Bumper Fun Pack guide to

Understanding utility bills ... 2

Reading your gas meter ... 7

Reading your electricity meter ... 9

Reading your water meter ... 12

Energy and water monitoring ... 13

Power vs Energy... 22

How to use the plug-in electricity monitor ... 22

How to use the Efergy wireless electricity meter ... 22

Good websites... 24

The

Shearwater Environmental

Bumper Fun Pack guide to

Understanding utility bills

Reading meters

Measuring energy and water use to reduce consumption

The difference between

power

and

energy

Using electricity monitors

…

for community organisations

& small businesses

Understanding utility bills

Addresses

You should have an invoicing address and a supply address (where the gas, electricity or water is used) on the bill. Make sure they are right.

Unique reference numbers

Your bill should have two or three reference numbers:

• Your account number / customer reference number: quote this if you need to talk to your supplier

• Your meter serial number: check this is the same as the one printed on your meter

• Gas: your meter point reference (MPR) number: 6 to 10 numerical digits.

• Electricity: your meter point administration number (MPAN) or ‘supply number’: this is usually shown within a small table with the letter ‘S’ on the left:

Sometimes your bill only shows a short version of the MPAN, which is shown as a 13 digit number representing the bottom row of the full MPAN table.

Visit: http://www.energylinx.co.uk/mpan.htm for a more detailed explanation of MPANs and what each group of numbers in it mean.

Meter readings

The bill should give the ‘current’ and ‘previous’ meter readings along with the dates those readings were taken. The letter next to each reading shows what type of reading it is. Different suppliers can use different letters for this and an explanation may be printed on the bill, but generally:

Any problems with understanding your meters or bills: talk to your supplier, whose contact details are on your bill.

Be aware: you may have more than one gas, electricity or water meter in your building and more than one set of bills in each case.

Climate Change Levy and VAT

Most organisations are charged Climate Change Levy (CCL) on the gas and electricity they use, and VAT at the full rate (currently 15%). During 2009/10, CCL is charged at 0.164 pence per kWh for natural gas and at 0.470 pence per kWh for electricity.

Organisations in some circumstances and all households are excluded from CCL and are charged VAT at 5%.

Organisations are excluded from CCL in any of the following cases:

• For piped gas, if you use less than 4397 kWh per month

• For electricity, if you use less than 1000 kWh per month

• If the electricity or gas is being used by a charity for non-business use

• If your electricity is from renewable sources and this is backed up by a renewable source declaration from the supplier.

If your gas or electricity use is less than the above limits, your supplier should automatically omit CCL and charge the lower rate of VAT on your bills.

‘kWh’ means kilowatt hour, a common unit of energy

To claim an exclusion from CCL because of charitable non-business use or because your electricity is from a renewable source, you need to contact your gas or electricity supplier and ask for Forms PP10 and PP11.

More detailed information about CCL exemptions is given on the HM Revenues and Customs website www.hmrc.gov.uk , under ‘Reliefs and special treatments for taxable supplies’ (Notice CCL1/3).

More on gas bills

Gas tariffs

Gas suppliers can offer different tariffs (different ways of charging you).

A common arrangement is to charge you a higher price per kilowatt hour for the first kilowatt hours used each quarter or each year (primary units) up to a threshold amount, and a lower rate for the remaining kilowatt hours (secondary units). The threshold number of kilowatt hours varies depending on which supplier you are with. If the threshold is set as a certain number of kilowatt hours per year, then your monthly or quarterly bills will be calculated on a pro rata basis.

You may also have a standing charge on your gas bills, calculated in pence per day.

Conversion to kilowatt hours (kWh)

Your gas meter readings are in hundreds of cubic feet (HCF) or in cubic meters. On your bill, this is then converted to kWh, as your gas cost is in pence per kWh.

