How Do You Reduce Energy Consumption in Your House? Also Advice on Smart Plugs?

PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 09:54

Hi all. Like everyone, I'm trying to figure out what the best deal is with energy companies as there are huge price hikes coming. I'm also looking for ways to cut down my energy usage. My question for everyone is:

How do you reduce the energy consumption in your household?

I can see doing this in a few ways:

  1. Changing energy providers (I've tried to compare, but without knowing new rates until 1st of July, its proving hard). I could go with someone who is going to lock rates (Red Energy) but I'm still unsure about this.

  2. Reducing amount of items that use energy in our house.

  3. Only using things at off-peak times (timers to run dishwasher at night etc).

  4. Buying smart plugs and turning things off standby when not using them.

If you have other suggestions, I would love to hear how you have managed to bring your energy bill down. If you have tried number 4, I would love to hear your suggestions of smart plugs and your set up.

Home & Garden Smart Plug

Comments

  • kipps on 25/06/2023 - 10:03
    +2

    Live consumption monitors are key to this. Once you can see your load over the course of a day you can identify all big users of power. The biggest power users are heating/cooling - focus on this.

    • PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 10:45

      How do you monitor live consumption?

      • timthetoolman on 25/06/2023 - 11:58

        With a consumption monitor

      • kipps on 25/06/2023 - 13:00

        If you’ve got a smart meter through solar then look up how to put its data into PV Output or use your inverter’s tools. It’ll really help you.

      • Member 0230 on 26/06/2023 - 09:29
        +1

        For whole-of-house, I find PowerPal (free) to be pretty good. There are also plug-in monitors that sit between the powerpoint and the device(s) you want to monitor.

  • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 10:20
    +5

    Focus on the things that make the biggest difference first:

    Electric heaters -> use reverse cycle AC instead
    Air conditioning for heating -> insulate / use electric blankets instead
    Hot water -> Shorter showers
    Pool filter -> Don't run filter in peak time
    Clothes dryer -> Switch to heat pump dryer or run off-peak

    Minimise use of these (or peak time of use usage) and you'll see a huge reduction in bill cost.

    Trying to go after other appliances won't give you nearly as much savings.

    e.g. standby draw in modern appliances is < 1w so turning them off wont even pay back the cost smart plug for many years.

    • PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 10:25

      Thanks for your reply. This is what I thought too, but I had an AGL insights sent to me and it said 40% of my consumption was from standby which made me wonder what the hell was using so much energy.
      screenshot from their insights

      • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 10:40
        -2

        wow, that's suggesting like 200-400w of continuous standby usage which is laughable.

        • PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 10:44

          This is what I don’t understand which makes me wonder if it’s just everything they couldn’t fit into the other categories or if somehow I have some things in standby that are really using a lot of power.

          • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 10:59
            +1

            @PropertyPig: do you have a smart meter? if you don't there's no way for AGL to actually make that guess.

            200-400w will feel like a space heater on low and the room will slowly warm up if you have an appliance actually drawing that much. And you'd have to have a huge number of old, inefficient appliances to reach that number otherwise.

            • PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 11:26

              @Keplaffintech: Yes our house is new, so we have a smart meter. No small heaters. We have central heating and cooling which we rarely used as we designed the house well. Only other heater we use is a small gas heater for our lounge room. Is there a way to access the smart meter readers and how they break it down? I’d be very interested to see that.

        • SBOB on 25/06/2023 - 11:42
          +3

          that's suggesting like 200-400w of continuous standby usage which is laughable

          I think that would be about right for average background power draw of a house.

          We have power monitoring and a base ~300w is shown from our fronius monitoring when nothing's happening for most periods of the day.

          Not sure what is using it but if you add up things like fridges, always on appliances like internet/NAS(small qnap), and random standby power devices…

          What do you think a background usage draw for a house would be? Pvoutput, which I use for my additional monitoring and visualisation, random looking for other examples is hard as many solar people don't upload their power usage , just generation stats

          I probably should investigate some more to save a buck or 2 a day :)

          • Nugs on 25/06/2023 - 12:20
            +3

            @SBOB: we're at 400, was 500 before replacing fridge & freezer
            .

            • SBOB on 25/06/2023 - 12:26

              @Nugs:

              we're at 400, was 500 before replacing fridge & freezer

              yeah i'd think you'd have to be trying pretty hard to get under 200w continuous unless you dont have many tech related devices etc.

