My EDF Energy EcoManager has been plugged in for less than a week and strange things are already starting to happen.
I was determined to observe, rather than change, my behaviour for the first week but once you see in cold hard numbers how much electricity (and money) you're wasting, it's practically impossible not to be affected.
According to the EcoManager, leaving my small TV on standby when I go out to work uses four watts - that's 1.56p a day - which might not sound like much but would work out at £5.69 a year. The main TV in the front room is even worse. If left on standby, together with the DVD player and Freeview box, it uses seven watts, which, according to the EcoManager, equates to 2.74p per day and more than £10 a year.
On their own, these figures might not sound like much but, if you add them up, that's more than £15 a year on TV I'm not even watching. Now, obviously, it'd be pretty weird to leave two TVs on standby for an entire year without ever turning them on or off but still, £15? That's money that could go on cake.
About the author
Hannah is a freelance journalist who lives in east London with her partner. Despite often being found watching TV while working on her laptop with the radio playing in the kitchen, Hannah considers herself environmentally aware: she takes a keen interest in growing her own vegetables and cycles to work. Here she re-evaluates her energy consumption at home thanks to EDF Energy's EcoManager.