The way that your gas consumption is converted to kWh is shown on your bill. It usually involves:

1. If needed, multiply the volume in HCF by the given ‘multiplier value’ to give cubic metres.

2. Multiply by the given ‘conversion factor’ or ‘conversion value’

3. Multiply by the given ‘calorific value’, which varies through the year, to give the energy in megajoules.

4. Divide by 3.6 to convert from megajoules to kWh. As a rough guide, this works out as:

• Multiply HCF of gas by 32.5 to give kWh

More on electricity bills

Electricity bills charge in pence per kWh and usually electricity meters measure in kWh, which keeps things simple. Some electricity meters however measure in tens of kWh: this should be shown on the meter and on the bill. In these cases, your bill should show a ‘meter multiplier’ or ‘constant’ of 10 (rather than 1).

Electricity tariffs

The simplest electricity tariffs charge a set price per kWh and maybe a standing charge calculated in pence per day.

A day/night or Economy 7 tariff charges you a higher price for electricity used in the day and a lower price at night (this is a reflection of the higher demand for electricity across the national grid in the day time). Note that ‘night’ generally refers to midnight to 7am. If you have night storage heaters, then you should be on this type of tariff. Your bill may not show ‘night’ and ‘day’ but simply ‘rate 1’ and ‘rate 2’ (rate 1 is usually night).

If you are on a day/night tariff, then your ‘day’ and ‘night’ consumption will be separately measured either on different meters or as separate readings on one meter (often indicated on the meter as ‘rate 1’ and ‘rate 2’).

You may also have a visible timer attached to the meter(s): make sure it shows the right time and that the times of ‘day’ and ‘night’ are set correctly. Alternatively, you may have a small box attached to your meter(s) that that receives a radio signal to control when the price changes.

More complex electricity tariffs have varying prices per kWh during the day, weekday evenings, weekends and/or summer and winter.

More on water bills

If your water bill is not based on meter readings, then you are being charged a set cost, usually based on the rateable value of the property, plus a standing charge. You may also have a surface water charge (see below).

If your water bill shows meter readings, then you must have a meter. Almost all water meters record in cubic metres. Check that the meter serial number on your bill matches the serial number printed on your meter.

For metered water, your bill usually includes: 1. A charge for the amount of water you use.

2. A charge for the amount of sewage you produce. As your sewage is not metered, the water company will usually apply a standard estimate of ‘sewage volume is 95% of water volume’, unless you provide evidence that this is wrong (eg manufacturers who use water in their products).

3. Standing charge for water, based on the size of your water meter. 4. Standing charge for sewage, also based on the size of your water meter. 5. A surface water charge relating to the area of your property that collects

rainwater and drains it to the sewage system. This is a fixed charge

corresponding to one of eight ranges of areas eg Band A is areas between 1 and 500 square metres. You may want to check that the Band you charged for does cover the actual area of your property that drains to sewer. If your drains do not lead to the sewer (eg you have a soakaway), then you can claim a rebate on this charge.

In some cases, you can have a water meter but receive a water bill with only fixed charges (perhaps if the meter is inaccessible, or the water company reckons its not worth the cost of reading the meter).

VAT is only charged on water bills for organisations in certain industrial categories: generally manufacturing and construction.

If you think you are being charged VAT when you shouldn’t be, talk to your water supplier.

Reading your gas meter

Your gas meter may be imperial or metric and may be a digital meter or a dial meter. Metric gas meters read in cubic metres (m3_{). Any digits on the right that}

are in red or after a decimal point are measuring in fractions of a cubic metre.

Imperial gas meters read in hundreds of cubic feet (HCF or HCUF). Any digits on the right that are in red or after a decimal point are measuring in cubic feet (ft3_{). Your gas bill usually ignores these two right hand digits}

and so shows the quantity of gas used in HCF.

As well as the measurement reading, your gas meter should have a meter serial number printed on it: check that your gas bill refers to this serial number too.

Digital gas meters

An imperial gas meter has four main digits and should be marked ‘ft3’ _{or ‘HCF’ (hundreds of cubic}

feet). The main digits provide the reading in HCF, the full set of digits give the reading in cubic feet. A metric gas meter has five main digits, and should be marked ‘m3_’.

