Working from home (as I do) comes with many benefits, such as saving money on travel expenses. But it also means that I use more energy than I would if I were in the office, which means higher energy bills.
So that means I do what I can Save energy at homeAnd try to make energy wise choices. One habit I didn’t pay much attention to at first was how often I was boiling the kettle. My husband and I both work from home and between us we drink about 8 to 10 cups of tea and coffee a day – often at different times. This means that the kettle is continuously brewed throughout the day.
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Why did I choose Smart Kettle?
(Image credit: Future plc/ Rachel Waite)
Switching to a smart kettle made sense because my husband and I boil the kettle several times a day and we don’t always use it particularly efficiently.
I can fill my smart kettle with water, boil it and then keep the water hot for a few hours, so no worries about using more water than I need or wasting energy.
Plus it’s convenient to top up my mug straight away, instead of waiting for the kettle to boil every time I ask for a cuppa.
Xiaomi Smart Kettle 2 Pro
This is the smart kettle I’ve chosen, and even if I haven’t saved a huge amount on my energy bill, it’s cheaper to run than my old kettle, and thanks to the keep warm feature, I don’t have to wait for my next cup of tea!
Kitchenaid Artisan Kettle
Pricey, but beautiful, this KitchenAid kettle will make an attractive addition to your kitchen and is really well insulated so it will keep the water hot well after it’s finished boiling. It also has a temperature indicator so you can heat water to the exact temperature for your chosen drink, which will save energy.
With well-insulated and heating functionality, this smart kettle can also be connected to an Alexa device for voice control. Whether you want to boil water, select a temperature or activate the Keep Warm setting, you don’t even have to save your own energy.
How does a smart kettle help reduce energy consumption?
(Image credit: Future plc/ Rachel Waite)
Unlike traditional kettles, smart kettles keep the water in them at a set temperature, so you don’t need to boil water regularly from scratch, reducing energy consumption.
Once the kettle boils, you select the temperature on the kettle screen or through the app, and the water stays at this temperature for as long as you need it. while the most A cost-effective way to use a kettle With just the water you need to boil, with a smart kettle, you can boil a whole kettle once, and use less energy to keep it hot (than to bring it to the boil).
‘Smart kettles are the next generation of electric kettles, equipped with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity that allows them to be controlled remotely via an app on your phone’ Scott City RoomAt Energy Expert The Energy Shop.
‘Your standard kettle boils water at 100ºC every time, while smart kettles introduce precision settings and automation to help tackle the biggest source of energy waste in the kitchen.’
With my kettle, the keep-warm temperature can be set between 40ºC and 90ºC, making it ideal for a variety of drinks. According to the UK Tea and Infusions Association, the ideal water temperature for brewing is 90-98º C for black tea and around 80º C for green tea.
What difference has it made to my energy bill?
While I was hoping for a big reduction in my energy bill, the reality is that the savings have been much smaller. But once upon a time Energy prices may start creeping back upEven small savings count.
My previous kettle used about 3kW of electricity, and it took about a minute and a half to boil half a kettle of water. My current electricity rate is 25.40p per kWh, working out at about 1.9pa boil. Using it six times a day will cost around 11.46p.
In contrast, the new Smart Kettle uses 1.5kW of electricity, but takes longer to boil. It takes about 2.5 minutes to boil half a kettle of water, which consumes about 1.6pa of time.
On its own, this doesn’t save much, but the difference comes from the keep-warm function. This uses about 30W of electricity, costing about 0.76p per hour. If I keep the kettle hot for three hours a day, that’s about 2.29p.
Because I don’t have to wait for it to boil again every time, I only boil the kettle three times a day instead of six. That brings the total cost to around 7.09p – a saving of around 4.4pa a day, £8 for the six months I’ve been using it or £16 a year compared to my old kettle.
That savings potentially comes from not overfilling the kettle and increasing boiling water that I won’t use.
‘If your household boils the kettle 10 times a day and usually only fills a cup each time, that wasted energy adds up significantly over a year, reaching £40 – £50 a year,’ says Scott.
How much was it worth?
While the savings aren’t huge, there are other benefits to having a smart kettle. For a start, it means I can grab a quick cuppa after the school run without waiting for the kettle to boil. It is also useful when we have a family who often want hot drinks at different times.
Overall, I don’t regret buying Smart Kettle. But whether it is right for you will depend on your situation. If you work from home and the kettle is always on the boil, a smart kettle has its advantages. But if you only boil the kettle twice a day, the savings you could make aren’t worth making the switch.
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