With prices that have continued to increase for years, are you afraid of seeing your electricity bills skyrocket? Invest a few euros in this little accessory: it will help you save a lot of money!
Electricity is essential in our lives. Between household appliances, lighting, high-tech, sometimes heating, and for some mobility (with electric vehicles), this source of energy has become omnipresent in our daily lives. Without it, it is impossible to operate our expensive refrigerators, computers, televisions, smartphones, or even boilers which use it to circulate water in radiators or pellet stoves which use it to heat the air! A few hours of interruption, and we find ourselves as on the 19the century, without even being able to telephone to communicate.
However, due to multiple crises, the prices of this precious resource have increased significantly in recent years in France, even if they remain lower than the prices in other countries. As a reminder, the price of a kilowatt hour has already increased twice in 2023, by 15% in February and by 10% in August, to stand at €0.2276 including tax per kilowatt hour (kWh) at the regulated base rate. And the Government is planning a new increase at the start of 2024. Increases which can result in differences of several hundred euros or more over a year, in particular for electrically heated homes…
In these conditions, it is appropriate not only to adopt new behaviors to limit and even reduce consumption, in particular by following the advice of Ademe, but also to favor more energy-efficient devices. The problem is that it is not easy to identify the most energy-consuming devices in a home, even by carefully analyzing the Linky meter readings. Of course, we have known for a long time that we must get rid of incandescent bulbs, particularly halogen ones, and replace them with LED models, which are much more efficient. But how do we know about others?
However, there is a simple way to be sure: you just need to equip yourself with a wattmeter, a small electronic device which precisely measures the instantaneous power absorbed by a device, but also, and above all, its electrical consumption over a given period. No need to have any electrical or DIY skills, as it is very easy to use. Most models offered on the market are in the form of a “mixed” socket topped with a screen: simply insert its male side into a power socket and plug the device to be measured into its side female. From then on, by pressing a button, you display the instantaneous power (in watts) or the actual consumption (in kilowatt hours). You can even see the cost in euros, by programming the rate per kilowatt hour.
No need to leave the wattmeter permanently plugged in: on the contrary, it is better to use it temporarily and occasionally to measure the consumption of one device before moving on to another. By doing this, you will be able to very easily analyze everything that consumes electricity in your home: fridge, freezer, washing machine, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner, household appliances, computer, mobile device chargers, etc. . And identify the most energy-intensive, to use them more efficiently, or even to replace them. You just have to make sure that the wattmeter supports the maximum power absorbed by the device (generally 3600 W).
The icing on the cake: a power meter really doesn’t cost much! There are many available for less than 20 euros in large specialized stores, but also online, in stores like Amazon, Cdiscount, Darty, AliExpressetc. An investment that will pay off very quickly, especially if you share the power meter with friends and neighbors! You can even kill two birds with one stone by investing in a connected socket, which allows you to control an electrical device remotely, via a smartphone: most models have a function allowing you to calculate and display the consumption of the connected device directly in the application. Practical !