For both types of digital meter, unless you need to do particularly precise calculations of your consumption, then ignore any digits on the right that are in red or with a red border, any numbers after the decimal point or any printed zeros.

The reading is

1213 HCF

The meter serial number is underneath (4724357 S)

The reading is

34577 m

The meter serial number is underneath

Any problems with understanding your meters or bills: talk to your supplier, whose contact details are on your bill.

Be aware: you may have more than one gas, electricity or water meter in your building and more than one set of bills in each case.

Dial gas meters

These need to be read very carefully!

Firstly, note that every alternate dial goes around in the opposite direction.

To read the dial meter: read each dial, noting down the last number that the pointer has passed. In other words, if the pointer is between two numbers, record the lower number (or 9, if the pointer is between 9 and 0).

If the pointer in any dial is pointing at a number, you need to confirm if it is actually just before or just after that number. Do this by looking at the next dial to the right: if this is at a high number (eg past 8 or 9), then the pointer on the dial you were querying is actually just before the whole number and so should be recorded as the next lowest number.

To record a meter reading for your gas bill, ignore any dials in red or any dial marked as ‘100’ or smaller.

The reading is

7316 HCF

Note: the dial on the right records 1000 cubic feet of gas for every revolution of the pointer. Hence each number (1 to 9) on this dial represents 100 cubic feet (HCF).

Reading your electricity meter

Your electricity meter will be either a dial meter or a digital meter. You may have more than one electricity meter, for example:

• Three meters, each connected to one phase of your 3-phase supply.

• Two meters, one measuring your electricity use at low-cost times, the other measuring your use at high-cost times.

Or you may have a single meter that measures all three phases and electricity used at all times, perhaps under different readings.

Each meter should have a meter serial number printed on it. Check that this is also referred to on your electricity bills.

Digital electricity meters

Digital electricity meters come in many different varieties. They all record electricity use in kWh (kilowatt hours) or in some cases, kWh x10 (tens of kilowatt hours). For the latter, this should be marked on the meter or in its digital display and also noted in your electricity bills.

For meters with physically turning numbers, simply record the reading in kWh, ignoring any digits on the right that are in red or surrounded by red or that are to the right of a decimal point.

The reading is

865017 kWh

The meter serial number is at the bottom: K89M02030. Any problems with understanding your meters or bills: talk to your supplier, whose contact details are on your bill.

Be aware: you may have more than one gas, electricity or water meter in your building and more than one set of bills in each case.

For electronic meters (which have a digital display), check if there is a button to press. If there is no button, then the meter reading is simply the number given on the display. If there is a button, it usually enables you to scroll through a number of different readings. The kWh readings are usually presented as:

• Total kWh or cum kWh or total import kWh: the total amount of electricity used.

• R1 or R01 or Rate 1: the amount of electricity used during a particular part of the day/week/

year. This relates to the pricing structure shown on your bills. Often Rate 1 is electricity used at night (typically midnight to 7am) and Rate 2 is electricity used in the day. Other meters (and bills) may use three or more cost rates.

Other readings often include the current date and time, and maximum demand (MD).

There is often a list printed on the meter that explains all the types of readings that can be scrolled through.

The meter shows that Rate 1 has a reading of

267243 kWh.

Dial electricity meters These need to be read very carefully!

Firstly, note that every alternate dial goes around in the opposite direction.

To read the dial meter: read each dial, noting down the last number that the pointer has passed. In other words, if the pointer is between two numbers, record the lower number (or 9, if the pointer is between 9 and 0).

If the pointer in any dial is pointing at a number, you need to confirm if it is actually just before or just after that number. Do this by looking at the next dial to the right: if this is at a high number (eg past 8 or 9), then the pointer on the dial you were querying is actually just before the whole number and so should be recorded as the next lowest number.

To record a meter reading, ignore any dials in red or any dial marked ‘tenth of kWh’, ‘1_{/10’ or similar.}

Reading your water meter

Where is my water meter?