              NBN, small NAS, POE IP Camera, Fridge, Standby tech devices (TVs, Game Consoles etc), plus any other background draw from other random standby devices

              the payback on the effort to reduce that is harder to justify that being actually focused on time shifting power loads and using actual data to pick the most suitable power plan for your usage

              We have solar with usage monitoring via fronius app and uploaded to pvoutput, so im pretty aware of our daily usage trend to a pretty accurate degree.

          • 7ekn00 on 25/06/2023 - 13:26

            @SBOB: Yeah, we were at 750W before we realised how our old (Sanyo and Samsung) split systems were using ~ 100-150W each in standby (confirmed by switching them off from their external switches!)!

        • kipps on 25/06/2023 - 12:59
          +2

          Why is that laughable? Constant 270w of 24/7 standby here as measured by Fronius smart meter.

          • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 14:32
            +2

            @kipps: Background usage yes, but not standby. Background usage includes fridges, AC compressor (which you can't just switch off at the powerpoint), router, NBN etc.

            But you aren't going to be able to go around the house and switch off 200-400w worth of appliances on standby (unless you switch your fridge off when you're not using it etc).

    • skid on 25/06/2023 - 10:32
      +3

      Yep, pretty much. But instead of using the clothes dryer, use the sun and hang clothes outside in the morning and collect them before sunset.

      • Jugganautx on 25/06/2023 - 11:22

        not in winter….

        • seannami on 25/06/2023 - 22:50
          +4

          Clothes horse under the split system. It's on anyway so may as well kill two birds with one stone

    • Loot N Plunder on 25/06/2023 - 13:42
      +2

      Clothes dryer -> Switch to heat pump dryer or run off-peak
      Just get rid of it and use nature for free with an outdoor clothesline

      Electric heaters -> use reverse cycle AC instead
      Use an electric throw blanket much cheaper to run

      Pool filter -> Don't run filter in peak time
      Also don't be lazy and put a pool blanket on when not in use

  • jjjaar on 25/06/2023 - 10:33

    I work from home and have wifi power boards for this setup so it turns on at 830am on weekdays and off at 6pm all days (in case I manually have turned it on on weekends). Doing this reduced my bills by ~$5 a month.

    I also turn most things off at the powerpoint when not in use, and use the eco button on my microwave to turn off that clock (the oven is right there, so don’t need two).

    • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 10:43

      what in your home office setup is drawing so much when idle? my total standby is a few watts. Note that a wifi power board also draws a few watts on idle too.

      • jjjaar on 25/06/2023 - 11:01

        Two monitors, a dock (plugged into the laptop overnight, so constant charge), and a standing desk.

        I understand the wifi powerboard uses energy too, but this change alone reduces my bills by $5 a month. I was shocked it would be this high, but it all adds up.

        This was on a previous higher rate though, on my new plan it would probably only be about $3.5/mo because I’m paying approx 30% less than I was.

        • Keplaffintech on 25/06/2023 - 14:29

          so it's the laptop charging using the energy. But if you don't charge it overnight, then it will just be charging during the day right?

          • jjjaar on 25/06/2023 - 15:15

            @Keplaffintech: I didn’t really assess my habits before I added the powerboard. All I know is that one change reduced my bills by approx $5 a month.

    • Love a bargain on 25/06/2023 - 17:01
      +1

      My home office set-up includes a powerboard with individual switches so that I can turn each device (that is not shared) on/ off as need.

      • jjjaar on 25/06/2023 - 17:03

        Oh yeah mine was previously on individual switches, but I always forgot to turn them off, or I’d walk away from my desk expecting to come back and left them on, but never came back. It was the auto off that helped me reduce my usage. If you’re vigilant about turning devices off, the wifi element is not as necessary.

        • Love a bargain on 25/06/2023 - 17:06
          +1

          I'm pretty good with turning my work computer & monitor off at the end of the with day. Personal computer and charger might be a bit of a hit and miss (ie I might forget at times) but good enough I guess.

    • FujiFruit on 26/06/2023 - 14:12

      I have cameras at home and it uses wifi. So if i turn off nbn at night, won't my camera turn off?

      • jjjaar on 26/06/2023 - 15:44

        Yes, but I’m not talking about turning the nbn/router/whole wifi off. My powerboard uses wifi to allow me to set timers for each individual power point being on and off, or to turn the power points on and off through an app, rather than physically at the device.

