Sorry Sir, there ain’t enough power for you to run your home nuclear fission kit
We discovered earlier this week that our private, competing electricity supplier actually limits the number of KWh we can use per month! It appears on our bill. 200KWh in our case. We assume it is based on an average bill payment or our average usage over the last 13 months (plus an allowance/error to allow you to run that “home nuclear experiment kit”). But it might also be based on household size, household area or number of registered residents. That would be very clever.
However it is calculated, it seems to be a useful tool in identifying inefficient or power-drawing home appliances and those times when you forget to turn something off (as we did the oven one night last month). And, if you happen to leave your dog under the hairdryer, it might give the dog some peace of mind.
What a good idea, eh? No, not the dog-saving device…. the bill limit.
Hardly good for business, but it strikes me that perhaps we shouldn’t rely on carbon-trading to reduce our energy consumption? Instead, just ask your supplier to watch for the hairdryer or that nuclear-science-kit and to kindly reduce your energy limit until it hurts!
December 15th, 2006 at 5:29 am
Very good idea! I’ve become interested in just how much power our house uses recently, especially with the amount of carbon is produced.
When you talk to most people about limiting power usage (ie turning off standby devices), you get a look like you’ve just suggested killing their entire family, and then the usual answer of “it only costs me £3.50 to leave everything on standby, so it doesn’t matter”.
I’d love to see limits on how much power people can actually use.