Smart habits: smart energy behaviour at home

Background

A few weeks ago, I created an account online with ESB Networks to access my meter data. I decided to make some changes to shift and reduce my electricity use. The online account helped me understand my electricity consumption and track the impact of the changes I made. I can view up to two years of my electricity use by day, week, month and year. I can see an average day at home compared to the days we were away or we when we had guests staying over.

Why are Smart Energy Habits important?

In Ireland's journey to Net Zero (carbon emissions) it is becoming more important that we are smart with our electricity use at home for appliances, heat, hot water and transport.

If households can shift and reduce some of their home activities away from peak time (5-7 pm), for example, running washing machines in the morning or at night; this may help reduce bills as well as reducing carbon emissions.

What every day actions can I take to shift and reduce my energy use?

I think most Irish households recognise good drying weather when they see it. Or they already use a clothes horse indoors so they can avoid using the tumble dryer. Another tip for reducing energy use is batch cooking your meals. This can save on time and reduce oven use. These are just some actions you could consider to reduce or shift your energy use.

The information about my energy consumption on my ESBN account helped me understand electricity use in my home. I could roughly identify what we were using and the impact it had.

I found grouping activities (in order of impact) and thinking of alternative actions which suited my household helped to break it down. We don’t have a home energy monitoring system or smart appliances that could be controlled remotely, so the actions I took were mainly manual. I would suggest that you schedule and automate activity where possible to align with the cheapest rates on your tariff. Set and forget!

• Heating – This is usually the largest electricity load for a household, so if you have a heat pump or use plug in heaters this should be captured on your electricity use.
• Hot water – Heating the water has the biggest effect on my electricity usage, which I hadn’t thought about before. I see a spike in the morning and evening when we heat the water. I moved bath time to later in the evening and now I heat the water after 7pm. This works as my two year old daughter is still full of energy! We also experimented with the amount of time we heat the immersion for showers in the morning and we managed to reduce it.
• Cooking – My partner and myself work from home and have our main meal at lunchtime. We have an early dinner around 6/6.30pm with my daughter. As a family, cooking was the trickiest activity for us to adjust. I always thought batch cooking was for organised people, but I have found making extra and reheating in evening has made some dinners a little calmer. Since learning about our energy usage, we rarely turn the oven on at 5-7pm and I’ve been using the air fryer as an alternative.
• Dishwasher & Laundry – The days I was doing the weekly clothes wash and using the tumble dryer were clearly visible on my electricity use, as it uses a lot of electricity. I found this activity the easiest to change. Obviously, I always have an eye out for good drying weather as this costs nothing.

Next on my list to tackle, are my forgotten cups of tea, which have taken on a new meaning in the context of smart energy behaviour.

I suggest thinking about your activities and what changes could suit your household. 

Did I see a reduction in our electricity use?

I saw a 5% reduction from July to August. I was hoping for more of a reduction and it has gone up slightly in September after a busy month and extra laundry. When I look back on last year before I learnt about smart habits, I actually have achieved a 30% reduction, which is more positive.

I noticed looking back over the year that the kWh usage on days when no one is home is higher than I expected. Over the year this really adds up and made me wonder what was driving the vampire load in our house. We usually switch most appliances off apart from the fridge freezer. Both SEAI and BEUC highlight the benefits of energy efficient appliances and how the rating can affect energy consumption. The fridge-freezer is still running fine, but we do not need to have a second freezer running anymore.

What have I learned?

I like feeling informed and having access to my electricity use on the ESB Networks online account. I don’t constantly monitor my electricity data but now have a few rules of thumb around 5-7pm. I found some things tricky to move with a toddler's schedule but I know what changes to make when it is possible in the future.

The other steps we took was to switch to a 24 hour smart tariff. I plan to switch again next year and get a time of use tariff next time, when I feel confident with reducing and shifting my use.

We decided Solar PV with a grant from SEAI was the right investment for us and we are getting it installed next week. I'm looking forward to seeing what we generate over winter and the impact that will have on our electricity bill.

I'm going to investigate our vampire load and share what I find out soon.