Recent research by the Energy Saving Trust, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has found that on average households are wasting between £50 and £86 a year, out of a £530 annual electricity bill, by not switching off household appliances.
This equates up to 16% of an average of 16% of an average electricity bull being wasted.
The research by the Energy Savings Trust involved monitoring the electricity use in 250 homes to work out the average kilowatt per hour consumption that appliances take to run. This was then multiplied by an average electricity price of 15.5 pence per kWh.
The table below shows their findings
| Average Consumption. KWh/year | Average Running Cost (£'s /year) | |
| Tumble Dryer | 675 | 100 |
| Dishwasher | 480 | 70 |
| Fridge Freezer | 425 | 62 |
| Washing Machine | 420 | 60 |
| Cooker with electric hob | 315 | 45 |
| Oven (Without hob) | 290 | 40 |
| Hob | 225 | 30 |
| Desktop computer | 170 | 25 |
| Electric Kettle | 165 | 23 |
| Refrigerator | 160 | 20 |
| TV | 120 | 17 |
| DVD Recorder | 95 | 13 |
| Hi-Fi | 110 | 15 |
| PS4 | 70 | 11 |
| Microwave | 55 | 9 |
| Xbox1 | 55 | 9 |
| Fryer | 55 | 9 |
| Food Steamer | 53 | 8 |
| CD Player | 35 | 6 |
| Radio | 35 | 6 |
| Coffee Machine | 30 | 5 |
| Iron | 30 | 5 |
| Toaster | 20 | 3 |
| Vacuum Cleaner | 19 | 3 |
| Grill | 14 | 2 |
| Trouser Press | 14 | 2 |
| Extractor Hood | 12 | 1.5 |
Not surprisingly the tumble dryer tops the list followed by dishwasher, washing machine, cooker, oven without hob and then hob. Computers, electric kettle, refrigerator and TV are also high up on the list. All essentials for households up and down the country.
If you would like to work out how much your appliances cost you can do this by finding out the average consumption and then multiplying this by the rate your electricity is charged at per kWh.
The above research clearly shows that most households could make significant savings just by ensuring appliances are switched off and not left on standby. Easier said than done when you have household members who seem to spend more time switching things on than you can find time to switch off!
There is an other way
There is a way that you can make even greater savings than running around switching appliances off. You can generate your own electricity with solar panels and not only get to use that electricity without having to pay rising electricity costs, but for every unit of electricity you generate you will receive a payment from the government and any that you don’t use and send back to the grid you will receive a payment for from your electricity supplier.
If you would like to know how much you could save and earn if you were to install Energy Gain UK solar panels simply click here to send us a few details and we will work out how much you could save and earn.
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