Not all buildings have water meters. If your water bill shows only fixed costs and no meter readings, then you do not have a water meter. If it shows any meter readings you must have a meter

somewhere!

Your water meter may be helpfully obvious and accessible or it may be hidden in a cupboard or behind a panel. It may be outside.

Often a water meter is situated near where the main water pipe comes in, on the inside or outside of an external wall.

The meter may be under a metal or plastic cover on the ground outside the building, perhaps in the pavement near your building. In many cases, you can lift up the cover with an old screwdriver or similar. There may be a piece of foam under the cover (frost protection), below which is the meter.

You may need a torch. If the meter is fogged up with condensation, try gently tapping the cover, warming it or just viewing it from a different angle.

Water meters measure in cubic metres: ignore the red digits if you are recording a reading for your bill. Your meter should also have a meter serial number marked on it, which is also shown on your water bills.

Any problems with understanding your meters or bills: talk to your supplier, whose contact details are on your bill.

Be aware: you may have more than one gas, electricity or water meter in your building and more than one set of bills in each case.

Energy and water monitoring

Why?

Measure how well you are doing at being energy efficient Identify and investigate any problems

Show building users how their efforts have made a real difference

Basic approach

1. Note down meter readings and dates, from past bills or from your own readings. 2. For any pair of meter readings: average consumption per day = difference between the

readings divided by number of days between the two dates.

3. Multiply by 365 to get an average consumption per year, if appropriate. 4. Or, divide by 24 to get average consumption per hour.

NB Your gas meter shows whether it reads in HCF (hundred cubic feet) or cubic metres. _{To convert to kWh,}

multiply an HCF gas meter reading by 32.5, or a cubic metres readingby 11.0.

Some

useful comparisons and investigations

• Don’t trust any estimated meter readings on bills: only use ‘actual’ readings

• If you meter has ‘clocked’ eg gone past 9999 to start at zero again, then allow for this in your calculation (add 10,000 if the meter readings have 4 digits, add 100,000 if the readings have 5 digits, etc)

• It may not be appropriate to calculate average consumption per year from average consumption per day, as above. Eg the rate of gas use over a few days in January is unlikely to be representative of your average gas use over the year if you use gas for heating. To accurately calculate eating energy use per year, you really need two meter readings about 12 months apart.

1. Simple comparison of weekly / monthly consumption

Good for

Best done

!!

week, for fair comparison.

EXAMPLE

Electricity: average consumption per day

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 2 5 F e b 0 8 t o 1 6 A p r 0 8 1 6 A p r 0 8 t o 2 3 A p r 0 8 2 3 A p r 0 8 t o 0 7 M a y 0 8 0 7 M a y 0 8 t o 1 5 M a y 0 8 1 5 M a y 0 8 t o 2 1 M a y 0 8 2 1 M a y 0 8 t o 2 8 M a y 0 8 2 8 M a y 0 8 t o 0 5 J u n 0 8 0 5 J u n 0 8 t o 1 8 J u n 0 8 1 8 J u n 0 8 t o 2 5 J u n 0 8 2 5 J u n 0 8 t o 0 3 J u l 0 8 0 3 J u l 0 8 t o 1 6 J u l 0 8 1 6 J u l 0 8 t o 3 1 J u l 0 8 3 1 J u l 0 8 t o 0 7 A u g 0 8 0 7 A u g 0 8 t o 2 7 A u g 0 8 2 7 A u g 0 8 t o 1 0 S e p 0 8 k W h p e r d a y

Why did consumption go up during these weeks?

NB each bar may not refer to the same length of time, although as the graph shows

‘average consumption per day’ the bars can be meaningfully compared.

2. Year by year consumption

Good for

Best done

!!

to do this accurately).

!!

!!