  • SBOB on 25/06/2023 - 10:39
    +1

    can see doing this in a few ways:
    Changing energy providers (I've tried to compare, but without knowing new rates until 1st of July, its proving hard). I could go with someone who is going to lock rates (Red Energy) but I'm still unsure about this.
    Reducing amount of items that use energy in our house.
    Only using things at off-peak times (timers to run dishwasher at night etc).

    Being aware of your power usage, ensuring you regularly do basic price comparisons and switch providers if need be, and load shift where possible to lower tariff periods.
    You're already ahead of 90% of the population

    Buying power boards to switch off and reduce standby power likely has a pretty long ROI so having it at the bottom of your list makes sense, and likely not something worth stressing over when you can save significantly more $/mth focusing on the top 3 above

  • Euphemistic on 25/06/2023 - 11:04
    +3

    Make sure your lights are energy efficient. Get rid of halogen especially.

    • Benoffie on 25/06/2023 - 12:32

      Agreed. Easily save $100 a year on a family sized home switching everything to LED.

    • GordonD on 25/06/2023 - 15:51
      +1

      Fluros are more efficient that incandescents which also have a short life. LEDs aren't a lot more efficent than fluros but have a way longer life.

      So replace your incandescents with LEDs. And when your fluros reach the end of their life replace them with LEDs too.

  • AustriaBargain on 25/06/2023 - 12:40
    +4

    Heated blanket at like 100W will warm a single person a lot cheaper than a 2000W space heater.

  • Pcosmic on 25/06/2023 - 12:55

    Is it inconvenient to turn things off at the powerpoint like microwave, kettle, tv, etc…I've been taught since young to turn off the source

    • Euphemistic on 25/06/2023 - 13:01
      +1

      Microwave is inconvenient if it’s mounted in a cupboard for us. Kettle or other kitchen appliances items are often a mechanical switch with no electronics for a parasitic draw. Tv etc prob should be turned off at the wall - if not too inconvenient. most modern items have very low standby power draw so I prefer to be able to use the remote to turn on particularly when the PowerPoints are concealed behind a cabinet.

  • Ghost47 on 25/06/2023 - 13:06
    +6

    Lie in bed all day with my eyes closed. All outlets turned off. Only eat toast at work (using the work toaster of course) and charge my phone and battery bank at work. Shower at work. This is how you can decrease your energy consumption to near zero.

    • PropertyPig on 25/06/2023 - 15:21
      +1

      This is the ozbargain answer I was looking for haha!

    • Euphemistic on 25/06/2023 - 16:39
      +3

      Feeeze 2l bottles at work to take home so you can keep drinks cold.

  • freefall101 on 25/06/2023 - 13:17

    Doing a lot of draft sealing this winter in our old house. Putting in covers for the evap cooling vents had a huge impact on heating usage - all that warm air just rose out of the house. Sealing off cracks around the window frame has helped. Switching from gas heating to reverse cycle means plugging all the heating vents and circulation. I'm also renting a thermal camera next weekend to check a whole lot more things.

    Old houses were built for so much internal airflow, fine in summer but when it's windy and 8 degrees outside though it makes for shitty living conditions.

  • JIMB0 on 25/06/2023 - 17:41

    I tried 1 and 3 but changing energy providers and using appliances at different times had no effect at all on energy consumption.

  • Ridiculous Panda on 25/06/2023 - 22:59

    Stay at airbnb on the weekends. Technically I’m not wrong!

  • Waltervp on 26/06/2023 - 08:08

    Which power usage readers are we using? Ive had a few but now that I've got solar i dont have one as they changed too much gear. My solar app only shows what the sun is giving me.

  • Chewy2221 on 26/06/2023 - 08:51
    +2

    I had a lengthy dispute with my electricity retailer. I have a smart meter & solar panels. The retailer told me that it was mandatory for me to be on "time of use" billing if I had these. I challenged it through the energy ombudsman & I won. I am now on a flat rate plan. Suits my lifestyle better & I don't pay the exhorbitant "peak" electricity costs.

  • azero on 26/06/2023 - 09:36

    I have an emerald live monitor - installed free by a vic govt program. I bought their wifi adaptor and I can see live consumption from anywhere.

    Find it very useful to see which appiances use more energy.

    I was surprised to see the dishwasher using the same energy as the ducted ac.

  • trankillity on 26/06/2023 - 09:36
    +4

    So I have my entire house automated through Home Assistant and this is where some of the biggest energy savings come from. One of my key focuses on automations was to reduce energy usage. I also have solar with a smart meter, so that makes it very easy to automate stuff around available energy. Through all this, my base draw of the house is around 180W (small fridge, modem/NAS is about all that's on) when we're out.

