Make Weekly Energy Use Categories more specific and include additional categories like 'IT equipment'

I haven’t looked at Energy Insights for ages, but it tells me my gas is mostly for water heating, and the only thing I use gas for is the hob. I’ve given up trying all the permutations of telling it I have a heat pump. Energy Insights needs a complete overhaul.

I’m reasonably on the ball as far as these things go, but I find it very frustrating when I read simplistic junk that is wrong.

The web site also goes on about leaving stuff on standby, as do a lot of people, but since 2013 stuff on standby is not allowed to use more than 0.5w. So leaving something on standby for a whole year is going to cost no more than about £2.00. Granted, all these things to add up but since the wasted power is mostly lost as heat one can argue that your heating bill will be less.

One of my favourite bits of kit is my energy use plug. Tells me exactly what each thing uses. Most standby stuff doesn't even register

Ooh, what’s that ? I think I’d like an energy use plug !!

If you google “energy use plug” you will get more results than you can shake stick at. They Start at around £15 and go upwards.  Amazon or Toolstation have them.

Basically very simple. You plug the device in to a socket and then plug in what you want to check, into that. Some can work out the cost, but I just look at the Watts consumed. For stuff that switched on and off like a washing machine, you can leave it connected for a a while and it will tell you the total consumed, just multiply by your KW rate. 

I usually plug mine into a short extension lead so I don’t have to sit on the floor to read it. If you use a multi way extension you can measure the consumption of several things. I have a 12 way adapter on my computer desk so I can measure everything at once. 

Tony

This sounds like a relevant and constructive idea to me, thanks for the feedback, @TonyC @juliamc 

I’ve changed the title a bit to make it into an improvement suggestion, and I’ll change the status now so it gets pinged off to the relevant product team.