EXAMPLE

Average water use in 2007

Date Reading Days m3 used m3 per day m3 per year

From 05/01/2007 1344

to 18/12/2007 1602 347 258 0.7 271

Average water use in 2008

Date Reading Days m3 used m3 per day m3 per year

From 18/12/2007 1602

to 12/12/2008 1832 360 230 0.6 233

Difference

(m3) -38

% Increase -14%

This calculation shows that the building reduced its water consumption by 14% in 2008 compared to 2007

3. Consumption over a few hours

investigating, if you think you are using a lot of energy or water: when in the day or week is consumption especially high?

Good for

calculating how much to charge a user group for the energy they use

Best done

by simply taking meter readings before and after a period you want to investigate. You will need to note down the full meter reading including the digits in red if you are recording consumption over a short time

• To calculate energy or water use to charge a user group, simply subtract one reading from the other (don’t forget to convert gas consumption to kWh)

• For a comparison, calculate your consumption over the period, as described in ‘basic

approach’ above, to express this as average consumption per day or per hour: this can then be compared with your average consumption rate other times.

EXAMPLE

An example for water use, where you know that your average water consumption, calculated from your regular monitoring, is 0.6 m3 per day:

Meter reading at 9am 123.45

Meter reading at 10:30am the next day 124.75

Cubic metres of water used 1.30

Duration (hours) 25.5

Cubic metres of water per hour 0.051

Cubic metres of water per day 1.22

So, this calculation shows that your water use over that particular day and night was about double your normal rate of water consumption.

If you found that your building carries on using water at a higher rate, then it would be a good idea to check for water leaks, overflowing toilet cisterns, urinals flushing too frequently etc.

4. Baseload calculation & ‘mystery consumption’

checking how much electricity you use when the building is closed, or another time when your electricity consumption should normally be at its lowest

Good for

discovering any constant electricity wastages

Best done

Calculating baseload consumption rate from your day / night meter readings (Method 3)

!!

!!

typically 12am to 7am.

Method 1: most accurate: calculate your electricity use during the night as

described above, and express it as kWh per hour, which is average power: the same thing as kW (kilowatts).

Eg If you use 6 kWh between 9pm and 9am the following morning, then the average power over that time is 6 kWh divided by 12 hours, which is 0.5 kW or 500 watts.

Method 2: easiest: use a wireless electricity monitor to give you an immediate read out of power (in kW) being used (NB the Efergy wireless monitor takes about 6 seconds to respond to any change in electricity consumption).

Method 3: most extensive: if you are on a day /night tariff, then use the

information from a electricity bill with ‘actual’ meter readings, or calculate based on your regular monitoring records. See below for an example.

How to do the calculation

1. From an electricity bill, note down your electricity consumption figures (kWh) for day and night, and the dates that these cover.

2. For each bill or each set of meter readings you have, divide the day kWh by the number of days, and the same for night kWh.

3. Then, divide these ‘kWh per 24-hours’ figures by the number of hours that ‘day’ and ‘night’ refer to. This gives you an average power (in kW) figure for ‘day’ and for ‘night’.

4. Repeat for each electricity bill or set of meter readings to see how the baseload consumption changes over time.

Whichever method you use, once you have calculated your baseload consumption rate in watts or kilowatts, you can then get a feel for what figure means…

…. why isn’t it zero?

….. how does it compare with your consumption rate in the day? ….. what electrical appliances might account for it (see below)?

!!

!!

on electricity costing 11pence per kWh).

If your baseload consumption is high, you need to investigate this mystery consumption: EXAMPLE of Method 3

This shows the calculation for one set of meter readings.

From an electricity bill covering 1 January to 31 January: night day

Units of electricity used 8000 26000 kWh

Number of days covered in bill 31 31 days

Hence, average figures per 24-hour period, from above:

Units of elec used per 24-hour period (=monthly consumption / 31 days) 258 839 kWh

From telephoning the electricity supplier:

Number of hours in 'night' and 'day' in each 24-hours 7 17 hours

Power use calculated from above

Average power (kWh used / number of hours in 'day' or 'night') 36.9 49.3 kW

In this example, the amount of electricity (in kWh) used at night is about 31% of that used in the day, But, as there are far fewer ‘night hours’ than ‘day hours’, the night power (in kW) is 75% of the day power. This is very high, and would need some investigation into what

Possible uses of electricity at night

Nb 1 kW (kilowatt) = 1000 watts

Electric heating

Electric heating typically uses far more power than other types of electricity use.

