Clip-on electricity monitors - tell me about them...

you know the sort - you clip onto your power supply and see how much you are spending at any one time depending on how many appliances you have switched on.

Which should I buy? One like this? Is there anything I should know before buying?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Owl-Wireless- ... 240%3A1318

I bought one from Aldi about 6 weeks ago for a fiver.
They're nice gadgets, but they can teach you everything about your appliances in a month.

We got 1 from Eon when we switched to them recently, very interesting bits of kit.

Doesn't your meter tell you how much you are using?

yes but I don't fancy hanging around in the cellar to read it :roll:

I want this to show the family how much they are using when they leave lights on all the time :evil:

Maplins were selling a 13 A plug in version for £9.99 you can test each individual electrical item over a few hours or days or weeks .
It shows where the majority of your electric bill is going and enables you to cut back .I discovered my old fridge freezer was packing up and using far too much electricity. A new fridge should save me £'s a week
It can show watts amps volts and kilowatts used over time seconds mins hours

yes I've seen the plug in ones, but it's more the lights etc that I'm concerned with esp the kitchen where my wife insisted on 6 x 75W halogens :roll: I keep telling her it uses tons more energy than the hallway light which is a single 7w energy saving bulb... she just sees the light (or not as the case may be )

orange71":1bhsco4a said:

yes I've seen the plug in ones, but it's more the lights etc that I'm concerned with esp the kitchen where my wife insisted on 6 x 75W halogens :roll: I keep telling her it uses tons more energy than the hallway light which is a single 7w energy saving bulb... she just sees the light (or not as the case may be )

Click to expand...

Your halogens seem rather high wattage ? 6x75 = 450 watts per hour is roughly 1 kilowatt every 2 hours . that could potentially be 3.5 to 4 kilowatts per day ! say £0.50 a day!
Switch to a 60w flourescent and it should reduce that to 1p -2p per day

lights are easy . you just need to know the wattage of the bulb and the length of time the light is on 100watt bulb for 10 hours = 1Kw your elec bill will tell you what you are paying for a kilowatt of electricity.
Lights are rarely responsible for any significant wastage .

Its the appliances like fridges and freezers that consume all the hidden electricity. They are high wattage items on constantly all day and night and as they get older they consume much much more than their design specification.
Tumble dryers are another biggy

cheers for the advice - yes, we have an A rated fridge and washing machine. Don't use tumbler ever. I guess it's just the kitchen lights :roll: and now you've told me how to work it out that's better!