# Electrical Cost



## VERMINOFF

Hi, I'm currently in dispute with Southern Electric regarding my fuel bill. They are saying that my Vivs are the biggest user of power in my house. Can anyone tell me the cost of running a 150 watt ceramic heat bulb at approximately 32c controlled by a Habistat Thermostat. My BRBs are housed in 4'x2'x2' vivs by Vivexotic. I'm currently being charged at 13.41p per unit. Thank you in anticipation.


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## cjd12345

Multiply your cost per kilowatt hour by 0.15 and you have the cost of running the lamp per hour. Then it's a case of working out how long the bulb is on for each day and how much the thermostat dims it - that's more tricky. 
If you have a single 150W bulb even if it runs at 100% it shouldn't be responsible for the most electricity consumption in a normal house. 
At my rates of around 13p/kWh, you'd be looking at around 2p/h to run a 150W ceramic at 100%. I use heatmats and LED lighting for my 17 garter snakes and their total consumption is less than a single 150W ceramic.


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## Everythingreptile

*1.* Amps rating.
Amps*2.* Voltage Rating - Usually 230 Volts Volts *3.* Amps x Volts = Watts *(Start here if an item is selected above and if Wattage is known)* Watts *4.* Watts/1000 = kilowatts or kW kW *5.* Hours used in month (use an average) Hours *6.* Kilowatts x Hours = Kilowatt Hours or kWh kWh *7.* *Electricity price* (in pence per kWh - *enter the cost you pay*) pence *8.* kWh x pence = Cost (in pence) to run the Item for 1 month pence*9.* Divide by 100 to get to Cost in £'s to run Item for 1 month£ *10.* x Number of the same Items in the house Items *Cost to run all such Items in house for 1 month*£ 

I hope this helps ive worked out max cost for one month for you if the ceramic light was on constantly if you live in a cold house. there is a lot of variables to consider like how long is it running and also what is your unit price, do you have economy 7? do you have dual fuel savings do you pay quarterly or pre pay ect. but a quick costings if running constantly at 14.46p per kwh for one month would cost £16.137. if you would need a more accurate amount type into google "electric use cost" or visit Electricity Running Cost Calculator | Electricity Prices | Electricity Costs


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## VERMINOFF

That's brilliant, thank you. Now I'll look at the cost of LEDs and se if that works out any cheaper


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## Meko

LED's will work out a lot cheaper but you won't be able to heat anything with them. They only provide light and not heat.



But as above, the £16 is the most it will cost per month.


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## Tarron

How many vivs do you have? That £16 is obviously per viv so if you have more then it will increase.
But I can't realistically see them being the bulk of your bills.

Do you run an electric boiler or heating system? Have anything switched on constantly? 

Good luck getting it sorted


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## VERMINOFF

No, I've got two 4x2x2 vivexotics with a 6ft BRB in each. We have no central heating, dishwasher or tumble dryer. At the moment we're doing daily meter readings to compare usage. The Boas only fed on Sunday so I'll turn their heating off for 24 hours later in the week to see how much difference it makes. Everyone I've asked at work is paying approximately £35 a month for electricity, we're currently paying over £75.


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## Exzhal

VERMINOFF said:


> No, I've got two 4x2x2 vivexotics with a 6ft BRB in each. We have no central heating, dishwasher or tumble dryer. At the moment we're doing daily meter readings to compare usage. The Boas only fed on Sunday so I'll turn their heating off for 24 hours later in the week to see how much difference it makes. Everyone I've asked at work is paying approximately £35 a month for electricity, we're currently paying over £75.


You shouldn't be forcing your snake to go without heat for a day just so you can see how much your electric costs.


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## Everythingreptile

VERMINOFF said:


> No, I've got two 4x2x2 vivexotics with a 6ft BRB in each. We have no central heating, dishwasher or tumble dryer. At the moment we're doing daily meter readings to compare usage. The Boas only fed on Sunday so I'll turn their heating off for 24 hours later in the week to see how much difference it makes. Everyone I've asked at work is paying approximately £35 a month for electricity, we're currently paying over £75.


I'm guessing your mates at work don't have reptiles. So £35 per month is about right. So lets say you have 2x 150 w ceramic heaters costing a max of £16 each to run and a max cost of £16 +£16 and let's add £35 to cover other electrical usage in hour house like lights and tv and pc and what ever else you have that comes to £67 plus if you have heat mats or what ever else your electricity cost isn't that far out at £75 per month. You could try to cut costs by turning your tv and whatever off at the wall instead of leaving on standby and turn off all unused lights in your home if you don't need them on.


