Dear LPG, 

I have always been interested in statistics and recently found one set that I think many people who usually would pay little attention to might have found a somewhat more vested interest in.

I suppose that it is something that I should have thought about looking into at least a year ago when the whole energy crisis became more of a reality than ever. No matter how able we are to manage, everyone has felt the force of the utility bill price rises.

We have also all been urged to conserve and use as little of the stuff as we can, just at a time when the powers that be are wanting to introduce us to cars that depend on electricity.

The government and energy companies have been trying to get us all to adopt smart metres in our homes for the past 13 years now, and even though they remain optional if you have not already got one, the telesales brigade continues to try to persuade us to adopt them.

Having one means there is no need for the service providers to estimate how much you owe them, and the metre readers who came to visit every quarter or so have become redundant.

While the little electrical add-ons do cut out the need for the metre readers to visit, they were also designed to give a constant visual reminder and keep us aware of how much energy we use as the dials keep whizzing around.

The reminders help me think about the little things we can do to conserve it, such as switching off wall plugs and lights as we leave our rooms, but it got me wondering what appliances use the most power as we go about our day-to-day lives.

I have to say that the subject of which of our many electrical gadgets uses the most power has caused a lot of debate in light of the rising cost of using so many things that we don’t think twice before connecting to the supply.

I recently found a list of which electrical appliances use the most power, which might be old news to some but interesting to others.

I have to say that while I appreciate the need to conserve energy and influence our personal choices, I also feel the little clocks to be yet another way that the powers that be gradually continue to invade our dwindling personal privacy.

At the moment, having one is still a choice and the latest online statistics I found tell that just over half of UK households do. I remain one of the just under half that don’t, though. I believe that, while knowing how much power each of your appliances is using is something I support, the fact that they are also another way of allowing other people to see and measure yet another aspect of what goes on in our homes does not sit well with me. 

But I have found a way of measuring the consumption of any one gadget which might be helpful to some, and I wanted to share this alternative. I hope some find it beneficial.  

NC, Forest Hill
 
 

NC shares the statistics she found…

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…and a little information about the energy meters she discovered…

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…and LPG adds some information on tomorrow’s upcoming celebration…

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