My bill just arrived. It says my home’s electricity usage is decreasing, and that my home is among the most efficient in my area. That even with an electric water heater.
Is my investment in smart technology paying for itself?
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After reading your post I’ve checked my electricity usage since installing smartthings hue lighting and honeywell lyric thermostat, compared to last year’s period of use from October to December 2017 my bill was £150 cheaper even though I’m on a higher tariff now, attaching the presence sensor to my wife’s handbag seems to be the winning formula 
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That’s awesome!!!
I was at a point where I saw good savings monthly. Too bad I went crazy with all of the home automation. I have things plugged up and automated that I wouldn’t have had plugged up before. What would have taken me a couple years to recoup my investment now is going to take 10 years.
Even though I understand the law of diminishing return, I failed to realize the addiction until it was too late.
My utility bill has crepted back up to where I started this whole journey.
FAIL!
My electric bill is scarry, All lighting is LED and the whole house including garden lights and security lighting when lit only come in around 80watts, what kills us is an 18 and 23 yr old, powerfull Pc`s, washing, drying, showering, electric cooking… there the killers, until they leave my bills will always be …ouch !!
Hmmm. We also have an electric range. And we cook almost every night; we rarely do take-out.
My electric bill is scarry, All lighting is LED and the whole house including garden lights and security lighting when lit only come in around 80watts, what kills us is an 18 and 23 yr old, powerfull Pc`s, washing, drying, showering, electric cooking… there the killers, until they leave my bills will always be …ouch !!
Wow, around 80 watts is awesome compared to back in the day, my boy left for university last year and your right the electric bills have in general nearly halved, but when he’s back my Wi-Fi goes missing and the smart stuff all struggles with connectivity:)
Agreed jools, back in the day we ran 100watt lamps and thought nothing of it, im a total led nut case, our ceilings are covered in them lol
Cool, I’m all Led now, but I’m in the middle of trying to choose what smart lighting to adopt, I’ve tried replacing some gu10 bulbs with hue ones but there not very bright and to achieve a good light I’ll have to add a load more, so the cost goes up, i don’t know if to try the tradfri ones as the lumens are only 50 lumens more. Another option is the tradfri panels the lumen output is massive I’ve got one in my small bathroom, but if I go down that route I’ll have lots of holes to fill from the gu10 fittings, obviously the main factor is lumens but as always a sensible costing.
What have you installed ?
In AZ, my investment in smart thermostat made a huge difference coupled with time of use plan. We subscribe to budget billing where the last 12 (might be 6 now) months is averaged. Before smart gadets we we’re close to $210 average, now we’re down to roughly $140. All electric appliances.
After solar my electric bill is around $250-300 per month. I average 100 kWh per day. I am also charging 2-3 electric cars.
The Uk has very very greedy utility companies, the Government has taken no action on curbing there actions probably because they gain via taxation, natural gas and electric costs continue to spiral upwards, average Uk customers are forced to adopt energy saving measures to lower there bills
Adopting technology to help reduce our costs is fine for me, its a game and a hobby and for the average home we push the boundaries of what is possible taking into consideration useability, stability and cost.
The Mrs said, can we pin them up across the ceiling, after much swearing and me pointing out the fact it looks like a fairground ride we ended up with these wire leds
We also have table lights around the room with wifi led rgbw lamps, at night the lighting is more than adequate, if we need more with have the usual inset lights in the ceiling
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