redownload info to the guide and power up.

Is it just me??

A smart strip would solve both problems. The tv would be the control device, when that goes off it cuts the power to the other items. The tivo & cable box could plugged into the constant hot outlets on the strip.

I've had these strips for years, they work great in these situations.

 

[sam_gordon]

I posted on another thread not too long ago that we had put power strips on our electronics that use electricity even when they are off. We shut the power strips off at night, and in between uses when it will be several hours of not using those items.
I got the electricity bill today and it is nearly 1/3 less than last october! I don't think it has even been a whole month yet.
Last year in October we used 29 KWH and this October we used 20 KWH. Same amount of people living at home.
I do unplug the coffee maker, keurig and toaster at night as well. I have a 2nd unused fridge/freezer in our empty "guest suite" that I have not unplugged but will do that ....I am worried that it will stink inside if it is off , even though it is clean and empty. And I will add the microwave to items I unplug at night. Hopefully it will be even more savings!
Our elec bill was $101.00 which is the lowest we have had in a very, very long time (years).
I am hoping this will encourage others to give it a try and save $$ and be green.

Does your electric bill give you the average temperature for the month? I wonder if the 9Kwh difference could attributed to a difference in temperature (possibly colder/warmer last year requiring heat/AC as opposed to this year).

We put in a programmable thermostat this summer and saw a BIG drop in our electric bills.

 

[pampam]

I do the same as OP. Pretty much everything is unplugged except the fridge, and clocks. I just plug things in as I need them. We are on time of use, meaning certain times of the day, hydro is very expensive. I even unplug the freezer and water heater during the expensive times. I only save $4-$6 dollars a month, which I know doesn't sound like much, but I am told that since we went on time of use billing everyone elses hydro bills have gone up to extreme hights. Heres the kicker. We pay a delivery charge of $79.31, Regulatory charges of $9.11, Retirement charges of 8.79 plus taxes, and we have to pay these charges every month even if we only use $2.00 worth of electricity. I don't know how else we can reduce our bill, but I'm trying.

 

[ilovemk76]

I don't think you are supposed to plug a power strip into an extension cord

You can use an extension cord but it must have the same current rating as the one for the strip. I would have to be a three-prong cord too. An appliance or outdoor extension cord will do the trick.

 

[Free4Life11]

Hold up, 29 kWh in one month? You're kidding me. We've never gone under 1000 kWh / month! What's the secret?

 

[mrudman]

Hold up, 29 kWh in one month? You're kidding me. We've never gone under 1000 kWh / month! What's the secret?

I'd like to know too,

I just checked our last bill, and we used 1095 kwh... which is probably average to what we always use since we didn't change anything.

Would be interesting to see how much I could get it to drop if I did start turning things off, such as computer, tv, lights (lol), etc.

 

[jmsaj]

Just looked at my last bill and we used 583kwh for the month (filled the hot tub back up for the winter so there will be a little increase)....if only my bill was based on 29kwh...between all the charges (customer charge 11.45//distribution charge 22.34//transmission charge 7.67//stranded cost recovery charge 6.87//system benefit charge 1.96 and the most expensive charge supply charge 52.72 for a total of $103.43

 

[ksloane]

Great tip. I do a good bit of this, but going into winter, my bill always increases a lot. I might just go around the house today to see if I can find a few more things.

I'll have to start looking at our usage as well. I'm not sure how much we use at all.

 

[disykat]

I can't resist chiming in about the freezers and refridgerators. Make sure you aren't leaving them open if you have ANY small children around! We don't have any little ones around, but I still don't think I could do it. Too many horror stories about little ones climbing in and accidently finding themselves trapped.

 

[minushka72]

I posted on another thread not too long ago that we had put power strips on our electronics that use electricity even when they are off. We shut the power strips off at night, and in between uses when it will be several hours of not using those items.
:

Are these surge protector power strips? Not sure but if you turn them off, will they still protect your electronics from a power surge? Or do you mean you actually unplug them not just turn them off?

 

[scrapquitler]

Hold up, 29 kWh in one month? You're kidding me. We've never gone under 1000 kWh / month! What's the secret?

I think the OP meant an average of 29kWh PER DAY. Its the only thing that makes any sense at all, because she said her bill was like $100. Here, we pay 14 cents per kWh, which would make the electricity portion of the bill for 29 kwh only 40 cents.

 

[CookFamilyVacation]

Awesome idea!