OWL Energy Monitor

OWL Energy Monitor

I was looking at different hot water / heating options and the use of off peak electricity to charge a Sunamp PV / ASHP & Sunamp which then prompted me to question if off peak electricity would make any sense for one or two people?

I'm currently paying a tariff of €0.1665 per kWh. Offpeak would change that to €0.2024 daytime and €0.0985 nighttime (ex-VAT) plus an increase of the standing charge. They say you would need to be using over 4 units per night to make it worth while. We don't do THAT much washing to be honest!!

To determine what my household is using I purchased an OWL Energy Monitor, the cloud version:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008MYXEHW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got it within 2 days using priority delivery from the UK. I'm not 100% sure what the voltage is, assume 230V but have also purchased a plug in monitor for individual appliances to tell me that. So far so good, the clamp is reporting the energy usage on the mains circuit, it uses 2 x AA batteries easily replaced and I've set up an alert to tell me when they run low, an option in the Owl settings. It also displays a battery remaining graphic.

So I should get more interesting results over the next week. I already noticed when I printed out an email that my usage doubled!! Then tracing large spikes will be the next phase to understand what they are, kettles, washing machine cycles, and any unusual standing usage that aren't obvious.

Most smart meters I imagine will have this feature but as it's an older house and I don't see energy companies here being in a rush to replace them, unlike in the UK.

I'll report back when I get more stats but it's a first step to understand what my own usage is and tailor that before moving into a new home.