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## carter2011

interesting. it does add up, I got another beardie and noticed the increase. oven is a killer too . hoover too although oven is more likely to be on more 

but ye,im realising heat mats are the way to go as long as workable for the species


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## carter2011

can someone just confirm this for me, im so bad at maths and have maths dyslexia (its a thing lol)

I have 2 beardies, with a dual uv in each of their vivs,and both have a main bulb heat spot and a red back up,which is needed,on full,in winter and the red needs to be on almost on full in the night in winter,it gets 4c and lower somethimes ,so beardies need to be 16c + at night im told 


anyways lets say14p for a unit /kwh 

its about 200w each viv when in winter /auntumn

so say 12 hours ,400 w for the two is how much a day / 28 days??

and running a 1500w oven for say 30 mins is like running 1 200w beardie set up for ???

who's a genius here then...(or not a maths hillbilly mongspaz)

my bills went alternating between estimates and real and it messed me up,im realising now how much gthe extra beardie has added,wouldnt be so bad if my flat was warm


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## deefa139

You should be able to get an electrical monitor from the electric company which shows exactly how much electricity you are using and the cost at any given time. You could then turn off the ceramic or everything going to the viv compare the difference and work out the price from there. There are loads to choose from such as :

Play.com - Buy online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!

Brennenstuhl EM240 Plug In Electricity Monitor Power Consumption Meter Rader

Electricity Monitor [ OMNMA23 ] - Omnitron (UK)

I had the same problem a couple of years ago and it turned out that an oldish fridge we had had a problem and was for some reason using more power than it should have been, got a new fridge and problem solved.


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## Meko

carter2011 said:


> can someone just confirm this for me, im so bad at maths and have maths dyslexia (its a thing lol)
> 
> I have 2 beardies, with a dual uv in each of their vivs,and both have a main bulb heat spot and a red back up,which is needed,on full,in winter and the red needs to be on almost on full in the night in winter,it gets 4c and lower somethimes ,so beardies need to be 16c + at night im told
> 
> 
> anyways lets say14p for a unit /kwh
> 
> its about 200w each viv when in winter /auntumn
> 
> so say 12 hours ,400 w for the two is how much a day / 28 days??


convert watts into Kilowatts - .4 kw
12 hours = 720 minutes
720 minutes x .4kw = 288kw
288 kw x 14p = £40.30 a month

Which sounds expensive per beardie, but you do have the lights on a lot more than you need to. Especially as you don't need 16+ over night. People do like to tell people that, but beardies live in Australia, not the toaster... and Australians wear coats in winter because it gets cold! Alice Springs and that area, can go as low as -2 in winter.... 



> and running a 1500w oven for say 30 mins is like running 1 200w beardie set up for ???


200 x 7.5 = 1500. So it'll be 30 mins x 7.5.. 225 minutes / 3 hours 45 minutes.


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## carter2011

cheers mate, ye that was 200w each beardie so 400w for the 2 , and one is sold awaiting collection anyways 

as for the temp thing, it does bother me that, people say diff things ,I wouldve thought that too, deserts etc are bloody cold at night 

its like the humidity thing , a lot of people on here say dont bath your beardie,he doesnt need it or any humidity at all ever etc, but then an australian comes on from where beardies live,and says we've all got it wrong,they have really hot AND humid days regularly ,just not permanently

maybe a lower watt nightlight is a happy medium


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## Meko

we do indeed. Care sheets are there to be used along with common sense and not as a bible, but some people don't get that bit. 
You're right about Australia, nevermind humid days, I'm pretty sure it rains there too!


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## carter2011

I had it at 14p x 0.4 = 5.6p (0.4 is 400w ,for max rate of both beardie set ups)


5.6p x 12 = 67.2p per day 


67.2p x 28 days is 18.81 per month 


or am i wrong . 


if im right, i need to write down it aint hard but im sh*te at maths and really need to get a grips with how much they cost me ,id really underestimated how much i spent on them . heat mate and low wat or LED from now on...except the beardie im keeping but I can trim his usage too


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## Meko

i think i've used minutes instead of hours to confuse things.

400 watts = .4kw
12hours a day x 31days a month = 372
.4kw x 372 = 148.8kw a month
148.8 x 14 = £20.80

I thought £40 was too expensive but just put it down to the amount of lights you had.


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## carter2011

ah thats why we diff, you did 31 days, i went for the 4 weeks 

I could geta big viv,lay a strip heat mat down, get smaller rubs etc in there for small snakes, have a few snakes,with hot end set on all the snakes, and ambient all good as its like a real small room if makes sense, and will be fine for cold days 

and the light ,a 7 w energy saver etc

heat mat, up to 50w ..and stat'd 

my electrcity went up a lot when got my second beardie and i kept thinking it cause using the oven more,but the oven is 11p a go for 30mins then 

the beardies/boas are the drainer of mine,and the original poster's electricity it seems


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## awh

dont care what it costs to be honest as i have 7 separate vivs plus a koi pond running 2 pumps and filters plus uv tubes on them 
however i pay £110.00p per month for all gas and electric 
i use the hoover every day and the washing machine twice a week tumble dryer when it rains the dishwasher is me central heating hardly ever ,gas oven and cooker


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## Tarron

Meko said:


> i think i've used minutes instead of hours to confuse things.
> 
> 400 watts = .4kw
> 12hours a day x 31days a month = 372
> .4kw x 372 = 148.8kw a month
> 148.8 x 14 = £20.80
> 
> I thought £40 was too expensive but just put it down to the amount of lights you had.


I was just looking through and wondering why you converted to minutes, lol.

£/hour = (W÷1000) x p/unit if already in kW, dont divide

£/day = £/hour x hours/day


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## Meko

I'm blaming the time!


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