[Consumption Guide Instructions]

Household Electricity Consumption Guide Instructions
(You may find it easier if you print this instruction sheet out.)

The aim of the consumption guide is to illustrate where and how you use electricity in the home. It is aimed to help illustrate where most of your money goes and where it could possibly be saved.

Follow these step-by-step instructions to fill in the spreadsheet.

The guide has been broken down into individual rooms so that you can calculate how much electricity is used in individual rooms in the house. These totals can be added together to give a guide to the total electricity consumption in your home. Begin with whichever room you prefer, Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom / Office, Bathroom or the rest of the house.

You need only to write in the white boxes

1. In the first column there is a list of the most common electrical appliances in particular rooms in your house.
2. If you have a particular appliance not listed and want to add it to the list, check the manufacturers plate to find the wattage. (Use the instructions below to calculate the wattage)
3. In column three, put how many hours a day, during summer months
(April to October, typical Scottish summer!!) that you would use each appliance.
4. In column four, put how many hours a day during the winter, you use each appliance.
5. Column five will be automatically worked out for you - don't write anything here.
6. In column six, put down how many days a week you use each appliance.
7. In column seven, calculate how many of each appliance you have in that room. (You may have more than light bulb in one room)
8. The eighth column will be calculated automatically for you - don't write anything here.

From the inputted data you can see how many kWh that you are using on an average day. The total at the bottom tells how much electricity in total the room uses during a typical year.

Remember - You will use some appliances more at different times of the year, for example you will probably use your lights more in the winter. You will probably use each appliance for varying hours through the week and over a period of weeks your use may fluctuate even more. Don't worry too much about this, but the more accurate you can make these figures the more accurate your system will be. It may be better to slightly over-estimate how much you use each appliance.

If you have an appliance not listed in the guide the wattage of an appliance can usually be found stamped on the bottom or back of the appliance, or on its "nameplate". However, this is not always as straightforward as perhaps it ought to be! The wattage listed is the maximum power drawn by the appliance. Since many appliances have a range of settings (for example, the volume on a radio), the actual amount of power consumed depends on the setting used at any one time.

If you can find the number of watts (W) - all well and good - if not look for A (amps) and V (voltage), multiply these two numbers together, and you will have watts.
Amps x Voltage = Watts

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