YESTERDAY, BORD GÁIS became the fourth energy supplier to announce a price hike in the last week, joining Electric Ireland, PrePayPower and SSE Airtricity in raising customers’ costs.
Speaking to reporters this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin described energy prices as “off the Richter scale” compared to last year and said there has been an “exponential rise”.
“All of us will have to see what we can do to reduce our energy consumption, because it is very costly now at an individual level and at a societal level,” the Taoiseach said.
Reducing energy consumption can translate to less expensive bills and has wider benefits for sustainability.
A major driver of climate change, which has dangerous consequences for the planet, is the burning of fossil fuels like gas, oil and coal. Cutting down on energy helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as saving money at a personal level.
But it can be hard to know exactly how your energy bill comes together and what appliances are using the most power.
The Journal has put together this introductory guide on how to find our how much energy your home or business is using and what tools are available that can show you how that energy use is broken down.
How can I find out how much energy I’m using?
The first port of call is to check your energy meter.
The most standard type of meter displays a figure measured in Kilowatt hours (KWh) indicating how much energy has been used. Tracking the figure at regular intervals, such as each week, will show how much energy you use on average and allow you to monitor trends in your energy usage, as well as any noticeable changes that might match up to a shift in your habits during that period, such as boiling the kettle less frequently.
How exactly to read the energy meter will depend on whether it is a standard or digital meter and whether it is tracking any night storage heater. This guide by Electric Ireland outlines how to interpret the different types of meters.
ESB Networks is in the process of installing smart meters around the country, which provide more information about energy consumption than a traditional meter.
Most of the new meters that have been installed so far have been in Leinster, Cork, Limerick, and Sligo. If you’re still waiting for one, you can apply for a priority upgrade in your area by contacting ESB Networks.
Within the home, a good way to test how much energy a particular appliance or device is consuming is by using an electricity or energy monitor – also known as a smart plug.
The plugs work by measuring how much power a particular appliance or device is using. They can be plugged in and out and brought around a house or business to check how much energy each object requires.
Other tools that are tailored to monitoring heat can help assess a building’s energy efficiency and indicate whether more energy is being used for heat than necessary.
A thermal leak detector can identify areas where additional insulation or draught proofing could be used to plug thermal air links, and as such, reduce heating bill.
Using a fridge and freezer thermometer to measure the temperature of the appliances is useful to know whether the temperature settings need to be adjusted, which can avoid energy waste – and a temperature and humidity meter can provide that information in your home more broadly.
These types of tools can be bought individually or your local library may have a home energy saving kit available that you can borrow and use for a couple of weeks to get a better sense of where your energy use is coming from.
The kits available at libraries contain a plug-in energy monitor, thermal leak detector, temperature and humidity meter, and a fridge/freezer thermometer, as well as a radiator key used to bleed radiators to release trapped air and increase their efficiency.
What appliances use the most energy?
The amount of energy that an appliance uses depends on how energy efficient it is.
Manufacturers are required under EU law to label appliances with an energy rating. The newest version of the system, which came into effect in March 2021 for certain appliances, ranks products on a scale from A to G.
If you purchased your fridge, dishwasher, washing machine or TV before that date, you may see a label with an A+, A++, or A+++, which were previously the top three ratings under the old system.
Now, the top three ranks are A, B, and C and the bar to achieve top-marks for energy efficiency has been raised to require appliances to meet a higher standard – that is, receiving an ‘A’ will be harder than it was to receive an ‘A+++’ under the old system.
All of that means it’s worth checking the energy label on your current appliances, being aware of what it signifies, and factoring it into any decisions about new appliances.
Generally, appliances that influence temperature tend to be the most power-hungry.
Heating something up, especially if it is done very quickly, takes a considerable amount of energy. Charging a device such as a phone or laptop uses relatively little in comparison but can still add up if you have multiple devices that are charged frequently.
A guide by Bonkers, an energy price comparison provider, outlines the estimated cost of using various appliances at a maximum hourly cost of 29 cent per kW (your cost will depend on the rate your supplier charges and the item’s energy efficiency).
A ten-minute electric shower that uses 9.5 kW could cost 46c, while heating a 120-litre tank with an immersion that uses 3 kW for two hours would cost around €1.74, according to Bonkers.
Drying clothes for one hour in a 3 kW tumble dryer would both take around 87c, while half an hour of ironing or 10 minutes of boiling the kettle that each use 2.5 kW would cost 36 cent or 12 cent respectively.
20 minutes of hoovering at 0.7 kW would take seven cent.
Half an hour of cooking on a 2kW induction hob (a particularly energy-efficient type of cooker) would cost 29 cent while 10 minutes of microwave use at 0.8 kW would equate to four cent, as would five minutes of using a 1.5 kW toaster.
An update to this article corrected some cost-energy calculations.
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