Electrisave has a gadget that enables you to see how much money your wasting on energy in your home, the only problem is you end up being an energy-saving addict who lives in the dark and never offers cups of tea for fear of boiling the kettle ...
Hello. My name is Jo and I’m an addict. It is not booze, fags, drugs or even the Crackberry that has got me in its grip. It is energy saving.
It started when registered social landlord Places for People asked if I’d like to trial an Electrisave gadget in my home. The RSL has fitted them into its new homes at Broughton Square in Milton Keynes, and is finding that the mere fact that the Electrisave shows residents how much money they are spending when they switch on the lights has reduced energy use by 15%.
So Places for People came to my home and in five minutes flat, fitted a widget in the meter cupboard, logged my electricity tariff, and left me and a hand-sized, wireless, white plastic box with a screen showing giant numbers to begin our beautiful friendship.
0.6p per hour. Those were the first innocent-looking numbers it said to me. Nothing was switched on – or so I thought. It turned out to be the cost of my home’s ‘resting’ state – running the fridge/freezer, clock/radio and so on. Since then I’ve learned the cost of running everything: 20p per hour for the microwave, 30p for the kettle, a thumping 50p for my tumble drying.
As a result, I’m starting to look on my electric gadgets the way a supermodel sees a chocolate bar. I want my home to be a double zero. An essential tumble drying session registers in my mind in Bridget Jones style as ‘v. bad’.
The only problem is that I’m starting to seriously annoy my boyfriend as I follow him round the flat turning off the lights he has turned on. Electrisave may do lots for the planet, and your residents’ fuel bills, but I’m not sure it’ll help them live happily ever after.