Many types of electric heating use a thermostat (ideally an adjustable one). The heater uses its full power until the thermostat’s set temperature is reached, when it clicks off and uses no electricity until the temperature drops again and the thermostat turns the heating elements back on.

Hence, the average power used by a heater over a few hours is usually much less than its rated (maximum) power.

Storage heaters are designed to use electricity at night when electricity is much cheaper (eg “Economy 7” tariff): typically between midnight and 7am.

Each storage heater will use maybe 1 or 2 kW until it reaches its set temperature inside.

Storage heaters use the night time electricity to heat thermal bricks inside: the heat is then slowly released from the bricks during the day.

Electric convector heaters, oil-filled electric heaters etc typically use 1 to 2 kW while they are on. They may have thermostats which turn the heating elements on and off according to the air temperature. These heaters should not normally be on at night at all.

An immersion heater in a typical hot water tank is rated at 3kW. This means that it will use 3000 watts until the thermostat turns it off. It will turn on again when the water has cooled below the thermostat’s set temperature (eg as heat leaks out through the tank’s insulation).

An immersion heater may be set to be on at night to take advantage of cheap night time electricity, but does not usually need to be set to be on for the whole night.

Hot drinks urns typically have a rated power of 2 to 3kW. Even insulated models can use a significant amount of electricity over a night if left on.

Lights

Any lights that are left on all night need to be justified.

Outside lights with motion sensors should only come on when someone passes by: check that the light does not stay on too long afterwards if it has an adjustable timer. Make sure that the light doesn’t come on in the day time.

Outside lights may also have a daylight sensor so that they only operate when it is actually dark. Check that the light does not come on too early in the evening, if this can be adjusted. For the same reason, make sure that the daylight sensor is clean and not too shaded.

If you have a timer that controls when the outside lights come on, you will need to adjust the settings through the year. Or install daylight sensors instead.

NB fluorescent or LED lights use much less electricity than halogen or filament bulbs, although fluorescent bulbs may not come turn on quick enough for motion sensor security lights.

Central heating

A gas central heating system also uses electricity, mainly for its circulation pumps: these may each use 100W to 500W or more. Your central heating may be set to turn on in the early hours of the morning to pre-heat the building.

Fridges and freezers

Like electric heaters, fridges and freezers use their maximum power for a period of time, then turn off when they have cooled down enough, then click back on for a while.

Electricity use depends on the size of the appliance, its energy-efficiency rating and the thermostat setting. A domestic size freezer might use 30 watts average power, a fridge might use 15 watts average power.

Computers, photocopiers, printers

These can use around 5 watts each even when they are powered down and maybe 30W if they are on stand by.

Other electronic appliances

Burglar alarms, fire alarms etc may use a few watts of power at night.

Telephone systems, internet connection and computer servers may use a few tens of watts each. These may be left on intentionally, but it is worth challenging this.

Extraction fans

If the results of your monitoring don’t make sense

If any of your calculations shows a pattern or a scale of consumption that doesn’t seem right, then…

Check that your meter serial numbers are the same as those on your bills.

Use meter readings or electricity monitoring devices to investigate consumption at different time of day and different parts of your building.

Check for water leaks, overflowing toilet cisterns, urinals flushing too frequently etc. Talk to your supplier.

Look into whether your meters actually cover all your building and your building alone, especially if you are in a multi-tenanted building. There are plenty of cases where energy or water is supplied from one building to another (with or without sub-meters to measure the second building’s consumption).

Talk to your electrician / heating engineer / plumber if you think there is an issue with what your meters cover.

