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Anyone been round with the power meter (UK mainly, all welcome!)

Berwhale

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I've been surprised how low the power rating of some devices is. My (desktop) PC is 3W in standby. The switch next to it ON is 2W.

Yes, individual devices can be quite low, but in my case, it's death by 1000 cuts... I have 5 managed switches, 2 routers and another 3 access points, 2 NAS, a small server (ESXi host), a couple of smart device hubs, a SIP/DECT gateway, 4 DECT/SIP phones, 3 Echo Shows, 7 Echo/Echo Dots, 2 Xboxes, 2 Nvidia Shields, etc.

My base load is currently 650W, but it will probably still be over 600W when I put my PC to sleep and turn off the lights. I think I need to work on getting down below 500W (I've had it down there before).
 

antcollinet

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Yes, individual devices can be quite low, but in my case, it's death by 1000 cuts... I have 5 managed switches, 2 routers and another 3 access points, 2 NAS, a small server (ESXi host), a couple of smart device hubs, a SIP/DECT gateway, 4 DECT/SIP phones, 3 Echo Shows, 7 Echo/Echo Dots, 2 Xboxes, 2 Nvidia Shields, etc.

My base load is currently 650W, but it will probably still be over 600W when I put my PC to sleep and turn off the lights. I think I need to work on getting down below 500W (I've had it down there before).
I've been impressed at how many things I've found that are plugged in for no reason - mostly wall wart type power supplies.
 
D

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Check your CI+ module if you have one! Mine was very warm to the touch so I took it out,little sucker must pull some power and I'm running a newish LG oled
probably should turn off all the HDMI standby and CEC stuff that interlinks my tv,shield bluray etc
 

antcollinet

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Check your CI+ module if you have one! Mine was very warm to the touch so I took it out,little sucker must pull some power and I'm running a newish LG oled
probably should turn off all the HDMI standby and CEC stuff that interlinks my tv,shield bluray etc
I'm now simply removing power from all components when not watching. That turns off about 60W for around 20 hours a day.
 
OP
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Digby

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I'm now simply removing power from all components when not watching. That turns off about 60W for around 20 hours a day.
£150 a year saving from October!

My base load is currently 650W, but it will probably still be over 600W when I put my PC to sleep and turn off the lights. I think I need to work on getting down below 500W (I've had it down there before).
Compared to £1800 a year at idle. Big ouch there, fella.
 
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Digby

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Does anyone understand this? Scroll 3/4 of the way down, under additional information heading (are these the new rates from October and 52p kwh is no more?):

"The energy price guarantee limits the amount households can be charged per unit of gas or electricity. So your exact bill will continue to depend on how much energy you use. You do not need to apply, and there's no need to contact your energy supplier. For households in England, Scotland and Wales who pay for their energy through monthly, quarterly or other regular bills, the guarantee will be applied when your bill is calculated. Here are the average unit rates for dual-fuel customers paying by direct debit:

Electricity
Unit rate: 34.00p per kWh
Standing charge: 46.36p per day.

Gas
Unit rate: 10.30p per kWh.
Standing charge: 28.49p per day"
 

diablo

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Does anyone understand this? Scroll 3/4 of the way down, under additional information heading (are these the new rates from October and 52p kwh is no more?):

"The energy price guarantee limits the amount households can be charged per unit of gas or electricity. So your exact bill will continue to depend on how much energy you use. You do not need to apply, and there's no need to contact your energy supplier. For households in England, Scotland and Wales who pay for their energy through monthly, quarterly or other regular bills, the guarantee will be applied when your bill is calculated. Here are the average unit rates for dual-fuel customers paying by direct debit:

Electricity
Unit rate: 34.00p per kWh
Standing charge: 46.36p per day.

Gas
Unit rate: 10.30p per kWh.
Standing charge: 28.49p per day"
Yes, those rates are what are showing everywhere now. At almost exactly double what they were last year.
Last year I paid a total of £2000, £900 gas and £1,100 electricity. So expecting £4000 for next full year. Minus any allowances and any savings I can make.
 

Gary_G

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WOW ! Here in the US I am paying about 0.14USD per KWH or about 12P. That is pence right ?
 

antcollinet

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Does anyone understand this? Scroll 3/4 of the way down, under additional information heading (are these the new rates from October and 52p kwh is no more?):

"The energy price guarantee limits the amount households can be charged per unit of gas or electricity. So your exact bill will continue to depend on how much energy you use. You do not need to apply, and there's no need to contact your energy supplier. For households in England, Scotland and Wales who pay for their energy through monthly, quarterly or other regular bills, the guarantee will be applied when your bill is calculated. Here are the average unit rates for dual-fuel customers paying by direct debit:

Electricity
Unit rate: 34.00p per kWh
Standing charge: 46.36p per day.

Gas
Unit rate: 10.30p per kWh.
Standing charge: 28.49p per day"
The 52p was the next planned offgen price cap. The later lower figures being quoted are the preliminary communication of the new govt supprted capping relying on around a hundred billion extra borrowing.
 

Berwhale

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This may be of assistance to someone looking to optimize their energy consumption in the UK...

I had a smart meter installed a couple of years ago, it worked fairly well for a while, but would often stop sending readings back to my supplier. This would sometimes be fixed after a power cut, when presumably the device was hard reset. My previous energy supplier then went bust and I was moved to Shell Energy. Shell was able to take 1 or 2 readings from my meter automatically before giving up and asking me to send them manually from now on.

The smart meter is still functioning and I'm able to see live usage readings on the supplied In Home Display (IHD) which is a 'geo Trio Touchbutton' IHD. So, I think the issue with the smart meter is related to cell network reception which is a bit patchy where I live.

I'd like to get a better view of my electricity and gas use, here's some things i've been investigating and what i've learned so far...

Loop - https://www.loophome.app/ - loop is a free service you can sign up to get access to your smart meter data on-line. After sign-up, loop gets access to the same data as your electricity provider which they can then graph and provide analysis on. I've signed up for this, but i've little hope that it will work given the current issues with connectivity to my smart meter.

CAD (Consumer Access Device) - A CAD is used as a bridge between your smart meter and home network. It provides access to usage data independently from the smart meter's cell connection. There are two types of CAD:
  • Stand-alone. These are similar to a smart hub and connect to the smart meter via Zigbee and to your home network via wi-fi. I don't believe any of these devices are available for purchase by consumers in the UK.

  • IHD with integrated CAD - Basically and IHD with wi-fi that is able to act as a bridge between your smart meter and home network/internet.
The are at least two IHDs with CAD available to consumers in the UK...

ivie Bud - https://ivie.co.uk/product/ivie-bud/ - £50 + postage.

Glow Display and CAD - https://shop.glowmarkt.com/products/display-and-cad-combined-for-smart-meter-customers - £69.99 + postage.

The Glow appears to be the better device, but it obviously a fair bit more expensive. I then found out that Geo make a wi-fi module for my Trio Touchbutton which appears to turn it into a CAD. The wi-fi module is only £19.95 inc. so i've ordered one...

geo WiFi Module - https://geotogether.com/product/wifi-module/

Note: 10+ years ago, I used a CurrentCost meter to monitor my electricity usage. Unfortunately the CurrentCost required a serial connection (RS-232!) and a PC left on all the time to act as a bridge to the IoT platform - I used Pachube which I understand became Cosm, then Xively and is now owned by Google! There's an Interesting project using CurrenCost and Cosm disucssed here: https://jack-kelly.com/VADEEC_proposal.html

The CurrentCost died after a few years and was replaced by an Efergy Elite, but this is a 'non-smart' standalone meter, so I removed it once the smart meter was installed.
 
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