I borrowed an energy meter from the library. It shows how much electricity is currently being used and what level energy consumption reached the previous morning, evening and afternoon. At first I checked it all the time reminding everyone to switch everything off and chastising those who left their xbox on all the time. I got a little blase after having it a couple months but my interest was renewed when, after my recommendation, a friend also borrowed one from the library. Her energy consumption was half mine at my lowest. That coupled with a bill for £216 for one months gas and electricity had Annie and I marching up and down the house switching on and off appliances, plug points and chargers in order to see where our money was going. The worst culprits are the lights,freezer and kettle. However I have encountered a problem. No matter what I switch off I can’t seem to reduce our consumption below 46watts. This is a third of the energy our freezer uses, so in real terms something is using quite a lot of electricity and I can’t figure out what. The only thing is can be is the boiler. But would a boiler when it isn’t fireing use this much? I don’t know. I have set my friend with the other meter the task of switching off everything in her house except the boiler and we shall compare notes tomorrow over coffee and cake.

Later on today, after writing the first part of this blog and googling how much energy a boiler should use normally (5watts), I gave British Gas a ring to ask about the anomalous 50watts. They gave me another number to ring. I have an engineer coming to visit tomorrow to run some tests as they are as confused as I am.