It reminded me that I had but a few hours left to check out my energy provider in order to try and get a fixed rate deal as power prices were about to go through the roof. It was a Saturday morning and seemed an unappealing task but the rewards seemed to justify being sat down with the computer for half an hour with a pen and paper. I secured a deal with fixed p
rices until the end of 2009, and sat rather smug I’m afraid as I read the domino like headlines of each UK energy company announcing huge percentage hikes days after. A few weeks later a small package arrived, it was an electric usage meter free with my fixed rate energy deal. I plugged it in and watched with a mixture of fascination and horror as I switched devices on, and my electric bill rose to over £1000 per month at one point (Gulp). The few items I now leave on amount to just over 200W which doesn’t seem too bad (Fridge + Freezer). But switch on my cooker or electric kettle and we are looking at hefty consumption. A good reason for not hoovering too often is that it consumes 1200W!
It is maybe an item every home should have if you are serious about reducing your power consumption but what puzzles me is to why a power company who makes money from selling it’s goods (power) chooses to give away such a device which can only make the end user use less?
rices until the end of 2009, and sat rather smug I’m afraid as I read the domino like headlines of each UK energy company announcing huge percentage hikes days after. A few weeks later a small package arrived, it was an electric usage meter free with my fixed rate energy deal. I plugged it in and watched with a mixture of fascination and horror as I switched devices on, and my electric bill rose to over £1000 per month at one point (Gulp). The few items I now leave on amount to just over 200W which doesn’t seem too bad (Fridge + Freezer). But switch on my cooker or electric kettle and we are looking at hefty consumption. A good reason for not hoovering too often is that it consumes 1200W!It is maybe an item every home should have if you are serious about reducing your power consumption but what puzzles me is to why a power company who makes money from selling it’s goods (power) chooses to give away such a device which can only make the end user use less?
The FREE electric usage meter no doubt uses power... so the power company is not as daft as you think.
ReplyDeleteProbably secretly adds a 100watts to your bill every day..hmm
In any case they can always claim to be doing the green thing publicity wise !
I doubt that the meter is an electric Trojan horse, more of a token to green us.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which many customers who opted for green tariffs are up in arms as they have seen the same increases as non green consumers even though renewables should be generating cheaper electricity?