POWER!
I don't know how many people have heard of the recent power-saving initiatives from the National Grid. It boils down to those who have a smart meter for their electricity and have signed up for the scheme being able to earn money by saving energy!
All sounds positive to me - who doesn't like earning by making small changes?
Between peak hours, typically 16:00 and 18:00 on days to be announced, there was one yesterday and again one today, it aims for when the grid normally experiences high demand to reduce that load. Although when the "live event" finished this evening at 6pm and I switched the kettle on, I imagined the 1000s of others all doing the same causing a massive spike in energy required!
What Changes did we make?
Many will wonder, how they can make changes and whether will it make a difference. Whilst I cannot say how much of a difference we made to the grid, I don't even know if we will find out! However, we should find out what cash incentive we will receive in a few days - will keep you posted. But here is how the Dunn household spent the hour and a half of the live event;
We turned off all appliances, except one lamp, the wifi router and the fridge freezer.
We allowed our 5-year-old some tablet time over TV time, which he was thrilled about as the tablet is normally away during the week.
We both worked on our laptops using their battery, the same with our phones.
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We delayed dinner, so rather than cook at our normal time we served dinner an hour and a bit later than normal. I think this might be a benefit as empty tummy syndrome just before bedtime strikes is strong with the boy!
Apart from that, there were no noticeable changes needed, except for the 10 mins before and afterwards when we turned everything on and off!
How do you join in?
Glad you asked!
Then use the code "JAM529349" when signing up - both you and I (well my husband) will receive ￡5 Amazon voucher via the app cashback scheme! It is as easy as that.
Virtual Assistant, Director
2 年As promised an update! We saved ￡4.80 on the hour-and-a-half session, and ￡2.70 on the one-hour session, but only really tried on the longer one. So, was it worth it? Perhaps, the ￡7.50 has been added to our Amazon account and we will spend it, in some way we have helped reduce the need for energy during those peak events and therefore reduced the requirement for turning on the coal-powered plants. Will we continue to do the events, I think we will. They aren't taxing, we are getting something back and hopefully helping!