    Here's some examples of ways I'm saving money through automation:

    • Automation that checks solar forecast and reminds me if the washing machine/dish washer hasn't been run in 3 days that it might be a good day to do it.
    • Smart sockets on all outlets where phantom/passive power draw might be an issue (TV/entertainment unit/computer)
    • Automation to turn off all smart sockets and all lights when leaving the home.
    • Lights automatically turn off after 2 minutes if the room isn't occupied.
    • Automated sprinkler/dripper system that checks moisture level and rain forecast.
    • Automatically turn the AC on during summer at 3pm if the house is > 26c and there's excess solar (this cools the house down tremendously and means you can get by with fans at night).
    • Automatically turn the AC on in the bedroom for 2 hours if it gets > 28c when we're sleeping (this prevents the AC being on all night and ensures we stay comfortable).

    Some non-automation ways we've been saving electricity:

    • Cooking! There's multiple ways to save money here, but my favourites are slow cooker, and air fryer. Avoid using an oven at all costs, unless it's during the day with free solar.
    • This one's a little wild but worked well for me. If you have a gaming PC and solar, you can mine crypto during the day. The return rate on crypto was about 6x what my energy provider was going to pay me for the excess solar. Sustainable crypto mining! I WFH now though, so can't really do this any more.
    • kale chips suck on 26/06/2023 - 09:58

      This is impressive - what resources would you recommend for people wanting to do the same?

      I'm interested in Home Assistant but I'm unsure where to start.

      • trankillity on 26/06/2023 - 15:19
        +1

        I would check out some Youtube channels to whet your appetite. Home Assistant is great, but a little daunting. My journey originally started just with Google Home/Google Assistant and voice commands, but I quickly outgrew that and needed more. Home Assistant is able to provide everything I need and is configurable/extensible enough that I could build something if it didn't exist.

    • skid on 26/06/2023 - 11:27

      The washing machine doesn't chew a lot of power, but a tip there is to run full loads as often as possible - buy enough clothes to fill a full load.

      Your other examples are really cool - room occupation detection, automated dripper, automated AC with excess solar.

      • trankillity on 26/06/2023 - 15:18

        Washing machine spikes up to around 2.4kW when heating the water. Admittedly that only goes for about 15-20 minutes then it drops down to a more reasonable 150w or so. Even so, this is enough for me to only want to wash my clothes while there's excess solar. I WFH, so putting them out is easy enough - I even have Home Assistant send me a notification and announce that the washing machine is done over my Google Homes throughout the house.

    • tikeyike on 03/07/2023 - 13:24

      What are you using for your smart sockets? Also what are you using to monitor your energy usage with HA? I've got a smart meter, but I don't think it's works with things like HA.

      • trankillity on 04/07/2023 - 09:00

        I'm using an older version of these plugs that actually supported 16A instead of 10A. The cheaper 10A plugs from most places will die after a year if you use them on devices that pull the full 10A (anything with a heating element basically). They're fully local using ESPHome directly integrated into HA.

        As for energy monitoring, I have a Fronius inverter/smart meter which has an official integration. However, if your inverter/smart meter doesn't have an official integration, very good chance that there's an unofficial one on HACS. Even if it's an obscure brand, chances are you'll find one. Australia is pretty over-represented in the smart home community for our size :)

  • Gekov on 26/06/2023 - 11:59
    -1

    "I could go with someone who is going to lock rates (Red Energy)"

    Red Energy?????

    Check their electricity rates …. they border on EXORBITANT!

    They have good reason to hide them and quote some meaningless quarterly figure instead.

    Try looking up their rates … VERY DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE.

  • Gekov on 26/06/2023 - 12:30
    -1

    "there are huge price hikes coming"

    YEP … "cheap" ruinables are coming!

    … along with regular blackouts and weather-dependent electricity.

  • jrvb42 on 26/06/2023 - 16:04
    +1

    My two energy saving tips:
    1. Always use a condom. Studies show kids consume, directly or indirectly, most energy in a household;
    2. Choose a sensible climate in which to live, where heating and cooling are optional luxuries.

  • KITT888 on 17/07/2023 - 15:07

    Avoid using hair dryer if you got one.

    We use fitted electric blanket on timer instead of heating the room before going to sleep during cold nights.

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