Funny that, I did the same thing last month.
I had a plug controlled by a remote to turn my TV off in the bedroom, the plug is not very accessible and we only use that TV rarely.
The 'remote switch' was drawing a constant 2.2w whereas the TV in standby was only drawing 1.3w. The TV stays on standby now.
For other things (e.g. timed items) I have traditional mechanical timers which draw 1.1w constantly (£3.14 per year) and some WiFi smart plugs that draw 3-4w constantly (£9 per year).
In other words, I check the items first now to ensure the extra gadget will really save me money. ??
Yup! Totally agree here! you need to see if it’s worth automating stuff as it can be cheaper to just leave on standby!
I had to come up with a ridiculously complicated spreadsheet (it wasn’t that complicated, just a few moving parts), and I used a single wifi power switch that could measure the power draw on whatever was plugged into it over the course of a few days to measure anything. As you say, draws about 3-4w per plug so still costs money to use - so anything that has a standby power output less than this stays on standby now and I don’t use a smart plug.
As I said One of our main ‘draws’ was the tv entertainment unit as everything was on one surge protected extension plug - so TV, Sky Box, Blu-ray player, PS4, Apple TV, 2 x Sonos Speakers & Surround Sound Amp. Worked out that the power draw for that one plug in standby was about 25w and we tended to only use it for 4 hours a night - so at the moment I’ve got it switching off automatically at midnight, and switching on at 7pm (after small one has gone to sleep!) on weekdays, If we need it any other time of the day, I just ask Alexa to turn it on, and I know it will turn off at midnight if I don’t turn it off before (& I’ve got rid of sky so they doesn’t get plugged in anymore). This one change will save us on average 30w per hour, which equates to roughly £58 a year (ish).
The great thing I used the power draw monitoring plug though was for the dishwasher and washing machine - we tended to use a quick 1h wash or the normal cycle (both at 30 degrees), but after monitoring the power output - we can save about 300-400w per cycle by switching to the eco mode. Add that up over the course of the year and that’s 219kwh saved (we do a load of each per night and compared to our old British gas tariff (22p/kWh) that’s already a £48 saving). Also the shift in time saves us money too to the total of about £116 compared to our old British Gas rates. Or if I use my Go daily rates - £180 a year based on 1 washing machine and 1 dishwasher load a day. Add on the extra savings from switching to the eco mode and it’s at least an extra £40 saving (again more if I use the Go daily rate).
Told you my spreadsheet was complicated - lots of moving parts in it to compare load shifting and start switches etc!
I’ve only got a little bit of home automation, but I’ve set the house up to turn all non essential things off when we leave if I’ve forgotten to turn them off. Saves us a small fortune!
I could change my Wi-Fi smart plugs to traditional ones which use less power - but the added ease of Alexa to turn them on when they are off outweighs the tiny cost savings. I managed to get a multipack of switches so had a few spare so they go in the bedroom on the watch and phone chargers (as well as Sonos speakers) to only switch on during the cheap periods - so we plug everything in before bed, but it doesn’t start charging until the cheap rate) again not a huge saving, but about £7quid per side of the bed per year for only charging in this period and also being turned off during the day whilst we aren’t here.
As you can see, every little thing adds up but the main thing to do is switching to eco mode on the dishwasher and washing machine and using them overnight rather than during the day!
myenergi.com