Understanding

Power

and

Energy

• Power (watts, W or kilowatts, kW) is how fast energy is being used at any instant. Power is the equivalent of the SPEED of a car.

• Energy (kilowatt-hours, kWh) is something that is used (or generated) over time. Energy is the equivalent of the DISTANCE travelled by a car.

Energy = power x time. kWh = kW x hours.

If an appliance has an average power of 1 kW, then over 1 hour it uses 1 kWh of energy.

Many appliances have got a power figure printed on them, in watts or kilowatts:

• Generally, for lights: this is the power they continually use when they are on.

• For any appliance with thermostats (eg heaters, tea urns, fridges) and for electronic

appliances, this is the maximum power they use: usually the power used when first switched on. To learn their actual power, you need to measure energy used over a period of time. Use a plug-in electricity monitor.

How to use a plug-in electricity monitor

Use this device to measure the power and energy used by any appliances with electric plugs.

Use a plug-in monitor to find out:

• How much energy does your freezer use? What proportion of your annual electricity consumption or night time consumption does it account for?

• What about your kettle? Your dishwasher? Your hot water tank immersion heater (if it has a plug)?

NB 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt

Model 2000MU, made by Prodigit Electronics, sold by Maplins Press the middle button to show the power (in watts) being used at that moment.

How to use the Efergy wireless electricity meter

The Efergy wireless meter comprises:

• A clip that clamps around your main live

electricity cable: either the one that goes into your normal meter or the one that comes out of it. You need three clips if you have a three phase supply.

• An oval transmitter that the clamp(s) plug in to. This takes two AAA batteries that may need to be replaced every few months.

• The main display box: this also takes two AAA batteries that may need to be replaced every few months.

The Efergy meter is designed to make it easy for you to see how much electricity you are using at any given time. Keep the display somewhere nicely visible, or carry it round with you.

NB The display updates every six seconds.

In the normal mode, the meter shows the power being used by the building (the rate at which electricity is being used): in this mode, the display is marked ‘kW’.

You can also use the Efergy to show the total energy used per day, per week or per month since you have been using it. Note these figures will only be accurate if the display has been in range all the time, and if you have set the time and date.

It can also show you how much money your electricity is costing (if you enter your pence per kWh cost into the device) and your carbon emissions.

Note: the Efergy meter measures electricity in a different way than your normal billing meter and is not as accurate as your billing meter. You may want to change the default voltage setting in the Efergy to make it a bit more accurate (you can use the plug-in electricity monitor to show you your actual mains voltage in your building).

Read the Efergy instructions for more detailed explanation. You can download a copy from:

http://www.efergy.com/admin/UFILE/0801260209_Efergy_instructions.pdf

The range between transmitter and the display box is 40 to 70m, depending on how many walls are in between. If the display shows four dashes instead of the power reading, then it has lost its signal from the transmitter: it may have gone temporarily out of range. Take the display a bit closer to the transmitter and press the left hand arrow button to re-establish the wireless link. Or the batteries may have run out in the display box or in the transmitter. Or the clip may have come unplugged from the transmitter.

Good websites

Carbon Trust: Information and resources for energy-saving in the commercial sector. Very good library of free publications.

www.carbontrust.co.uk

Energy Saving Trust: aimed at householders and the housing sector.

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Community Action for Energy (CAfE): a network for community-based energy projects.

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/cafe

Envirowise: A great deal of information and resources for reducing the water and waste, for the commercial sector. www.envirowise.gov.uk

Environment Agency water guidance:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/

Yorkshire Water explanation of water bill charges:

http://www.yorkshirewater.com/medialibrary/PDF%20files/Charges_scheme_and_scale_of_other_ charges_200910.pdf

Energylinx: a comparison website for gas and electricity supplies, with a detailed explanation of suppliers, tariffs, meters, bills etc.

www.energylinx.co.uk Then click on the ‘questions’ link.

Shearwater Environmental contact details

Roland Arnison

Email: [email protected] Tel. 01274 835194 Website: www.shearwater.gb.com